History is worth paying for, say heritage advocates
When the institutions that preserve a place's history lose funding, much is at risk, say the heads of two historical societies whose budgets have been cut.
"Learning about the place you live gives you so much context and so much more appreciation for why things are the way they are in your city," said Kelsey Kendrick, the president of the Edmonton and District Historical Society. "When you're visiting another city, you'll go to whatever landmark and check it out, and you'll learn all these things, but people forget to do it where they actually live."
The latest provincial budget cut $76,000 from the Historical Society of Alberta, which has five chapters, including Edmonton's. The Alberta Genealogical Society also suffered a $29,000 cut. The volunteer-run organizations made that money go far in the service of a noble cause, said Karen Wilson, president of the Alberta Genealogical Society – Edmonton.
"You lose so much," Wilson said of the consequences of diminished attention to history. "You lose your sense of empathy for other people. You lose your sense of understanding. You lose your concept of learning from history."
Alberta also stands to lose tourism revenue from the cut, Kendrick and Wilson told Taproot, echoing an argument articulated by Lorien Johansen, president of the Historical Society of Alberta. She said the funding cuts are incongruous in a province that wants to increase tourism revenue to $25 billion by 2035.
"Here is the inconvenient truth for the Treasury Board: Authenticity is not a renewable resource if you stop tending to the source," Johansen wrote in an op-ed. "Tourists do not fly from London or Tokyo to look at generic hotel rooms or car rental agencies."
The province's intention is to fund "organizations delivering extensive services to the entire sector — not individual non-profits," Tanya Fir, the minister of arts, culture, and status of women, said in a statement to Postmedia, adding that heritage groups can still apply for grant funding.
