Quebec and Prince Edward Island are the sole Canadian provinces without a museum of natural history, which is inexcusable according Pierre Brunel. The Université de Montréal biology professor and co-founder and president of the Institut Québecois de la Biodivesité, has spent three decades fighting for such a venue.
He has counted 250 collections in Quebec that need a permanent home. Since the 1960s, however, Quebec has prioritized living collections such as the Montreal Botanical Garden and the Insectarium. Brunel acknowledges that these establishments are wonderful education tools, unfortunately they conduct very little fundamental research.
Brunel hopes his caused will receive more support because the United Nations named 2010 as the “International Year of Biodiversity.” An ideal natural history museum, he says, would keep various scientific collections (insects, plants, mammals, etc.) in proper conservation conditions and would also comprise a library. It would be a place where ecology and taxonomy researchers interested in the evolution of Quebec biodiversity would come together. Public exhibits would not be the primary objective.
There has been some progress since Brunel began campaigning: the new Biodiversity Centre at the Montreal Botanical Garden will house four big collections, while the Redpath Museum in Montreal and the Musée de la nature et des sciences in Sherbrooke both keep some collections.
Problem is, the latter museums are administered by universities and municipalities. “It isn't the role of universities to preserve these collections,” says Brunel. “It is a considerable expense for universities and it requires tremendous material resources. They do it to support the initiative of professors. Sooner or later, a long-term solution will be needed.”
Brunel and his colleagues at the Institut Québecois de la Biodivesité have witnessed several collections conserved under dire conditions. “I've seen items kept in shoeboxes under beds and in closets.”
Brunel himself has a noteworthy collection of benthic invertebrates comprising tens of thousands of samples. In October 2008, he signed an agreement that his collection will be housed by the Canadian Museum of Nature as of 2016 “This leaves me six years to convince Quebec to have its own centre for such collections,” says Brunel.
On the Web:
- About the Université de Montréal
- About the Université de Montréal Department of Biology
- About the Institut Québecois de la Biodivesité
Media contact:
Sylvain-Jacques Desjardins
International press attaché
Université de Montréal
Telephone: 514-343-7593
Email: sylvain-jacques.desjardins@umontreal.ca
