Beth Hatt (left), MP Wayne Long (centre), and deputy mayor Shirley McAlary (right), stand in front of the Fort La Tour site.
Fort La Tour Historic Site has received new federal funding to help bring the 17th century replica to life.
$245,000 dollars from the department of Canadian heritage and multiculturalism was announced Wednesday.
Beth Hatt, chair of the Fort La Tour Development Authority, says the money will go toward the interpretive elements at the fort.
“Everything from whats going on the interpretive signs to the interactive elements inside the buildings to the bastion parts that we’re going to use as interpretation, all of those things that make it come to life,” she said.
They also hope to create spaces for community events and plays to be held. A gift shop and a blacksmith shop are also being built. There will also be interpreters on site, and costume guides for larger groups.
Fort La Tour was originally built in 1631 and became one of the first centres of the french fur trade.
The historic site is expected to be completed by early fall.
Hatt says while the fort will celebrate 17th century history in Saint John, there are other elements they want to highlight as well.
“Saint John also has a huge Indigenous background, it also has a French background. This was one of the first sites in Atlantic Canada of French settlement,” she said.
She says they are working closely with the Indigenous community to help tell their story.
Hatt says the 17th century trading post site is rich in history, and played an important part in the founding of Saint John.
“So much of the portage; this is where the Indigenous and the First Nations did trading, so it’s a very significant site and I think it’s going to help to bring all of the other history together,” she said.
Work on the site is now underway after a long winter of bad weather that halted construction.
“It’s so exciting to see it finally come to light. The winter was so hard—we had to stop construction from late October right up until April because of the weather”
Hatt says everything is still on track to have the site completed by September 1st, with a soft opening this fall and a grand opening next spring.
The price tag is still at $1.8 million. Hatt says around a quarter of that came from the corporate sector, and the rest was funded through all three levels of government.
Fort La Tour was declared a national historic site in 1923. Hatt says the completion of this project has in a way, been almost a century in the works.
“This is so incredibly exciting for us,” she said.
“You can have the infrastructure but you need to bring them to life, and today this project receives this crucial funding to really complete the interpretive elements needed to make Fort La Tour a reality.”
