Chilliwack military museum evicted to make way for new tenant
by Paul J. Henderson - Chilliwack Times
posted Sep 10, 2015 at 1:15 PM
Wanted: A permanent home for one of Canada’s largest collections of restored military vehicles—armoured personnel carriers, tanks, even a plane.
Eight years after the establishment of a popular military museum in an apt location on the grounds of the old CFB Chilliwack, the Canadian Military Education Centre (CMEC) Museum has a little over a month to move out.
And by Sept. 14, the doors will close to the public with no home for hundreds of pieces of Canadian military uniforms, weapons, artifacts and vehicles.
Sited in a building owned by the City of Chilliwack’s economic development arm, Chilliwack Economic Partners Corporation (CEPCO), the museum has been in operation since it set up a temporary display in 2007. Prior to the closing of CFB Chilliwack in 1995, the building was home to the clothing stores on Petawawa Road near the trailhead at the Vedder Bridge, a place all new base arrivals first went to get their kit.
The temporary display became a semi-permanent one as then CEPCO president John Jansen allowed the CMEC folks to use the otherwise empty building for the museum. The non-profit association of passionate military collectors paid no rent and the understanding always was that something permanent should be sought out.
The bigger surprise might be how long it took CEPCO to find paying tenants at the ever-expanding Canada Education Park. That new tenant is Canada Border Services Agency’s (CBSA) training program.
“I guess it never was a permanent solution,” CMEC Association vice-president Rollie Keith told the Times Tuesday.
“The thing that I’m so fearful of is that if we now have to disperse the collection, to bring it all back together again becomes problematic.”
In the time it was open, Keith said they estimate more than 25,000 visitors viewed the display, but he thinks the actual number is much higher.
He said he is sad and disappointed in the decision to evict CMEC, but he is thankful of the support Jansen and CEPCO gave the organization over the years. He did say, however, there was an unwritten understanding his association would be given six months notice before being asked to leave, but Jansen told them just five weeks ago.
From the broader community perspective, the situation is a good news/bad news one, according to CEPCO president Brian Coombes, because the new CBSA tenant, which already uses the back portion of the building, has big plans to renovate and expand the training program in Chilliwack.
“We’ve already seen some drawings of the building fully renovated for CBSA,” Coombes said. “To have just the jobs associated with that and the people coming in to the community to train, there is an economic spinoff.”
As for the CMEC Museum collection, many of the items are on loan from locals and individuals in other communities. They have been notified of the closure of the museum and that no new home has been found.
One out-of-town owner of military equipment stored at the CMEC Museum said he’s disappointed in the eviction.
“They’ve put in so much work to that place, all volunteer,” Hornby Island resident Colin Anderson told the Times. “It may have been rent free, but they put in an incredible amount of effort to honouring Canadian soldiers and sharing Canadian military history.”
Keith is also president of the local branch of the Canadian Airborne Forces Association, which has a display at the museum, a display that they will be hard-pressed to relocate.
“I don’t have room in my home to put a bunch of cabinets and mannequins, however, that’s our problem,” he said. “We knew we might have to deal with this at some point.”
The search is on for a new location for the museum’s vast collection, and Keith said the CMEC Association will remain active to provide temporary museum displays wherever possible. The website www.cmedcentre.org will also remain active.
“The CMEC Museum regrets the loss of our exhibit location, and the circumstances for this decision, but the search for alternative suitable sites to exhibit the extensive CMEC military displays is ongoing,” Keith said in a statement.
For its part, CEPCO is doing what it can to facilitate finding a new location for the museum but nothing so far has worked out.
“We are hopeful that there will be a solution,” Coombes said. “Unfortunately they weren’t able to find that solution in time and we now need that building.”
