The Saskatoon Meewasin Valley Authority (MVA) will close its interpretive centre in July due to a lack of funds, according to the organization’s board chair and CEO.
The centre opened in February 1988 and has welcomed more than 400,000 visitors over the years, according to officials. Three people will lose their jobs due to the closure, prompting MVA board chair Toddi Steelman to call Wednesday a “sad day” for the organization.
“It will no longer be accessible as an interpretive centre or as a Meewasin trail destination,” Steelman said at a press conference.
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The centre “is where we teach the early history of Saskatoon,” said MVA CEO Lloyd Isaak. It costs roughly $250,000 to run, which the group can’t afford because the MVA’s provincial funding has been stagnate, according to officials.
“We got the same amount of funding this year as we did last year,” Steelman said.
“With inflationary pressure and the additional work that we’re asked to do, that money just doesn’t go as far as it needs to.”
The MVA’s 2016 finances show roughly 35 per cent of its funding comes through the province. This includes almost $720,000 from the University of Saskatchewan, which “flows through” from the government.
“This budget was particularly difficult, we had some tough choices to make,” said Mark Docherty, the government’s parks, culture and sport minister.
“As we stand right now, Meewasin Valley Authority, their statutory and their supplementary funding was status quo budget.”
Steelman and Isaak noted Wednesday that the government has put the MVA’s provincial funding under review. The budget itself and past comments from Docherty “signals to us that they’re planning to pull the funding for Meewasin,” Isaak said.
“There’s no other way to interpret that … pulling of the provincial funding would have profound impacts on Meewasin as we know it.”
“We’re going to review the expenses, we’re going to review the funding, we’re going review the operations and we’ll go from there, but at this point no decision has been made,” said Docherty.