After 20 years at the helm of the Britannia Mine Museum, Squamish's Kirstin Clausen is retiring.
While Clausen will be around for a bit longer to help with the transition, the museum's Cheryl Hendrickson took over as the heritage site's executive director on Dec. 7.
The Chief caught up with Clausen for a chat about her time at the mine, what she hopes is next, and leaving Squamish.
What follows is an edited version of that conversation.
Q: Can you take us back to 20 years ago to when you first started at the mine?
A: I was so excited. I honestly remember jumping for joy. When I walked into the mill building for my interview, and it was derelict, I remember thinking, 'Boy, I want this job.' It was a magical place. I fell in love with it on my first site visit.
It is absolutely remarkable how much has changed in the 20 years at the site.
We are so proud of every change along the way.
When the team and I improved the gold panning and it was such an improvement over what it had been and then there was some simple fencing put in and it was an improvement over what was there. When the mill building was going to be rehabilitated in 2005 — it took two years — that was monumental. Britannia had had such risk associated with it because of the environmental contamination that for a long time no one was willing to invest in the heritage site because of the environmental overhang.
The risk was too great that the project would fail, that the museum would fail, the community would fail, until the environmental problem was solved. That was to the credit of the Fraser River Basin Council, and others who said to industry and government, "Stop this fight." When that happened in about 2002, that made everything possible. By 2005 the mining industry was able to talk to the museum about what it would take to get the mill building redone. That was the start. Then we shifted to the 2010 rebrand. That was $14.7 million that the government and industry put in to get this going.
It has been a glorious time with the Britannia Mine Museum.
Q: What are one or two things you are most proud of?
A: Capital projects aside — because they are monumental in themselves — if I look at just the operation of the museum, the thing I am most proud of is that we have successfully balanced being an attraction while having been true to education principles and a story about a place. It would have been so easy along the way to just become an attraction and not worry about authenticity. Heritage restoration is expensive, so the easy thing is to do it cheaper and say it doesn't matter.
We really had a board that supported our heritage vision through some lean years.
But the board had a really clear sense that this was like a new business and we needed to do those hard years and they fundraised and supported that so that the museum didn't take on debt.
The tough thing is that BOOM! opened in mid-2019 and we were poised with all the marketing for that. It should have been our first year of a new product and we should have seen a sizeable operating surplus that could have gone back into heritage. But then, COVID.
Q: But now we have a vaccine on the horizon, so things should be on the upswing again?
A: Yes, there is a pent up demand. The team there has every capacity to do amazing things. It is a great team there and I have always felt that the museum has punched a bit above its weight class because we are not funded by any body of government. Unlike municipally-owned museums, we have to earn everything that we need and that can be tricky some years.
Q: What do you hope for the next five years?
A: I hope that they will have the ability to go on to the next chapter in their interpretive plan. In 2012, we did this comprehensive interpretive plan and there are two or three big projects that are there — one is further exploration of the mill building. BOOM! makes it accessible to everyone, but we would like to put in a very specialized mill tour — you would have to be fit to do it as the mill is a very complicated building to move through in parts.
I hope that the historic collections get more attention than they have, by necessity. I know of something elase that is likely coming next year, but I am not at liberty to share at this time, but it will be very exciting.
The Terra Lab is going to be re-opening more officially in February as well. It is all about plants that can help solve environmental problems with metals. It is a hands-on, learning lab for students. And then there is a new exhibit about nature helping with remediation.
Q: There is so much on the horizon that will change the community of Britannia Beach, with upcoming development. Can you speak to the impact that will have on the museum?
A: I think that will impact the museum immensely. I think there is an awful lot to pay attention to there. The next five years at Britannia are going to be very interesting. I am a little bit sorry I am not going to be there. My heart is still there. Good stuff is coming.
Q: What is next for you?
A: I am going to take a break. We are moving from Squamish to Ladysmith, where we are building a house.
I have always loved Squamish and I will miss Tourism Squamish and so many amazing community things that I have been involved with. But we are moving and are halfway through building a house. I am going to pay attention to that for the next four or five months. Then I hope to find some work on the island. Maybe consulting in culture and heritage. I don't feel the need to jump in and be an executive director. I am looking for something that will make me feel connected to community.
Q: Squamish has changed a lot in the 20 years you have been here. How do you reflect on how it was and how it is as you leave it?
A: It used to be you could go into the grocery store and see people you knew and that is less common now. I think Squamish is going to settle into itself quite nicely. I don't think it can get too much bigger, it has almost a natural barrier in its landscape. I think it is going to settle at a really nice size. It is a unique community. There are not many communities in this province that are in the 20 to 25,000-population range that has things like the museum and the gondola. It is a unique package.
Organizations like Tourism Squamish are going to be really key to helping the community understand that there can be a balance. I know the community is quite fearful of tourism, but I think it is about being engaged around the topic, instead of being dismissive of it, because the community has the absolute capacity to frame it how it has to be. We do not have to follow the path of any other community. We have good leaders. Again, I have always loved Squamish and will remain a booster for Squamish.
