Hoped-For Reprieve Turned Out To Be Access For The Purpose Of An "Orderly Wind-Down" Of Operations

Toronto's Canadian Air & Space Museum has received notice from its landlord Parc Downsview Park on Saturday that the Park would be locking the doors and closing the Museum to regular business. The Park, a branch of the Canadian federal government, has control over the Museum's access after changing the locks following Tuesday's original eviction notice. 

After delivery of the original eviction notice on the morning of Tuesday, September 20th, and having the locks changed by early afternoon, the Museum's staff of three and dozens of volunteers believed they needed to vacate the premises immediately. They began scrambling to load vehicles with important administrative documents and remove rare artifacts and aircraft from the building, fearing future inaccessibility to them. 

Museum management says that during coverage of the initial closing, Downsview Park advised media that it would extend the museum's lease by six months, verbally stating the facility could carry on business as usual, keeping its doors open to visitors, scheduled group tours, school tours, events and birthday parties -- of which five were scheduled for this weekend.

However, an email dated Thursday, September 22 to Canadian Air & Space Museum CEO Rob Cohen, from Parc Downsview Park's Senior Vice-President of Operations Robert Singleton, stated that the six month extension "was to facilitate the orderly wind-down of your operations."... "The access to the Premises that we are permitting is strictly for the purposes set out above."

A second email the next day, Friday, September 23, read:

"Further to our letter of last night this is to inform you that the Park will be opening your doors tomorrow (Saturday, September 24th) for your meeting and then locking them after that. To protect both the Museum and the Park from liability issues the doors will remain locked until we meet to finalize a schedule of access. I will make myself available anytime after 8am on Monday morning (September 26) to meet and discuss said schedule."

Museum officials said in a news release that "these and other messages from the Park are contradictory to verbal messages to Museum staff and supporters, and continue the Park's reputation for saying one thing, and acting upon another."

According to museum management: 

• The Park told media that the Museum could continue to welcome visitors and tours during the 6-months, when in fact they told the Museum to wind down their operations with no more public access.
• While it is true that the Museum is more than $100,000 in arrears of its rent to Parc Downsview Park, in May 2011, new management was put in place, which in mere months, managed to create a viable and profitable business that could meet its monthly contractual needs and begin to chip away at past debt. The Museum kept in contact with the Park regarding their improved financial situation, and all along, the Park indicated that the Museum was safe from eviction. Meanwhile, the Park was in secret negotiations to build the proposed 4-pad hockey arena.
• While originally, the reason for the eviction was focused on the Museum's debt to Parc Downsvew Park, the Museum soon learned that ALL the tenants of 65 Carl Hall Road had been served the same eviction papers. Again revealing that the Park had been quietly planning the clearing of this building for some time.

FMI:  www.casmuseum.org