Ontario Science Centre allowing attrition to shrink workforce after closure

Some 34 workers have left the Ontario Science Centre since the iconic attraction was abruptly shut down in the summer of 2024, with its exhibits moved to pop-up locations while the government searched for an interim location.

In June 2024, the Ford government announced the science centre at Don Mills and Eglinton would permanently close, pointing to a report that raised concerns about the structural integrity of its roof.

The closure went from being announced to being enacted in a matter of hours, although political staff had spent more than a week planning it and working with engineers to finalize the independent report.

Critics complained the decision to close the historic site was driven by a desire to bolster the government’s vision for Ontario Place rather than immediate safety concerns, which they argued could have been addressed with investment in repairs.

When the attraction closed, smaller pop-ups were opened at Harborfront Centre and in Sherway Mall, with the workforce slowly reducing to match the diminished venues.

A spokesperson for the science centre confirmed to Global News that the number of workers employed by the attraction had reduced from 219 when it closed in June 2024 to 185 full-time staff. Nobody had been forced out, they said.

“To be clear, there were no job losses resulting from the closure of the facility at 770 Don Mills Road,” the spokesperson wrote in a statement.

“Approximately half of the change in FTEs is directly attributable to regular exits, primarily retirements. The remaining variance reflects normal workforce movement, including natural attrition, and routine operational fluctuations driven by seasonal demand.”

Advocates, however, say the figure doesn’t include contract workers who used to offer services like catering at the Don Mills location — and they worry the number could be reduced again when the science centre moves from its pop-up status to an interim location this year.

“Attrition is just another word for downsizing,” Jason Ash, co-founder of Save Ontario Science Centre, said.

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“Attrition is people leaving who you don’t replace, and you don’t feel the need to replace them because you’re not going to have the same level of programming, same quality of programming or same access to programming.”

The next stage for the science centre, which will eventually reopen at Ontario Place, will be an interim location at Harbourfront Centre.

The temporary science centre will open with a larger footprint than the current pop-up exhibit, at about 86,000 square feet. It will still be a fraction of the size of the old location, which was 568,000 square feet.

The last update from the government on when the science centre would open at Ontario Place came in June from Ford, who said “hopefully 2029.”

The science centre’s spokesperson would not say how many staff would be employed at the interim location.

“Specific job numbers for the Ontario Science Centre at Ontario Place, as well as for the interim location at Harbourfront Centre, have not been finalized,” they told Global News.

“Any early assumptions about job numbers would be premature.”

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