Diefenbaker Canada Centre Funding Responsibilities Transferred

Posted March 10, 1998


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - March 9, 1998
98-03-04-OTHER

Diefenbaker Canada Centre funding
responsibilities transferred

Dr. George Ivany, President of the University of Saskatchewan, has
announced a major change in the funding of the Diefenbaker Canada
Centre. Since 1990 the Diefenbaker Society, a national non-profit and
non-partisan foundation, has supported the campus facility with grants.
The Society has decided to relinquish its fund raising responsibilities and
to turn over the majority of the funds it currently administers to the
University as a fund for the Centre.

Dr. Ivany stressed that the nearly $2 million that has been transferred is
not new money for the Centre. The Society raised that revenue to support
the Centre, and that is what it will be used for, he said. The real
significance of the change is that, rather than relying on the Society to
raise its revenue, the Centre will now be responsible for its own fund
raising.

Dr. Ivany thanked the Diefenbaker Society for its generous support over
the past several years. In addition to the $2 million the Society has
recently transferred, since 1990 the Society has given the University of
Saskatchewan $1.5 million toward the operation of the Centre.

R. Bruce Shepard, Director of the Diefenbaker Canada Centre, echoed Dr.
Ivany s praise of the Society. Without their support we would have closed
years ago, he said. Shepard added that the new arrangement will be a
challenge for the Centre because with current low interest rates the fund
will not generate enough revenue to pay all of the bills. The Centre
currently requires $350,000 per year to operate adequately. The fund
provided by the Diefenbaker Society will provide approximately $100,000
per year, and the Centre raises an additional $100,000 per year from other
sources. We will have to get out and fund raise along with everyone else,
said Shepard. Shepard says the Centre will need to raise an additional
$150,000 annually.

The Diefenbaker Canada Centre is the only Prime Ministerial centre in the
country. It houses the collections and papers of the late John G.
Diefenbaker, Canada s thirteenth Prime Minister. It opened in 1980, and
since then has expanded its mandate to become a centre of Canadian
Studies with themes of citizenship, leadership, and Canada s international
role. The federal government supported the Centre throughout most of its
existence. That support was terminated in 1990, and the Diefenbaker
Society was formed to raise revenue on behalf of the Centre. There are
two other small endowments that also support its activities, both of which
the University of Saskatchewan administers.


For more information please contact:

R. Bruce Shepard
The Diefenbaker Canada Centre
University of Saskatchewan
(306) 966-8382