Historic building facing uncertain future in Kirkland Lake

One northern Ontario town says it can no longer afford to keep up its most treasured heritage building.

Mining financier Sir Harry Oakes built a grand chateau home in Kirkland Lake in 1929 and for decades it has housed the Museum of Northern History.

But town council was told in 2007 that the building needs $1.4 million in repairs, only about $224,000 which have been made since then.

"That is a beautiful, wonderful, historic building. Everybody can agree on that," Kirkland Lake councillor Rick Owen said during Tuesday night's virtual council meeting. 

"But a lot of people live paycheque to paycheque and for a lot of people tax increases really affect their quality of life."

The town transferred ownership of the chateau to what is now known as the Ontario Heritage Trust in 1981 and signed a 60-year lease which makes the municipality responsible for all maintenance.

Councillor Casey Owens called it a "poor relationship" where the town is a "tenant who has to pay for all the improvements."

"There is a lot of pressures," Owens told council. 

"We need to keep our water going, to keep the roads maintained. We need to look at all the options on the table to keep this community the best it can be."

Kirkland Lake council voted to seek a new arrangement with the heritage trust. 

Councillors were adamant Tuesday night that the Museum of Northern History will not close no matter what happens to the building and could be moved to another location. 

Kirkland Lake also recently voted to sell the former Hockey Heritage North tourist attraction, which in recent years had been converted into a multi-purpose hall and taxpayers were covering operating losses of about $150,000 per year.