Ontario Science Centre lays off 31 workers, union says

'How can you have an Ontario Science Centre with no science unit?' union local president asks

The Ontario Science Centre has laid off 31 workers, according to the union representing them.

In an emailed statement Thursday, Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) Local 549 said 27 permanent roles and four contract roles at the centre were impacted. In an earlier statement on its website, OPSEU said 30 workers were impacted.

The union said the layoffs eliminated the centre's "standalone science unit."

Scott Clark, spokesperson for Ontario's Tourism Ministry, said the Ontario Science Centre is "making changes to effectively and successfully deliver science learning experiences" and programming at its interim Harbourfront Centre location and future Ontario Place location.

Those changes will create 1,000 new jobs, Clark said in an emailed statement Thursday, noting that there will be "no change" to programming and learning experiences delivered by the centre.

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"New roles will be available for some of the impacted individuals at the interim and permanent [locations]," he said.

Layoffs 'utterly puzzling,' says worker

Martin Fischer was nearing 30 years working as a science educator at the centre when he got the news he was being let go.

"It's utterly puzzling. We are in a trade war with the United States. We're talking about collaborating and celebrating Canadian-made content . It just doesn't fit together, this idea of protecting Canadian content and then making a decision like that," he said.

"I don't really understand it. Everybody that we knew that grew up in the GTA or even a larger area around Toronto knows the science centre and loves the science centre."

Fischer said his first exposure to a science centre happened in Switzerland, where he studied and grew up. He worked there part-time and "fell in love with that environment."

When he immigrated to Canada in 1999, Fischer said the Ontario Science Centre was the "only place where I applied for a job."

"That's my world. That's where I want to be," he said.

Province shuttered science centre in 2024

In 2024, the province abruptly closed the science centre in east Toronto, citing an engineering report that found deficiencies with the roof. Critics have questioned that reasoning given the roof has survived record snowfall and rainfall in the past two years.

The province was working to relocate the science centre to Ontario Place before it closed the old facility, and a business case for the relocation suggested moving the centre could help temper criticism of the other major part of the Ontario Place revitalization: a spa and waterpark from European company Therme.

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The government is currently building a new $1-billion science centre at Ontario Place with the goal to open by 2029.

In an emailed statement Thursday, the Ontario Science Centre said that its mission to deliver science education remains the same, despite "organizational" structure changes.

"As we continue to expand the impact of the Science Centre at our interim location, in schools and communities and plan for the new Ontario Science Centre at Ontario Place, new roles will be created," the emailed statement said.

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Union, advocacy group decry layoffs

The union representing science centre workers was outraged at the layoffs.

"How can you have an Ontario Science Centre with no science unit?" Raluca Ellis, president of OPSEU Local 549, said in a statement posted to the union's website Thursday.

"With these job cuts, over 540 years of combined service would be eliminated."

Jason Ash, co-chair of advocacy group Save Ontario’s Science Centre, said the layoffs reposition the science centre as a "vacation day trip for American tourists" and not an educational destination for kids.

"Without a science department, why is the province bothering to operate a science centre at all?" he said in an emailed statement Thursday.

Ford government defends Ontario Science Centre closure

Adil Shamji, the Liberal provincial legislator who represents the area where the original science centre was located, urged the province to reconsider plans for the new centre and return programming to the old building.

He called the move to eliminate the science department a "real head scratcher."

"What is a science centre without its science staff? It's like a hospital without doctors and nurses or a fire department without firefighters," he said.

3D model of the Ontario Science Centre

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Alina Snisarenko is a Toronto-based journalist. She currently works as a digital writer for CBC Toronto and has previously worked as an associate producer with CBC Radio's Metro Morning. You can reach her with story ideas or tips at alina.snisarenko@cbc.ca.

With files from Liam Casey of The Canadian Press