Geological Survey of Canada

1. The museum entrance is a storage area for unused 'wet floor' signs, recycling bins, etc, and a vomit of posters on the wall (general science puzzles etc).2. The museum room itself doubles as a storage area for a ladder, unusable coffee machine, mineral-water kegs, etc.3. The 'self-guided tours' pamphlet rack is visible as you exit the museum, not enter it.4. The birthstone display case is particularly dishevelled. The other cases are marginally better.5. The Geological Survey of Canada boards were falling off the walls -- at odd angles, and two were literally on the ground.6. The English/French telephone-receiver equipment telling you about the museum was unplugged from the wall.7. The mannequin of William Logan was vandalized (we corrected this during our visit).8. Most important, the lights in the museum would not work. The building receptionist explained that no more lighting was available. It was difficult to navigate parts of the museum let alone read the text on display.In short, this museum is at best something that will give your children the impression that geology is a dusty old topic to be avoided. At worst, the museum is a safety risk that should be closed to the public tomorrow pending a safety assessment.

This is a great hidden gem, in my opinion. The mineral collection is small, but significant. The place seems to have few visitors, so whenever I visited I could spend a lot of time studying rocks and minerals there. I took my 3 kids there a few times, and one of them became a geological engineer and then got a master's degree in geology. Thank you!