Halifax's Pier 21 will become Canada's newest national museum, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced Thursday.

The national museum, only the second outside Ottawa, will be dedicated to the recognition and celebration of the contributions of immigrants and new Canadians to this country's cultural history and heritage.

“Pier 21 symbolizes who we are — a nation of newcomers bonded together by a common quest for freedom, opportunity and democracy,” Harper said at the announcement, made after a tour of Pier 21.

The federal government will pump about $15 million for development and operations into Pier 21, which opened as a museum in 1999.

Pier 21, now a National Historic Site, will become the National Immigration Museum.

Between 1928 and 1971, 1.5 million people passed through the gates at Pier 21. During the Second World War, 50,000 war brides and their 22,000 children and more than 100,000 refugees passed through Pier 21.

After the war, hundreds of thousands more followed as Canada opened its doors to those looking for a new home.

There are four national museums in Canada: the National Gallery of Canada, the Canadian Museum of Civilization, the Canadian Museum of Nature and the National Museum of Science and Technology.

A fifth national museum, the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, is under construction in Winnipeg.