Alberta eliminates funding for 119-year-old historical society

EDMONTON — A volunteer historical society that’s almost as old as Alberta itself is concerned the province’s past may be forgotten after its funding was eliminated.

Historical Society of Alberta president Lorien Johansen says the group’s annual funding of $76,000 was left out of the provincial government’s latest budget.

She said in an interview Monday that she knew the government was facing a $9.4-billion deficit, but questioned why her organization’s funding didn’t make the cut.

“It works out to 0.00081 per cent of the projected deficit,” Johansen said.

Arts and Culture Minister Tanya Fir’s office wouldn’t offer details on why the funding was eliminated, but called it a “tough budget.”

In a statement, Fir’s press secretary said the government’s budget commits millions in funding to other historical preservation efforts, such as the provincial archives and museums.

“Additionally, Alberta’s Community Initiative Program supports non-profits with funding of up to $75,000, and the Historical Society of Alberta remains eligible to apply,” said Juliana Rodriguez.

Johansen said the society, which was founded by the province’s first premier Alexander Rutherford in 1907, isn’t at risk of folding, but there’s not much it can do without the funding.

This means publications the society puts out will be delayed, research it helps fund might not be done, and community events put on by the society’s five regional chapters to celebrate and promote local history won’t take place, she said.

“We are the ones that preserve your history as an individual, whether that is the stories your grandparents would tell, the artifacts that end up in museums, the documents and the photos that you end up looking back on,” Johansen said.

“Without a historical society collecting all of that information, those things get lost to time, to Mother Nature, to people passing away.”

Johansen said the loss of funding also means the society might not be able to advocate for preserving certain districts or places as effectively as it has in the past.

Another concern is that Alberta’s tourism industry, which Premier Danielle Smith’s government wants to see grow substantially, will be harmed, she said.

“By removing our ability to support the promotion and publication and restoration of history, you are hurting the tourism industry because those things will start to fall away,” she said.

“If we lose the ability or have the ability severely diminished to preserve those stories, they will eventually be lost. I don’t know that I can quantify that with a concrete dollar figure.”

She said the society is entirely volunteer-run, with about 25,000 hours of work each year.

Opposition NDP arts and culture critic Joe Ceci said he didn’t understand what the government’s goal was.

“If we lose this information, if we lose this knowledge, we’re all worse off as a society,” he said.

“Seems like it’s a small amount of money for a big impact, and I’m going to be pressing for the reversal of this bad decision.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 10, 2026.

Jack Farrell, The Canadian Press