Connecting Our City's Past to its Next Great Tourism Opportunity

Niagara's Unique Revenue Opportunity-- and why I need to get in front of James Cameron

Once listed on Forbes' 100 Most Influential People, filmmaker James Cameron credits a Niagara Falls high school teacher, Ian McKenzie, for believing in him before anyone else did. As a teenager at our own Stamford Collegiate, Cameron wrote his first script-- titled "Paradise"-- and gifted it to his classmate and friend Richard Dawson. When Dawson passed away in 2016, the whereabouts of the script became unknown. It's been reported that he may have made a copy and shared it with Cameron before his passing.

So where is the script today? And who owns it?

This Fall, Niagara Falls tourism rose 20%, thanks in part to Niagara Takes Flight-- our first new attraction in three years, voiced by none other than James Cameron himself.

If Cameron still has that original script, and were to donate it to the community that shaped him, similar pieces of film history have sold for over $200,000.

$200,000 might be a drop in the bucket for the tourism industry-- but it's a spark for cultural legacy.

A more meaningful path might be to display the script permanently at the Niagara Falls History Museum, honouring both Cameron's creative roots and Dawson's memory.

According to the City's 2023 Financial Report, revenue from Recreation and Culture User Fees grew 33.75% from 2022 to 2023-

and with tourism still rising in Canada, imagine what a unique, heartfelt story like this could mean for our city's future growth.

This is how we build.