TIMMINS – The Timmins Museum hosts numerous art shows and travelling national exhibitions, but it's been 10 years since it's had a permanent gallery devoted to local history.
For the last two years, dedicated staff members have been working to design and figure out what should be featured. Now, they've begun the installation.
"We go back a long time so I think for me that was like wow, we have a lot to tell and there's a lot to share about this region. We cover everything from you know sports and clubs and mining and also the fur trade," said Kaitlyn Dubeau, Timmins Museum.
Paul Raiche has been assisting Dubeau with artistic design.
"If it's sports we might consider a trophy or a pennant if it's fur trade, of course, we're going to consider a beaver pelt or artifacts from that era, so it all has to kind of fit in," said Raiche.
Installation is underway and they've begun with applying life-sized images of historic passageways on the doors. These doors lead to a treasure trove of artifacts dating back thousands of years.
"We're going back to the very first peoples of the area and kind of how they lived and what their housing was like, and what they are and how they travelled, and how mining goes back thousands of years in Timmins and not just recent," said Dubeau.
"We have carousel horses, we have canoes, we have all sorts of mining tools from the turn of the century," added Raiche.
Both Dubeau and Raiche grew up in Timmins, went away to study and came back to work here. They're proud to be the ones to create this new gallery.
"It's quite a privilege to be here in this position and to do what we get to do every day," said Raiche.
Dubeau says she hopes people will learn from the exhibits.
Opening day for the new gallery will be sometime in February and everyone is invited to come and learn something new about Timmins. It's free and a special surprise exhibit is planned.
