By JAMES FINK
jfink@bizjournals.com | 716-541-1611

Nearly 200 hundred years after one of the bloodiest confrontations during the War of 1812, the Canadian government will be opening an expanded Niagara Falls History Museum and visitors center where the Battle of Lundy's Lane took place.

The expanded museum is designed to welcome visitors to the site of the U.S.-British fight that left 171 American soldiers dead and another 572 wounded on July 25, 1814.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper was in Niagara Falls May 21 to announce the $12 million project, which will be constructed at the corner of Ferry and Main streets, a few blocks from Clifton Hill and the Niagara Fallsview Casino Resort.

The museum is considered a key element in the Niagara Region's effort to attract more cultural and historical tourism-based visitors. It will serve as a backdrop for the War of 1812 celebration planned in Southern Ontario and Erie and Niagara counties.

"We should get ready to re-tell the stories of our ancestors," Harper said. "What happened at Lundy's Lane made a huge difference for what flag people salute on this side of the (Niagara) river. Canada's destiny and identity was decided at Lundy's Lane."

The museum project is being funded by the City of Niagara Falls, the Canadian federal government and the Province of Ontario. The funds come from allocations made in the Building Canada Fund Communities Component, a federal stimulus program the Harper government created in early 2009.

At the center of the project is a 9,000-square-foot addition to the current, circa 1874 building that houses the Niagara Falls History Museum. A portion of the $12 million will go to repairs at a nearby Lundy's Lane cemetery, where many of the soldiers are buried.

Niagara Falls Mayor Ted Salci said the museum will play a central role in revitalizing his city's Drummondville neighborhood. It will attract visitors and, hopefully, create a need for spin-off development.

The museum is expected to open in June 2012 and kick off a 1,000-day-long observance of the War of 1812.

Harper, while in Niagara Falls, addressed a number of other topics. Among them:

• The economy, more than border-crossing issues, will ultimately determine if the tourism industry on both sides of the Niagara River can rebound, he said.

• Harper acknowledged the days of a seamless border between the United States and Canada are long gone. Travelers must have proper documentation - a passport, Nexus card or some other form of approved identification - before entering either country.

"To be honest, I don't think we will ever see the border the way it was before September 2001," Harper said in a brief interview with Business First.

His visit coincided with the one-year anniversary of the proper-documentation requirement under the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative. Tighter regulations took effect last June 1.

Harper said he continues to work with the U.S. government on WHTI-related issues to see if anything needs to be tweaked. Locally, many blame WHTI for the drop in cross-border traffic, but he disputes that notion.

"It has had an impact on tourism, I'll give you that," Harper said. "But I think the economy played a larger role."