Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 reopens next week
Posted Jun 30, 2020 01:37:00 PM.
Teddy Marshall is a stuffed bear.
He was rescued from a group of kids who were using him as a football in Liverpool, England by Pat Marshall.
In 1954, Teddy joined 10-year-old Pat and her family as they boarded RMS Samaria to cross the Atlantic and start their new life in Canada. Their first stop on this side of the ocean was Halifax.
That bear is now on display at the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21.
“She treasured this bear in England and it travelled with her on the ocean liner, with her talking to the bear all the way across,” said the museum's curator Don Conlin. “She's kindly loaned the bear to us.”
“I hope our visitors will take some comfort from this little bear that allowed this little girl to sort of cope with all sorts of transition and change when her family came to Canada.”
Following a shutdown due to COVID-19, the museum will start welcoming visitors through its doors next week.
“We can't wait to see visitors back in the museum,” Conlin told NEWS 95.7's The Sheldon MacLeod Show. “I always like to think of our galleries with people looking and learning in them.”
Staff are busy preparing the site to make sure it closely follows all public health guidelines.
This means visitors can expect to see plexiglass barriers, directional signage and multiple hand sanitizer stations throughout the museum.
“We have an awful lot of touch screens and hands-on visitor experiences, so we're modifying them in various ways,” Conlin explained. “Some screens we're just going to be turning off, but there will still be lots of ways for visitors to interact with our exhibits.”
Tuesdays, including July 7, will be set aside for seniors and vulnerable groups, and the general public allowed to explore the museum as of Wednesday, July 8 from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
The facility will be closed on Mondays, with the exception of Natal Day and Labour Day.
The Museum of Natural History, Maritime Museum of the Atlantic and Uniacke Estate Museum all reopen on Canada Day.
