Restored Province House will offer visitors stories of Black, Indigenous communities when it reopens next year
Parks Canada says historic building should be open again in the fall of 2025
P.E.I.'s historic Province House is scheduled to reopen in the fall of 2025 after 10 years of renovations that cost more than $138 million.
The Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island began meeting in Province House in 1847, and in 1864, the building hosted the Charlottetown Conference that eventually led to Confederation.
But when visitors return to the hallways, they will hear about more than the Fathers of Confederation.
The project team of Parks Canada created a stakeholder advisory committee, as well as a First Nations advisory circle, to help shape the new visitor experience, to include the history of Indigenous, Black and other communities on P.E.I.
"When this building was first created… it had no Indigenous voices or Indigenous stories included," said Julie Pellissier-Lush, the Mi'kmaq Knowledge Keeper with L'nuey.
"So it's really important now that we have a chance to get them included now."
The executive director of the Black Cultural Society has also been part of the advisory committee for the new visitor exhibit.
"Definitely the story of the Indigenous people whose land this is all happening on, it's really important that those voices are included. They've never been included before," said Tamara Steele.
"But there were also other communities that were here at the time. The Bog existed, the historical Black community that was right here in Charlottetown existed at the time."
When the story of Confederation has been historically told, it's usually told from the perspective of the Fathers of Confederation. And it's their stories that we've heard typically up till now.— Tamara Steele, Black Cultural Society of P.E.I.
"Those voices that were not represented when the story of Confederation has been historically told. It's usually told from the perspective, of the Fathers of Confederation. And it's their stories that we've heard typically up till now."
Working legislature
One of the challenges for the people creating the new visitor experience was finding space to add more voices and content.
"It is a working legislature, and so we were limited somewhat to the space that is available for the exhibit," said Chantelle MacDonald of Parks Canada.
"One of the ways that we're mitigating that is to present the content as an audio guide. So visitors will be able to pick up an audio guide device, visit the exhibit and listen to those pieces or… elements that they want to listen to."
MacDonald said the content will initially be available in English, French and Mi'kmaq, with the potential to add additional languages in the future.
"The engagement process has been wonderfully meaningful, and we have brought many, many people to the table," she said.
Pellissier-Lush said she consulted with many other knowledge keepers as the exhibit was being developed.
She said she was very aware that their stories hadn't been included in the original history of Province House.
"But then I realized, like with the seven sacred teachings, there's so much of a chance now for us to redo it in a good way, never forgetting the lessons from the past, but to move forward in a good way," Pellissier-Lush said.
"This is a time right now where people are interested, and they want to learn more. So this is a really perfect time to incorporate all of these things."
This is a time right now where people are interested, and they want to learn more. So this is a really perfect time to incorporate all of these things.— Julie Pellissier-Lush, Mi'kmaq Knowledge Keeper
Pellissier-Lush said it was hard choosing what stories to include, because there are so many.
"There is a bit of compromise because there's only so much wall space here, there's only so much space for all of these different voices that are going to be incorporated at Province House," she said.
"I would have loved to have more different things, more different people, more different stories. But I'm very happy with the work that we've done together to make it a really amazing learning experience for everyone."
Steele said she too found it hard to decide what should be included in the new exhibit.
"It's such a challenge because there's so many stories, and as much as we try to represent as many stories as possible, there's going to be stories that are missing," Steele said.
"The trick is finding that balance of what stories are representative — maybe not of everybody, but representative enough that everyone can feel included, right?"
She adde that for some people, "it might even be a little bit emotional, but I think it's going to be just a beautiful day when we see those first visitors coming in, and hearing their feedback, and I'm really interested to see how people receive it.
"We know not everyone's going to appreciate the changes, but having the province, having Parks Canada be able to stand on this decision to include all of these stories and all of this information in this way, I think it's gonna be really great to see people take that in, and soak that up."
Parks Canada says the goal is to have Province House open to the public in the fall of 2025.
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