Provincial and territorial museums of Canada are museums maintained by the provinces and territories of Canada to preserve their local history and culture. However, the collections of some museums extend beyond its provincial boundaries, showcasing historical and natural works from around the world. These museums are the equivalent to national museums, operated by the provincial and territorial governments of Canada. In the mostly French-speaking province of Quebec, the provincial government uses the term "national" to refer to provincial museums.
Many provinces have separate facilities for human and natural history museums, art galleries, and archives. However, in the case of Newfoundland and Labrador, all these functions are housed in one complex, The Rooms, in St. John's.
Nearly all Canadian provinces and territories operate a provincial museum of some kind, the majority being either encyclopedic museums that cover a wider variety of topics including science and nature, or history museums, that focus on human events. The only province that does not operate a provincial museum is Prince Edward Island. The following table lists the provincial and territorial museums presently operating in Canada.
| scope=col width=12% | Name | scope=col width=1%px class="unsortable" | Photo | scope=col width=8% | City | scope=col width=8% | Province | scope=col width=6% | Year established | scope=col width=10% | Visitors annually | scope=col width=18% class="unsortable" | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| scope=row | Manitoba Museum | Winnipeg | 1965 | data-sort-value=5 | 303,191 (2017)[1] | A museum of human and natural history. | |||||||
| scope=row | Musée de la civilisation | Quebec City | 1984 | data-sort-value=4 | 543,128 (2005) | A museum of human history. | |||||||
| scope=row | New Brunswick Museum | Saint John | 1842 | data-sort-value=8 | 32,584 (2017)[2] | A museum of human and natural history, it is the oldest continuously operating museum in Canada. | |||||||
| scope=row | Nova Scotia Museum | Multiple sites | 1868 | data-sort-value=3 | 549,500 (2015)[3] | The museum is a decentralized museum system made up of 28 museums spread throughout the province. | |||||||
| scope=row | Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre | Yellowknife | 1979 | data-sort-value=9 | A museum of human and natural history, it also houses the territorial government's archives. | ||||||||
| scope=row | Royal Alberta Museum | Edmonton | 1967 | data-sort-value=9 | A museum of human and natural history. | ||||||||
| scope=row | Royal British Columbia Museum | Victoria | 1886 | data-sort-value=2 | 770,000 (2017)[4] | A museum of human and natural history, it also houses the provincial archives, after merging with British Columbia Archives in 2003. | |||||||
| scope=row | Royal Ontario Museum | Toronto | 1912 | data-sort-value=1 | 1,440,000 (2017)[5] | A museum of art, human and natural history, it is the largest, and most visited museum in Canada. | |||||||
| scope=row | Royal Saskatchewan Museum | Regina | 1906 | data-sort-value=6 | 139,122 (2017)[6] | A museum of natural history. | |||||||
| scope=row | The Rooms | St. John's | 2005 | data-sort-value=7 | 87,083 (2017)[7] | A museum of human and natural history, the museum shares a building with the provincial archives and art gallery. |
Several Canadian provinces and territories operate art galleries. The following table lists the provincial and territorial art galleries presently operating in Canada.
Although it receives public money, the Art Gallery of Alberta is not a provincially-operated institution, but is run by a not-for-profit society, and has been excluded from this table.
| scope=col width=12% | Name | scope=col width=1%px class="unsortable" | Photo | scope=col width=8% | City | scope=col width=8% | Province | scope=col width=8% | Year established | scope=col width=8% | Visitors annually | scope=col width=18% class="unsortable" | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| scope=row | Art Gallery of Nova Scotia | Halifax | 1908 | data-sort-value=5 | 45,455 (2017)[8] | The largest art gallery in Atlantic Canada, its collection includes classical portraits, Nova Scotia folk art, and Inuit stone carvings. | |||||||
| scope=row | Art Gallery of Ontario | Toronto | 1900 | data-sort-value=1 | 974,736 (2018)[9] | The art gallery is the largest provincially-managed art gallery in the country. Its collection includes 98,000 works ranging from the first century to present day, as well as the largest collection of Canadian art. | |||||||
| scope=row | Beaverbrook Art Gallery | Fredericton | 1959 | data-sort-value=6 | 10,333 (2016)[10] | Designated as a provincial art gallery by Government of New Brunswick, the gallery was originally funded by Baron Beaverbrook. | |||||||
| scope=row | McMichael Canadian Art Collection | Kleinburg | 1965 | data-sort-value=6 | Originally the private collection of Robert and Signe McMichael, which was donated to the provincial government in 1965 and opened to the public in 1966. The collection primarily consists of works by the Group of Seven and artists associated with them, but has expanded to include other Canadian artists as well as Indigenous artists. | ||||||||
| scope=row | Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec | Quebec City | 1933 | data-sort-value=2 | 387,333 (2018)[11] | Its collection includes approximately 40,000 works produced in Quebec, or by Quebec artists since the 18th century. | |||||||
| scope=row | Remai Modern | Saskatoon | 2009 | data-sort-value=3 | A museum of modern art, although its collections also includes works created before that period. The museum is formally incorporated as the Art Gallery of Saskatchewan, although it is branded as Remai Modern. | ||||||||
| scope=row | The Rooms | St. John's | 2005 | data-sort-value=3 | 87,083 (2017) | The provincial art gallery shares a building with the province's provincial archives, and museum. | |||||||
| scope=row | Yukon Arts Centre | Whitehorse | 1992 | data-sort-value=7 | In addition to a permanent collection of Indigenous and northern art the facility serves as an arts centre. |
Nearly all Canadian provinces operate a provincial archive and libraries. The British Columbia Archives was a former provincial agency that managed the archives for the province of British Columbia. In 2003, the provincial government merged the British Columbia Archives with the Royal British Columbia Museum, while the record management component of the former agency was assumed by the British Columbia Ministry of Labour and Citizens' Services.[12] Since 2003, the Royal British Columbia Museum maintains the provincial archives as a department of the museum.[13]
The following table lists the nine provincial archives and libraries presently operating in Canada.
| scope=col width=18% | Name | scope=col width=1%px class="unsortable" | Photo | scope=col width=14% | City | scope=col width=14% | Province | scope=col width=14% | Year established |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| scope=row | Archives of Manitoba | Winnipeg | 1971 | ||||||
| scope=row | Archives of Ontario | Toronto | 1903 | ||||||
| scope=row | Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec | Montreal | 1920 | ||||||
| scope=row | Nova Scotia Archives | Halifax | 1857 | ||||||
| scope=row | Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre | Yellowknife | 1979 | ||||||
| scope=row | Provincial Archives of Alberta | Edmonton | 1967 | ||||||
| scope=row | Provincial Archives of New Brunswick | Fredericton | 1967 | ||||||
| scope=row | Provincial Archives of Saskatchewan | Regina | 1945 | ||||||
| scope=row | Public Archives and Records Office | Charlottetown | |||||||
| scope=row | The Rooms | St. John's | 2005 |
Some provinces and territories operate additional museums that serve specialized topics.
| scope=col width=12% | Name | scope=col width=1%px class="unsortable" | Photo | scope=col width=8% | City | scope=col width=8% | Province | scope=col width=6% | Year established | scope=col width=10% | Visitors annually | scope=col width=18% class="unsortable" | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| scope=row | Ontario Science Centre | Toronto | 1969 | 900,225 (2019)[14] | Interactive science centre museum for Southern Ontario. | ||||||||
| scope=row | Science North | Sudbury | 1984 | Interactive science centre for Northern Ontario. Also operates Dynamic Earth (founded 2003), an interactive geology and mining museum which is the site of the Big Nickel. | |||||||||
| scope=row | Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology | Drumheller | 1985 | 470,000 (2016–17)[15] | Paleontology museum and research centre. |