Royal BC Museum seeking public input on its future

Artistic rendering of the cancelled redevelopment of the Royal BC Museum in Victoria. (Government of BC)

The Royal BC Museum is kicking off the second phase of its public consultation process on reimagining its future.

This ongoing public consultation, which first began in early 2023, follows the cancellation of the previous controversial plans in 2022 to permanently close the existing museum complex in downtown Victoria for a complete redevelopment into a new $800 million modern museum building.

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The latest phase of the public consultation will seek input on the future of the Victoria museum, which is deemed to be highly seismically vulnerable. The potential directions for moving forward with renewing the current museum complex include a replacement, renovation, or a combination of both strategies.

Other survey questions relate to the type of exhibitions, programming, and reconciliation considerations that should be in place.

“The Royal BC Museum truly belongs to the people of British Columbia, so we’re committed to ensuring people from all corners of the province feel welcomed, included, and represented by their museum and archives,” said Tracey Drake, the acting CEO of the Royal BC Museum, in a statement today.

“It is so important for everyone to have the opportunity to participate in this process and we’re really looking forward to hearing the thoughts and ideas from people across British Columbia.”

The online survey is now open and will close at the end of March 2024. The entire public consultation is expected to wrap up by next winter.

Although the Victoria museum renewal project is now back on the drawing board, the provincial government has proceeded with the separate project of building a new satellite museum facility for collections and storage in the Greater Victoria municipality of Colwood. This 164,000 sq ft satellite facility, built at a cost of $270 million, will be the new home of the vast majority of the museum’s collections when it is not on display. Currently, these collections are located in the basement of the existing museum in Victoria, which is at risk of flooding.

In Summer 2023, the Royal BC Museum reopened a substantial portion of its Old Town gallery with some changes, after a public outcry over the previous plans for its permanent closure and demolition.

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