Dalglish Foundation gives $1.2M to canoe museum
Green roof of new canoe museum at Lift Lock to be named in Dalglish family’s honour
The Dalglish Family Foundation’s $1.2 million in funding for the Canadian Canoe Museum’s future home will help protect the legacy of its founder, Peter Dalglish said after the gift to the museum’s capital campaign was announced Tuesday.
“Kirk Wipper realized the importance of protecting all of these historic boats, as do I,” the lifelong avid canoeist told those gathered on the Grand Portage at the Monaghan Road museum, where he was joined by wife Camilla and their grandson, Luke.
The donation by the foundation directors and longtime museum supports will support capital costs, such as building a 1.5-acre green roof.
The largest external surface of the facility, which will include an accessible boardwalk, pollinator gardens and views of the National Historic Site at Trent-Severn Waterway’s Lock 21, will be named in their honour, capital campaign chairman Bill Morris said.
“We look forward to welcoming visitors to the Dalglish Family Foundation Green Roof in 2022,” Morris said.
Dalglish, who smiled as he reminisced about learning how to paddle while spending time in Algonquin Park as a young boy, pointed out that his wife enjoys plants, “so the green roof will be very close to our heart.”
The donation brings the organization a step closer to the museum’s “once in a lifetime journey” toward building a purpose-built home, executive director Carolyn Hyslop said.
The roof will be modelled after the High Line in New York City, which has become a community gathering space with trails and space for a variety of outdoor activities, she said.
“We see this roof serving that same purpose here in Peterborough.”
It will feature 50 local plant species, including many of significance to local Indigenous cultures, that will be able to survive climate changes. A wildflower meadow that will have purple coneflower, butterfly milkweed and verbena, for example, Hyslop said.
The new home of the museum will be, like a canoe, “light on the land,” she added. It will be energy-efficient and include environmentally friendly features that will absorb and clean stormwater, for example.
Morris said the museum is indebted to the foundation, in voicing his gratitude. “This is an incredibly generous gift … this is a significant investment in the canoe museum, in Peterborough, in Ontario and in Canada.”
The support is inspiring, Morris said, adding how the campaign is gaining momentum as it aims to reach a goal of $65 million. Meetings with potential donors are taking place across the country, he said. “We are making great progress.”
All three levels of government have contributed to the campaign, as has the W. Garfield Weston Foundation, which has contributed $7.5 million.
The new 83,400-square-foot facility is being designed by Heneghan Peng of Ireland and Kearns Mancini Architects of Toronto.
The current museum was a hub of activity Tuesday, with some 80 Grade 9 students visiting from Richmond Hill visiting for the day, and a 48-hour “Skypeathon” that would reach virtual visitors from as far away as Argentina getting underway, Hyslop said.