When Water Connects: Announcing the Opening of the Canadian Museum of Water’s Interpretive Centre

When William, Duke of Normandy, gazed across the English Channel in 1066, he saw water as the first obstacle to conquer on his path to subduing the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. But when the Great Peacemaker, Deganawida — Tekanawí:ta, whose name in Haudenosaunee means “where two rivers merge” — placed his canoe in the waterways of what would become the Iroquois Confederacy, he saw water not as a barrier but as a connector.

Two very different relationships with the same element. One about domination, one about unity and these are just two but very different of the myriad possible relationships people can have with water.

This Saturday, July 19th, from 2:00 PM to 7:00 PM, we invite you to explore what our own relationship with water could — and must — become. The Canadian Museum of Water is proud to announce the grand opening of its Interpretive Centre at the Midland Cultural Centre, right here in North Simcoe.

Though in my day job teaching college students in Toronto I sometimes sound like I’ve got the skibidi Ohio rizz trying to keep up with Gen Z slang, one word is genuinely useful here: blursed. Canada is blursed when it comes to water — both blessed and cursed at the same time. We are blessed with an abundance: 7% of the world’s renewable potable water and 20% of its fresh water supply. But we are cursed by how easily we take this for granted. Scarcity breeds value — so in its abundance, we risk forgetting water’s true worth.

Other countries with severe water scarcity, like India or China, have built multiple museums as part of the global WAMU Net (The Global Network of Water Museums of which our museum is a member) to help citizens rethink water’s value. This is Canada’s first. Let that sink in. For a country so defined by rivers, lakes, ice, and snow — so rich in clean, renewable water — we’ve waited far too long to create a national space where people can come together to change our mindset.

And change it we must. Here in North Simcoe, we are home to the discovery of the purest water ever recorded by science. Researchers hope to study why it is so pure — to understand the natural mechanisms that filter it to such perfection. But even as the scientists hope to learn from it, aggregate companies at the recharge zones extract millions of litres daily just to wash gravel — gravel we already have more than a decade’s surplus of, according to the scathing Auditor General's Report (2023). We risk destroying a one-of-a-kind natural feature for an expendable resource.

The Canadian Museum of Water exists to help us stop sleepwalking through this blursed reality — to remind us that water is not just a commodity to buy, sell, or drain for profit. It is a lifeline, a connector, a teacher, a Peacemaker and much, much more.

We need to be better stewards. That means forging ties in our communities, supporting Indigenous-led initiatives, and working hand-in-hand with scientists, citizens, and policymakers at every level.

Come join us this Saturday. Walk through the exhibits. Listen to the stories. Let’s start reimagining how we think about water — and how we can protect it for the generations who will paddle these waterways after us.

• Canadian Museum of Water Interpretive Centre

• Midland Cultural Centre

• Saturday, July 19th | 2:00 PM – 7:00 PM

Let’s come together where two rivers merge.

-Erik Schomann
Canadian Museum of Water, Interim President
erik.schomann@canadianmuseumofwater.org

Learn more at www.canadianmuseumofwater.net.