Ontario's tourism industry has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the province's minister of Heritage, Sport, Tourism and Culture Industries, Lisa MacLeod, visited Sudbury today to unveil support for tourism here in Northern Ontario.
MacLeod announced that Science North will receive more than $7 million from the province in order to support its ongoing operations. This funding includes $219,000 for student employment opportunities through the Ontario Summer Experience Program.
"This iconic attraction reaches into every community in the North, not just here in Sudbury, but is critical as a Sudbury tourism attraction,” MacLeod said. “It truly is a living museum, not just a science centre, and I take enormous pride to be here today."
The minister said the tourism industry was one of the first economic sectors impacted by the pandemic and will be one of the sectors that takes the longest to recover.
MacLeod spoke of a telephone discussion she had with Science North CEO Guy Labine on March 12, speaking about their expectations for the March Break.
"We had expected that here at Science North, down at our parks commissions in Niagara and the St. Lawrence, at AGO, our Royal Botanical Gardens would be filled with school children all throughout that week," said MacLeod.
"Together, all 18 of our agencies stood hand by hand and made the difficult decision, but the right decision, to shut down."
The months that followed took a severe toll on the industry that generates $75 billion in economic activity, more than mining, agriculture and forestry combined.
"We were hit pretty hard, our sectors estimate that we lost $20 billion during that time, possibly even more," said MacLeod.
Since reopening on July 18, Science North has implemented stringent health protocols to ensure a safe and enjoyable experience for everyone, including increased cleaning and sanitizing, mandatory face coverings, timed-entry visits and physical distancing with contact tracing.
"COVID-19 has been very challenging for our board and staff and it continues to be a challenge for the organization," said Dr. Stephen Kosar, chair of the Science North board. "If we had been doing this event last year, we would have welcomed 1,750 visitors here and another 550 at Dynamic Earth. By now, we would have had almost 3,500 kids in summer camps and we would've seen tens of thousands of visitors in our outreach program."
In total, the community of Greater Sudbury will receive $8.3 million with $7.1 million designated to Science North. More than $805,000 will be invested into Ontario Trillium Foundation projects.
"These are very meaningful projects that help build and sustain our communities," said MacLeod. "It's important that we also recognize Celebrate Ontario funding for funding festivals that may or may not have occurred this year, we'll be investing $129,000."
Funding will be distributed to a number of different organizations and projects.
Place des Arts will receive $75,000, as will Myths and Mirrors, Wordstock Sudbury will receive $39,000 and Sudbury Better Beginnings Educational fund will receive $616,000.
Funding through Celebrate Ontario will be distributed to a number of local festivals, including Jazz Sudbury receiving $15,000, Cinéfest Sudbury receiving $39,000, Northern Lights Festival Boreal will get $35,000 and Up Here will receive $24,000.
– Sudbury.com