Last Friday, CBC’s George Stroumboulopoulos met with Prime Minister Mark Carney to talk about the importance of Canadian stories and cultural sovereignty. “…this is a proud country, a quietly proud country. It’s a confident country. People believe we can do things and part of it is demonstrating success, success, confidence and ambition. Ambition in a good way,” were the Prime Minister’s parting words.
We in Mississippi Mills have wonderful stories to tell; the stories of James Naismith and Robert Tait Mckenzie, our famous sons. Their stories of success, confidence and ambition in a good way, as suggested by Carney. Stories of significance to us. Stories of global significance. Stories we could lose.
Years ago, the Mill of Kintail fell on hard times. The roof of McKenzie’s studio had a leak. There were bats in the rafters. A volunteer raised concerns to an Ottawa newspaper letting it be known that he regularly swept bat guano off the floor in the mornings before school groups arrived to see the extensive collection of McKenzie’s sculptural works. This was a low time for the Mississippi Valley Conservation (MVC) given funding constraints as well as a particularly difficult time for the museum. Many weighed in as to the best way to preserve this heritage building and its important collection.
Meanwhile the roof continued to leak. Some of us felt that no matter what would happen to the MVC and its funding, the Mill had a hole in its roof. We asked the simple question, “What would McKenzie do?” knowing that he would set to work and fix the roof much like when he first took ownership of the Mill in 1930 when he hired famous Montreal architect, Percy Nobbs. Citizens from across our community and beyond stepped up to financially support the replacement of the roof. An Eastern Cedar shingle roof, as per the standard Mackenzie insisted in his day, replaced the failing asphalt shingle roof. The MVC Foundation matched the community donations with a Heritage Challenge Grant as written by Foundation member, Mary Vandenhoff. The roof was replaced as were the outdoor stairs to McKenzie’s studio. The collection in its home was safe again. A new era began. During this time the Naismith Basketball collection was added and welcomed at the Mill.
Last Monday, I attended the monthly meeting of the MVC where Mississippi Mills Mayor, Christa Lowry made a presentation to the board. Presently, the MVC wants to divest of the museum collection and replace it with a “water museum.” Mayor Lowry suggested slowing down the decision-making process to fully examine possibilities, allow for better citizen engagement, and to reach a proper understanding of the Conservation Authorities Act and its opportunities. There is a provision in the act to allow for CAs to provide non-mandated services like the inclusion of trails, education, or even museums.
There were a few of us (maybe a dozen or more) community folks in attendance, descendants of the Naismith family, mostly people with long histories of engagement with the Mill of Kintail. We were not allowed into the board room but could watch the proceedings by television in the foyer. The poor-quality video and its sound left us hearing only portions of the proceedings. What I took away from what I could hear was that some MVC board members believe a decision to divest the collections and create a water museum had already been made. Others believe that there is still time to save the museum and its collections.
The MVC is not the right group to protect this important Canadian legacy. It’s not clear which of the McKenzie/Naismith artifacts they plan to sell. Given these gentlemen had illustrious careers in the United States, items from their collections could go to the highest bidders and be lost to Canada forever.
If the MVC is unwilling to truly work with the community with honesty and in good faith to find a long-range solution, they need to return the Mill and its collection to the community and go about their business of water conservation.
I was left thinking, ‘what would McKenzie and Naismith do?’ They were Canadian men of honour and commitment, close friends, citizens of Ramsay Township in the Ottawa Valley, boyhood pals who played on the site of this former grist mill, renaissance men, men of “success, confidence and ambition. Ambition in a good way.”
Who will preserve their stories?
Jeff Mills,
Mississippi Mills
