When Allan Hackett announced the news to City Council last night, the mayor asked him to say it again in case anyone missed it

The Sault Ste. Marie Museum will be one of just two community museums in Canada that will offer a special Vimy Ridge anniversary exhibit prepared by the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa.

The 100th anniversary travelling exhibit will be in the Sault from April to August of 2017, museum chair Allan Hackett announced last night.

Hackett's announcement was greeted with applause at a special budget meeting of City Council.

In fact, Mayor Christian Provenzano asked him to repeat the news, in case anyone missed it.

The capture of Vimy Ridge in northern France in April 1917 is considered by many to be a defining moment in Canadian history, when Canadian troops first became an effective and renowned fighting unit, Hackett said.

More than 10,500 Canadians were killed or wounded in the successful operation.

More than 100,000 French casualties were reported in earlier attempts to seize the strategic high ground from German troops

The exhibit's visit to Sault Ste. Marie was arranged by Julia Piskiewicz, the museum's new director/curator.

Hackett said there will be costs involved in bringing the Vimy Ridge exhibit here, but he's optimistic that grant money will be found to make the visit a break-even proposition.

The Sault Ste. Marie Museum at 690 Queen Street East has 200,000 images and 10,000 artifacts that are accessible to researchers.

Hackett also said that the Sault Ste. Marie Museum is looking into establishing new partnerships in the community, specifically with Algoma University and Ontario Indian Residential School Support Services.

Last night, Hackett asked for a "modest" increase of 2.5 percent to three percent in 2017 over the city's 2016 contribution of $177,540 toward the museum's operating expenses of $234,800.



"Without your ongoing support at a fairly consistent level to that which we have, we would be in some jeopardy," Hackett told city councillors.