agreement, the McMichaels would maintain a degree of curatorial control, occupy two of the five seats in the museum's Board of Trustees, and permission to continue inhabiting the property, and be buried there. The McMichaels continued to reside on the property until museum operations made it no longer possible; with the Government of Ontario providing them a home in Caledon. In the months after the agreement was made, work was undertaken to re-purpose the property into an art museum, and prepare the exhibits for its collection. The property was formally opened to the public on 8 July 1966 as the McMichael Conservation Collection of Art. Robert McMichael served as the museum's first director, holding the position until resigning in 1981. In 1968, Group of Seven member A. Y. Jackson suggested that the museum serve as the burial ground for himself, and other members of the group. The proposal was later accepted by the museum, with a cemetery for Group of Seven members prepared on the property of the museum. Shortly before his death, Jackson spent a significant portion of his time painting on the property, and serving as the institution's artist-in-residence. In 1969, the museum's mandate was amended to expand the scope of the museum's collection and scope to include works of similar nature that reflect the "cultural heritage of Canada"; with approval from Robert McMichael, and the Premier of Ontario, John Robarts. An increase in attendance rates, and its collection led to the institution being formally incorporated as a crown corporation of Ontario on 30 November 1972, when the McMichael Canadian Art Collection Act received Royal Assent. In 1981, the museum's Board of Governors formally requested the province to amend the institution's governing act, so it is governed only by the 1972 act, and not by the 1965 agreement as well. The following dispute led to Robert McMichael's resignation as the museum's director, and an amendment to the Act in 1982 that named McMichael as the institution's "Founder, Director-Emeritus," and elevated the importance of indigenous Canadian works in its collection. In the 1990s, the Robert McMichael challenged the Board and the province that it had deviated from its original mandate agreed upon. In McMichael v. Ontario, the court originally ruled that changes to the museum's mandate should not have been permitted. The decision was later overturned in the Court of Appeal for Ontario in 1997; and the Supreme Court