Item - 2019.EC8.9

The Economic and Community Development Committee recommends that:

1.  City Council extend its appreciation to The Advocates' Society for its past and present support to Campbell House Museum.

2.  City Council request The Advocates' Society to maintain its financial support for Campbell House Museum beyond 2020.

3.  City Council request the Sir William Campbell Foundation to maintain its charitable status, seek broader community representation on its board of directors, and continue to manage Campbell House Museum.

4.  City Council approve the additional $32,000 grant request made in 2019 by the Sir William Campbell Foundation to operate Campbell House Museum, to be funded from the 2019 approved operating budget for Economic Development and Culture.

5.  City Council direct the General Manager, Economic Development and Culture to ensure that any future increases in the grant made annually through Economic Development and Culture to the Sir William Campbell Foundation be commensurate with reductions in the grant made annually by The Advocates' Society to the Foundation to operate Campbell House Museum.

6.  City Council direct the General Manager, Economic Development and Culture, to negotiate the following amendments to the 1971 agreement between the City of Toronto and the Sir William Campbell Foundation:

a. remove all references and obligations in relation to The Advocates' Society;

b. reduce the Foundation's financial obligations in a manner commensurate with the Campbell House Board of Management assuming responsibility for capital maintenance and repairs of the Campbell House on a permanent basis; and

c. any other terms that may be mutually satisfactory to both parties, to the satisfaction of the General Manager, Economic Development and Culture, in consultation with the City Solicitor and the City Manager.

7.  City Council authorize the General Manager, Economic Development and Culture, to sign the amending agreement with the Sir William Campbell Foundation as referenced in recommendation 6 of this report.

8.  City Council amend Chapter 68 of the Municipal Code of the former City of Toronto to:

a. add capital maintenance and repairs to the responsibilities of the Campbell House Board of Management and to make capital expenditures in accordance with the applicable budget allocation, year over year; and

b. reflect amendments to the 1971 agreement between the City of Toronto and the Sir William Campbell Foundation, as necessary.

9.  City Council direct the General Manager, Economic Development and Culture to include Campbell House Museum in the City's 10-Year Capital Budget and Plan submission as part of the 2020 Budget process for consideration, once the 1971 agreement between the City of Toronto and the Sir William Campbell Foundation and Chapter 68 of the Municipal Code of the former City of Toronto have been amended.

10.  City Council direct the General Manager, Economic Development and Culture to include the 2020 increase in the grant to the Sir William Campbell Foundation in the Economic Development and Culture's 2020 Operating Budget submission for consideration.

Campbell House Museum is a City-owned building, situated on land leased from Canada Life Assurance Company at the north-west corner of Queen and University Avenue. It is operated by the Sir William Campbell Foundation with oversight by the City-appointed Campbell House Board of Management.

Since 1972, the Museum's largest source of operating and capital funds has been The Advocates' Society (TAS). TAS began reducing its support to the Museum in 2018 and will likely provide its final grant in 2020. In response, the Foundation (whose board of directors is composed of TAS members) has proposed winding up its affairs and transferring responsibility for the Museum and the House to the City of Toronto under the Economic Development and Culture Division.

This report recommends a different approach to that proposed by TAS to sustain the vibrancy of Campbell House Museum. The recommended approach would have the Foundation continue to exist as a charitable body, with changes made to the composition of its board to replace TAS members with community representatives. The Museum would continue to be governed by the Foundation and the Board of Management with new members. The City would increase its annual grant to replace funding from TAS, and would assume responsibility for capital maintenance and repairs at the Museum.