Prince Edward Islanders have been waiting more than 100 years for a museum, says Nature PEI president

CBC News
As published December 29, 2015

It is not just recent governments who are to blame for the lack of provincial museum, says Nature PEI president Rosemary Curley. (CBC)

Prince Edward Islanders have been waiting more than 100 years for a museum, says Nature PEI president.  Rosemary Curley is calling on the province to commit part of the promised federal infrastructure dollars to building a human and natural history museum.

"We've longed for one for many a year and no government has delivered as they should have," said Curley.

"Governments have shirked their responsibility over the years, and I don't mean just in the last 20 years. I don't point the finger at any one particular government. It is for over 100 years that government has steadfastly ignored this."

A museum would allow things like fossilized reptile footprints, hundreds of millions years old and recently donated to the P.E.I. Museum Foundation, to be displayed.

Fossils found 3 decades ago on P.E.I. are returning to the Island
A museum has been discussed for decades, with commitments sometimes made by provincial governments but not acted on.

Curley noted a new museum of natural history in B.C., unveiled five years ago, had a price tag of $40 million. She believes a capital campaign could raise that amount for an Island museum.