Oshawa's Canadian Automotive Museum hit with nearly $3,000 in city nuisance fines

The Canadian Automotive Museum in downtown Oshawa says the City of Oshawa has fined it nearly $3,000 under loitering and nuisance rules, a penalty the non-profit charity says it is contesting while it grapples with recurring unwanted activity on its property at 99 Simcoe St. S.

Museum officials told Durham Radio News the first fine arrived last week and two more followed, bringing the total to nearly $3,000. They say they spend growing amounts of staff time and limited charitable funds managing trespassing, vandalism, littering, broken windows, copper theft from air-conditioning units and open drug use on the property.

Before the fines were issued, the museum says it wrote to the city requesting a meeting about the ongoing challenges and asked for improvements around the museum. It has installed security cameras and hired additional staff, but says it cannot afford 24/7 private security. A museum spokesman said the concern is not the money but the underlying issues that remain; the museum has operated in downtown Oshawa for more than 60 years and intends to stay in the heritage building it owns.