International Museum of World Peace, Argentia, NL

It would be a fitting memorial, if on the sites of the former communities of Argentia and Marquise, demolished in support of the war effort in 1941, an International Museum of World Peace and United Nations Global Peace Village could arise, in commemoration of the sacrifices made in world war and to promote the cause of peace and human rights in the 21st Century.                 

Master Plan 2002, Back Cover

Festival of Flags Inc. -  Proponent of the International Museum of World Peace, Argentia, NL
Festival of Flags Inc. envisions development of the heritage resources of the Placentia Bay area [notably the assets and outlying sites of the former United States Base at Argentia], into a world-class War and Peace themed interpretive complex for the 21st century.

The vision features a core museological component and also places value on the preservation and interpretation of original in-situ base elements (artillery emplacements, bunkers etc.). Of additional importance are conservation requirements for the unspoilt natural environment around the project (the Argentia Backlands Heritage Trail), developed by the Argentia Management Authority.

Festival of Flags has been and continues to work to attract sponsorship and support internationally from public and corporate sources, to recruit international museum partners and draw in the United Nations Organisation (UNO), whose spiritual birthplace is at the Atlantic Charter anchorage site in Argentia Harbour, off Ship Harbour, in Placentia Bay.

It is hoped the UNO and other international partners will develop a sustained interest and investment in this project that supports the cause of international peace generally. This would include development of the Atlantic Charter Site, development and and maintenance of a UN Global Peace Village (perhaps on the base site or the North East Arm campsite) for conferences, secure negotiation/retreats etc. The Peace Centre would also include a permanent (Art) exhibit of UN peace objects/works as a complement to the Museum.

This major development will be an important cultural tourism travel generator/destination for the province at the Avalon Gateway to the Province of NL.  It will be integrated with the province’s current planning to develop heritage resources for the 21st century tourism market, targeting international travellers and especially the US market.

Freshwater Travellers Loop:  takes the hiker from Freshwater, the community in which many of the former residents of Argentia resettled in 1941, leaving Argentia to make way for the construction of the U.S. Military Base. This heritage trail passes alongside Holy Rosary Cemetery where the remains of the three graveyards at Argentia were reinterred in a Common Grave in 1942, after the expropriation of the homes and properties of the Argentia people was completed.

Backlands Trails: leaving the Argentia Visitor Information Center that houses the visual arts exhibit "Argentia at War" and connects the hiker with Argentia Sunset RV Park, and Backlands
Trails with over 16 km (10 mi) of trails, containing the remaining US. military heritage resources, ie. gun bunkers. 

Objectives

Development of a world-class, war-peace museum/peace complex at Argentia oriented to 21st century persepctives and targeting 21st century audiences.

Development of a major operational United Nations facility.

Development of a “gateway” anchor tourism/travel generator for the provincial and regional economy. Scoped to be financially self-sustaining and in scale with its potential market, this project has potential for positive impacts on the entire Eastern Canadian regional economy.  

Phase 1 – 2    Argentia at War & Digitized Database
The renamed  “International Museum of World Peace” completed its third of five phases by fall, 2003.  Phase 1, the media display “Argentia at War” opened to public acclaim on July 4th, 1998, at the Argentia Visitor Information Center (VIC).  Festival next moved to Phase 2- undertaking a digitized database of local artifact collections and enhancing the media display with artifact exhibitry. Both phases were funded by the Government of Canada, through Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, Services Canada, and the Province of NL., through the Department of Tourism, Culture and Recreation, and the Department of Industry, Trade, and Rural Development.   

Phase 3 - The Master Plan supporting the International Museum of World Peace, Argentia, NL
In Phase 3 Festival commissioned this Master Planning Study/Prospectus involving a design dialogue on the physical form and siting of the Museum together with a business analysis- all based on the potential of the historical background and assets of the locality. Also advanced was the complementary concept of a UN Global Peace Village.

This Prospectus has solid museum ideas and is well founded in business and marketing analysis. The War/Peace rationale of the Museum is well described in detailed physical planning and operational scenarios. The floor plans delineate room uses and visitor flow throughout the building. This Prospectus includes several illustrations, one an artist’s landscape which places the Museum in context, setting the tone and scale of the project.  Beyond physical organization, there is a comprehensive Business Plan and marketing analysis. The visitor profile deduced is the now familiar, early 21st- century cultural tourist-mature, quality-conscious, well- travelled, well-educated, and keen to learn.

The United Nations Global Peace Village
The UN Global Peace Village concept commands attention and will evolve with international response to this Prospectus. Placentia Bay has a special place in the history of world peace.  In the nearby anchorage of Ship Harbour in Argentia Harbour and at the height of the World War crisis in 1941, while the last of the homes in Argentia were being bulldozed and demolished and its people evicted, the Atlantic Charter was agreed between Prime Minister Churchill and President Roosevelt. A foundation document for the United Nations, the Charter set down principles of international justice, human rights and peaceful co-existence for the post-war world.

The Peace Village is a recreational and cultural concept, envisioning conference and retreat venues together with exhibit opportunities.  Examples of international peace-building programs that could be developed here include: a United Nations Gallery displaying peace-oriented artwork; childrens’ art, both war victims and those pressed into war service. The Peace Village could serve as a diplomatic retreat, a venue for academic and public debate, and for international youth conferences on world peace issues.

Such a facility, built on the defunct military base at Argentia and adjacent to the Atlantic Charter site, would embody the very hope of sustained peace and the commitment of the international community to the struggle for human rights and world peace. In brief, Festival has adopted the former bastion at Argentia as a venue to accommodate UN initiatives for meaningful dialogue on all topical War & Peace questions.

Phase 1 – 4 -  Partners in the International Museum of World Peace, Argentia, NL
Phases 1 - 4 were carried out as a full partnership between the Provincial Museum of Newfoundland and Labrador and Festival of Flags Inc.  Funding during these phases for the project came from:  Argentia Management Authority, Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, and Human Resources Development Canada. Funding and in kind support were also provided by the Province of NL through the Department of Tourism, Culture, and Recreation, Works Services Transportation and, Industry, Trade, and Rural Development.

United Nations provides support to the International Museum of World Peace, July, 2000
In July, 2000, during a meeting among Festival of Flags Project Manager, Elaine Murray, Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Honorable Walter Noel, and his Policy Assistant, Lori Legge, with the Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations, Gillian Sorensen, a commitment was given by the United Nations to provide future support to the Festival of Flags, in support of  the continued development of the war to peace Museum at Argentia.  Contributions from the United Nations to include: research, documentation, peace art (by children at war) and peace objects, guest speakers, and dignitaries.

2002 Argentia Management Authority donated land at Argentia to Festival of Flags, as the site location for the construction of a war to peace museum at Argentia.  Please see Museum Master Plan - letter from AMA and letter of acceptance from Festival of Flags.

Phases 1-4 – International Museum of World Peace Brochure
Please see Museum site map with recruited international museum partners presented in Festival of Flags' Peace Museum Brochure, first produced in 2003 by Festival and reissued in 2009 under the renamed International Museum of World Peace (2009). Please see below.

First Targeted Opening Date of the International Museum of World Peace, Argentia, NL
The first targeted Official Opening date of the Peace Museum was July 1, 2006. 

Phase 4   International Museum Partners for the International Museum of World Peace
Between 2001-2002, Festival of Flags Project Manager, Elaine Murray, participated in Team Canada Trade Missions to the Russian Federation, Germany, Senegal, Nigeria, South Africa, and France. 

Project Manager signed Memoranda of Partnership and Agreement on behalf of the Festival of Flags, in support of the continued development of the International Museum of World Peace, with international museums of the above mentioned nations.  International museum partners agreed to provide visual arts exhibit, historical research, and documentation to the International Museum of World Peace.
 
2002  United States Military Centers, Washington, D.C.  
In the fall of 2002, shortly after the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Washington, D.C., Festival of Flags Project Manager, Elaine Murray, met with the Directors of the five U.S. Military Historical Centers in Washington, D.C. including: Navy, Army, Air Force, Coast Guard, and Marine Corps. The five U.S. Military Historical Centers agreed to provide support for the continued development of the International Museum of World Peace, to include, research and documentation, and artifacts.

Project Manager, Elaine Murray, was given a tour of the Pentagon by a Lieutenant Colonel, United States Army, to view damages made by the airplane that flew into the Pentagon during the terrorist attack several months earlier. The Pentagon wall was in the process of being reconstructed at the time of the Project Manager's visit to the Pentagon.

Since the World Trade Center terrorist attack, September 11, 2001
Since the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, September 11th, 2001, funding from the federal and provincial governments to complete Phase 5 and Phase 6 of the International Museum of World Peace, required to carry this project forward to completion, has not been forthcoming.

2003 Team Canada Trade Missions
Team Canada Trade Mission to Holland, Italy (and to the Vatican), and Great Britain, planned by International Trade in 2003 was cancelled due to the threat of terrorist attack.  Festival of Flags was invited to participate in this Trade Mission and planned to recruit these three national museum partners for the International Museum of World Peace at Argentia.

2003 Onwards
Since 2003, long term, strategic planning by Festival of Flags has continued to advance the development of the peace project at Argentia, slowly but very deliberately, towards the 100
Anniversary of WW 1 and the 70th Anniversary of the End of WW 11......

2004  Festival of Flags participates in Canada Forum, Paris, France, during the Year of the
French in NL
Festival of Flags Project Manager recruited two French speaking African nations, Cote d'Ivoire and Niger, on a government sponsored Canada Trade Forum to Paris, France, in the Year of the French in NL. in 2004.  Senior officials of these African nations signed the Memorandum of Cooperation with Festival of Flags at the Canada Forum, becoming full partners in the International Museum of World Peace at Argentia.

Time did not permit a visit by Festival of Flags' Project Manager to the Caen Peace Museum, adjacent to the Normandy Beaches.  It had been strongly recommended to Festival of Flags by Festival 's Russian and German museum peace partners that it would be very fitting to invite France's Ceen Peace Museum, adjacent to the Normandy Beaches, to become the French national museum partner supporting the completion of  the International Museum of World Peace Peace at Argentia. 

Festival of Flags plans  to extend a second invitation, drafted in French, to the Director of the Caen Peace Museum, France.

2005 -  60th Anniversary of the End of WW 11 and the Year of the Veteran Commemorative Book - The Royal Canadian Legion, Branch # 33, Placentia
Project Manager, Elaine Murray, researched and drafted The Royal Canadian Legion Commemorative Book for the 60th Anniversary of the End of WWII and the Year of the Veteran, in 2005, covering the Placentia Area and from Ship Harbour to the Cape Shore.

2006 - 2011 Festival of Flags, in partnership with The Royal Canadian Legion, Branch #33, Placentia, conducted a three phased Placentia Bay Military History Research project.  
Since 2006, with funding support from the Government of Canada and the Province of NL and in partnership with The Royal Canadian Legion, Branch # 33, Placentia, Festival of Flags conducted two additional phases of research into the military history of the Placentia Bay, especially the men and women who served in world wars, some of whom made the ultimate sacrifice in WWI, WWII, Korean Conflict, and Peacekeeping.

2009 - International Museum of the Atlantic Allies renamed the International Museum of World
Peace in 2009
Festival of Flags Board of Directors voted unamimously to change the name of the International Museum of the Atlantic Allies to the International Museum of World Peace in 2009.

July 1, 2016 - New Targeted Official Opening Date of the International Museum of World Peace, at Argentia, NL set by the Festival of Flags Board of Directors and Management

2010 -  Land Clearance at the International Museum of World Peace Site Location – Parking Areas
In 2010, site development work at the Peace Museum site included the designation and clearance of the parking areas for the International Museum of World Peace.

2010   Signage for the International Museum of World Peace Installed
In 2010, International Museum of World Peace signage was installed on the site of the approved International Museum of World Peace, Argentia.

2011-2014  Garden of Memories – Peace Museum Site
Festival of Flags is planning to commemorate the hundreds of women and men of the former and resettled communities of Placentia Bay, many of whom made the ultimate sacrifice, including those of the former communities of Argentia and Marquise and her 33 areas of settlement,- who served in World War I and World War II, Korean Conflict, and Peacekeeping, in the Garden of Memories at the Peace Museum site.  Too many of these NL men have never yet been commemorated.

Festival of Flags is planning to install a Wall of Memory in the Garden of Memories, at the very forefront of the International Museum of World Peace site, on or before July 1, 2014. The Wall of Memory will contain the names of these NL men and women who served and died in world war.

2011 - 2012  Design  and Planning the International Museum of World Peace Site
Design and landscape planning for the Wall of Memories, in the Garden of Memories, and on the approved site of the International Museum of World Peace, was carried out by Architectural
Consultant, Roger Mullin Design, Halifax, Nova Scotia, in December, 2011-January, 2012.  

This design and planning work has already provided welcome support for funding applications to government and corporate sponsors.  Roger Mullin Design, Architectural Consultant, will continue required design work at the Peace Museum site in spring, 2012. 

Roger Mullin Design, a welcome, new Peace Museum Partner of the International Museum of World Peace, was recruited by Festival of Flags at the North Atlantic Forum - Culture, Place, and Identity, sponsored by the Harris Center, Memorial University of NL, October, 2011, in St. John's, NL.  

Government of Canada /  Festival of Flags
A funding application was submitted to the Government of Canada by the Festival of Flags in January, 2012. 

Province of NL  / Festival of Flags
A funding application, in support of the Wall of Memories in the Garden of Memories, on the approved Peace Museum site, Argentia, is being submitted to the Province of NL in February, 2012.  A presentation will be made by  Festival of Flags to senior officials in the Government of NL in late February, 2012.

Government of NL, Government of Canada, Government of the United States of America, and Government of Great Britain
Festival of Flags plans to invite the Government of NL, Government of Canada, the Government of Great Britain, and the Government of the United States of America to participate in the upcoming 100th Anniversary Commemorations on the former United States Military Base at Argentia, at the International Museum of World Peace site.

Festival of Flags will formally invite each partner to play its role, along with our community partners, during commemoration ceremonies planned at the Wall of Memories at the Garden of Memories on the Peace Museum site, on the former site of the United States Military Base and former community of Argentia.

Fund Raising for the International Museum of World Peace will begin in spring, 2012

Phase 5-6 – Construction, to completion, of the International Museum of World Peace to its Targeted Official Opening, Argentia, NL., July, 2016        
July 1, 2016, is the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Beaumont Hamel in France.  It would be highly appropriate if international, national, federal, provincial and corporate funding allowed for the completion of the Wall of Memories, in the Garden of Memories and, for the construction of the International Museum of World Peace, in advance of the 100th Anniversary of the Battle of Beaumont Hamel.

To the cause of peace and human rights in the world ..  
It remains to be seen what the Official Opening date of the International Museum of World Peace at Argentia will be.  However, the International Museum of World Peace needs to be ready to connect with the growing numbers of Peace Museums partners internationally in the 21st C.

For those who hold sacred the cause of peace and human rights in our world, this day will surely arrive.  With the help of international, federal and provincial governments, private donors, and Festival of Flags' international museum partners, the International Museum of World Peace at Argentia will come into being at the Avalon Gateway to the Province of NL, to carry out cooperative peace efforts with all other Peace Museum partners around the world in the 21st C.    

Thousands of NL. men and women who served, some of whom made the ultimate sacrifice during the two major world wars in the 20th century, this most violent period of human history, will be commemorated at Argentia, during the 100th Anniversary of WWI and the 70th Anniversary of WWII. The voices of our NL war dead will not be silent forever.

The Province of Newfoundland and Labrador and her people will finally take its rightful, hard earned place as acknowledged contributors and participants in the international affairs of the human family in the 20th C. NL's own sons and daugthers suffered greatly and sacrificed much in the 20th C struggle to create a world dedicated to the cause of human rights and world peace in the 21st C.