Pier 21 Society Museum
In 1985, the Pier 21 Society was founded by J.P. LeBlanc to raise funds and renew the public's interest in the derelict shed, which was the last of its kind in Canada. Ruth Goldbloom became the organization's second president in 1993, and the push to turn the property into a National Historic Site and museum proceeded quickly. In cooperation with the Halifax Port Authority, Pier 21 was re-opened as a museum on Canada Day in 1999, and began its new role to celebrate the 1.5 million immigrants that passed through its doors.
National Museum
In 2009, the Government of Canada, the Pier 21 Society, the Pier 21 Foundation and the Halifax Port Authority agreed to partner in support of a new national museum at Pier 21. On June 25, 2009, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced a Statement of Intentions to designate a National Museum of Immigration at Pier 21. Later that year, Pier 21 was chosen to compete in the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's (CBC) "Seven Wonders of Canada" television show, placing out of the top seven places. As the sixth national museum in Canada—and only the second national museum outside of Canada's National Capital Region—Pier 21 joined Canada's five other national museums officially on February 7, 2011. The Museum was voted bronze for Best Museum by readers of The Coast from 2012 to 2015.
Permanent exhibitions
The Pier 21 Story
The Pier 21 Story exhibition shows visitors what it was like to immigrate through Pier 21 between 1928 and 1971. Visitors can open replica children's trunks to see what five immigrant children might have brought with them to Canada, walk through a replica of the colonist train cars that newly arrived immigrants boarded for the next stage of their journey, and even dress up as some of the key staff and volunteers at Pier 21.
Exhibits
Before Pier 21
Why Halifax
A Gateway to Canada
The Transatlantic Voyage
The Cabin
Arrival
Medical Facilities - Canadian Immigration Hospital
What Pier 21 Means to Me
Assembly Hall
Bronfman Theatre
Colonist Car
Major Immigration Waves
Pier 21 Memories Album
People of the Pier
Canadian Immigration Hall
The Canadian Immigration Hall was created to tell the story of 400 years of immigration to Canada, from initial contact with First Nations peoples to the present day. A multimedia immigration map allows visitors to visualize migration trends. The BMO Oral History Gallery includes almost 200 oral histories that visitors can browse by theme. The exhibit is divided into four sections: Journey, Arrival, Belonging, and Impact.
Temporary exhibitions
Empress of Ireland: Canada's Titanic is a temporary exhibition from November 23, 2015, to November 13, 2016. It was created by the Canadian Museum of History and co-presented by the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21. The exhibit tells the story of the thousands of passengers who took the RMS Empress of Ireland to and from Canada and Great Britain and its subsequent maritime disaster on 29 May 1914 that saw it sink after a collision with the Norwegian collier SS Storstad.
Wall of Service
The Wall of Service commemorates Pier 21 as the departure point for over 500,000 Canadians during the Second World War. The wall recognizes the sacrifices of service personnel past and present, war brides, and individuals who have provided service at Pier 21. Bricks are purchased on behalf of a designate and displayed on the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21's WWII Deck as well as on the Virtual Wall of Service.
The Sobey Wall of Honour
The Sobey Wall of Honour gives tribute to individuals who have chosen Canada as their home and have helped build Canada as a nation. It is supported by the Sobey Foundation. Bricks are purchased on behalf of a designate and displayed in the entrance to the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21.
Wadih M. Fares Wall of Tribute
The Wadih M. Fares Wall of Tribute recognizes community and cultural groups with a connection to Pier 21 and immigration to Canada. Bricks are purchased by community and cultural groups and displayed in the Hall of Tribute at the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21. The wall is named after Wadih M. Fares, an immigrant to Canada from Lebanon in 1976 and Chair of the Board at Pier 21 from 2007 to 2009.
Collection
The Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 has both a physical artifact collection and a vast Oral History collection. Pier 21 currently holds 2,000 stories, 500 oral history interviews, 700 donated books, 300 films, and thousands of archival images and scans of immigration and WWII documents. Many of the resources can be found on the website and all can be accessed by contacting Pier 21's Scotiabank Family History Centre.
The Pier 21 story collection has broadened from those who actually passed through Pier 21's doors, to include stories about immigration from all points of entry from the early beginnings of Canada (including First Nations) and concentrating on all immigration from 1867 to the present. Pier 21 is collecting family histories that go back to 1867 and is eager to begin collecting stories from those that arrived after 1971. These stories will be among the raw materials used to create future exhibits.
Oral historians conduct oral history interviews onsite and occasionally in different centres across Canada. These interviews are vital to the Museum's collection and its ongoing commitment to preserving and sharing stories of all Canadians.
The image collection includes thousands of scanned newspaper clippings, immigration related documents and ship memorabilia, as well as digital photos donated by individual families and organizations.
The museum actively collects donated personal and family stories on immigration to Canada to add to the Museum's Story Collection.
MS St. Louis memorial
On January 20, 2011, a memorial sculpture, the "Wheel of Conscience", was displayed at Pier 21. It commemorated the German passenger liner MS St. Louis's 1939 voyage from Europe to North America. Over 900 Jewish passengers, fleeing the early stages of the Holocaust, were turned away as refugees from many North American ports; a quarter were murdered in the Holocaust. Designed by Daniel Libeskind with graphic design by David Berman and Trevor Johnston, it was produced by the Canadian Jewish Congress. The memorial is a polished stainless steel wheel. Symbolizing the hateful and racist policies that turned away more than 900 Jewish refugees, the wheel incorporates four gears of descending size named to represent the process that led to the denial of sanctuary - antisemitism, xenophobia, racism, and then hatred. On the back of the memorial is a list of the passengers aboard the MS St. Louis. After an initial display period, the sculpture was shipped to its fabricators, Soheil Mosun Limited, in Toronto for repair and refurbishment. As of the museum re-opening in the spring of 2015, the memorial is back in place in the main lobby of the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21.
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