With a Dec. 21 deadline looming, the fight to save the Canadian Air and Space Museum continues to be an uphill battle.
Since being served an eviction notice on Sept. 20, museum staff has been unsuccessful in appealing the decision to the municipal and federal governments.
Although the museum’s CEO, Robert Cohen, insists that the hangar, which was the Canadian home of de Havilland Aircraft during the Second World War, is a heritage site, the building’s documentation could not be found.
Downsview Park Inc., the museum’s landlord, is going forward with plans to tear down the hangar and put up a four-pad hockey arena in its place.
David Soknacki, chair of Downsview Park’s board, said that the hangar is in need of more than $130,000 worth of repairs.
“This is a very large building,” Soknacki said, “faced with rising costs, there was no way of keeping the building, because it was in a bad state of disrepair.”
He added that the company would rather focus on maintaining their smaller “more manageable” buildings.
Cohen does not accept this explanation.
“They have programs running in buildings like ours,” he said. “When it comes to the integrity of what Downsview represents, there is no respect for history.”
