An Iron Curtain has descended on the Third Floor of the museum severing the public from its past.
Although the public no longer has access to their history galleries, this article might give us an idea of what is going on behind the closed doors.
"almost all of the Royal B.C. Museum’s most signature attractions are being abruptly ripped out in the name of “decolonization.The demolition contracts have already been signed. Starting on Jan. 2, crews will start taking crowbars to life-sized dioramas of a Peace River homestead, a salmon cannery, a Vancouver Island coal mine and HMS Discovery, the flagship of British explorer George Vancouver.
Most notable of all, crews will be ripping out Old Town, the museum’s walk-through recreation of a B.C. community at the Turn of the Century. Lining a model street paved with authentic wooden cobblestones are a Grand Hotel, a blacksmith shop, a movie theatre screening Charlie Chaplin’s The Gold Rush and a railway station where special effects are used to simulate the arrival of trains.
By mid-2022, the only exhibits left unscathed at the Royal B.C. Museum will be its second-floor natural history galleries.”
Who is responsible for the planned elimination of the Old Town?
The Grinch? No, it's The BC NDP. If this is what so called "New Democracy" looks like, it isn't democracy. Maybe they should just change their name to 'The Party' to better reflect their actual actions while in power.
Daniel Muzyka acting CEO. As former Dean of the UBC Sauder School of Business he could have just crossed the street to decimate the galleries at the excellent UBC Museum of Anthropology instead. Rather he picked Victoria for his Brave New World experiment.
The majority of Victoria City Council (discounting Geoff Young and Stephen Andrew who attempted to preserve the Third Floor). I guess for the majority of Victoria Council ruining one Old Town wasn't enough for them. After wrecking one, they crushed the memory of another.
The museum administration. If this is "museum administration" I can't imagine what museum maladministration looks like.
Maybe this article can give us an idea:
"RBCM’s 2021/22 to 2023/24 Service Plan (April 2021) states: “Goal 1: Build back financial stability.” It projects a major increase in museum admission fees from $2.91 million (2021-22 budget) to $6.038 million (2023-24 plan). Meanwhile, the museum has halted the sale of annual memberships. How can RBCM expect to attract more visitors and hit revenue targets — even with feature exhibitions — if it closes the core galleries with no end in sight?
RBCM has also committed to a new $170 million collections and research building in Colwood, slated for a 2025 completion. Under this economic burden, what is the logic behind undercutting the downtown museum’s viability as a tourist attraction indefinitely?
The museum’s Annual Service Plan Report (July 26, 2021) says it budgeted $390,000 for “professional services” in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2021, but spent $1.93 million — nearly five times as much. This report adds that “Other Expenses” — including “professional services for project work on the Museum Modernization project” — ran $4.34 million over budget. Will massive cost overruns also be acceptable as the museum’s redevelopment stretches beyond 2022?
The Annual Service Plan Report states: “In addition to the museum’s internal COVID-19 response, in 2021 the museum received additional funding of $3.4 million from the Province. The operations of the [Crown] Corporation are dependent on continued funding from the Province of British Columbia.” With such dependency on BC taxpayer funding and the uncertainty around COVID-19, is it sound fiscal judgement to shut down a popular museum floor with no plan in place?
What is the upper time limit on the third-floor closures? Two years? Five years? Longer?"
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/royal-bc-museum-decolonization-exhibit-closure-plan
It seems that what this museum really needs is a thorough audit.
Millions of dollars over budget using taxpayer funds and potentially the same for years to come, while the dysfunctional museum gets its act together about what to do with the Third Floor.
Does this all sound eerily familiar? Déjà vu perhaps? Let's flashback to the 1990s, when the NDP spent millions of dollars constructing the dysfunctional Fast Cat Ferries, a project noted for its massive cost overruns, faulty designs and delays. The Fast Cat Ferry Scandal caused the most massive political wipeout in NDP history.
Now the NDP are responsible for a situation that makes the Fast Cat Ferry Scandal look like peanuts.
"Site C dam budget nearly doubles to $16B"
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/site-c-announcement-friday-1.5928719
"British Columbia’s Site C dam to cost $16 billion, delayed until 2025"
https://www.jwnenergy.com/article/2021/3/1/british-columbias-site-c-dam-to-cost-16-billion-de/
"The most expensive dam in Canadian history: cost of B.C.’s Site C dam balloons to $16 billion
Premier John Horgan defends decision to push ahead with beleaguered BC Hydro project, which has nearly doubled in cost under NDP government as a result of escalating safety issues "
"Site C dam continuation a form of ‘cultural genocide’: West Moberly First Nations Chief"
https://thenarwhal.ca/bc-site-c-dam-16-billion-horgan/
"Site C will have more significant adverse environmental effects than any project ever examined in the history of Canada’s Environmental Assessment Act"
https://www.hilltimes.com/2019/05/06/198550/198550"B.C.'s Site C dam project behind schedule, plagued by problems, expert claims"
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/b-c-s-site-c-dam-project-behind-schedule-plagued-by-problems-expert-claims-1.4754337
"Canada’s $7 Billion Dam Tests the Limits of State Power"
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/10/world/canada/canadas-7-billion-dam-tests-the-limits-of-state-power.html
If Horgan's NDP are going to clean up their act and avoid years of press coverage over their cost overruns and delays, then preserving instead of destroying The Old Town is a good place to start. If not, they might just relegate themselves to the dustbin of history, just like the Socreds and the NDP's own 1990s predecessors.
Please contact the following to share your thoughts about the closure of the Old Town and its Elimination:
Premier John Horgan:
premier@gov.bc.ca or by phone at 1-250-387-1715.
Minister of Finance and Deputy Premier Carole James:
FIN.Minister@gov.bc.ca
(250) 387-3751
Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport Melanie Mark
melanie.mark.mla@leg.bc.ca
For more information contact BCMuseumPetition@mail.com