Petition to Save the Third Floor of the Royal BC Museum

G Huxley

New Member
Nov 16, 2021
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Please sign the petition to save the Third Floor of the Royal BC Museum, which is under attack by the NDP government and related political forces more interested in hiding and eliminating history than in preserving it. The Third Floor, which for many constitutes the core of the museum, is scheduled to close on January 2nd and whole sections are planned to be removed and eliminated.

The petition is located here:
https://www.change.org/p/save-the-third-floor-of-the-royal-bc-museum

The planned closure has been announced in the Times Colonist:
https://www.timescolonist.com/local...remove-old-town-settler-displays-ship-4719972

The following is an excellent riposte written by an indigenous writer:

https://www.timescolonist.com/opini...ts-museums-discovery-or-old-town-gone-4731034

Please sign the petition and then forward this message and/or petition to as many people as you can think of.

P.S. Did you know that the museum was founded in 1886 as the result of a petition with only 30 signatures?

https://learning.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/pathways/the-royal-treatment/petition2/
 
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petros

The Central Scrutinizer
Nov 21, 2008
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Nobody has any clear idea what the Royal B.C. Museum’s administration plans to do with the third floor. The statement from the museum’s acting CEO, Daniel Muzyka, was devoid of details and opened the door to troubling speculation.

The accompanying address by Melanie Mark, the minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport, was equally empty. Both broadly spoke of “decolonization,” which is particularly unhelpful because that term can mean anything to anyone.

“Decolonization” can mean illegally ripping down statues in Victoria’s harbour or changing education to better reflect the history of B.C. In the case of the RBCM, they should take inspiration from the latter.

There is no question that the Becoming B.C. section of the third floor unacceptably lacks representation of any culture that is not British. The whole tale of B.C. cannot be fully told without more Asian, Black and Indigenous stories. Hopefully that is what will be addressed when the museum’s authorities renovate it.

It would be terrible if the recreations of the HMS Discovery and Old Town are removed forever in the name of reconciliation. They are irreplaceable and they’re great fun. I am Indigenous and their removal would not “reconcile” me to the museum at all.
 

G Huxley

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Nov 16, 2021
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"The statement from the museum’s acting CEO, Daniel Muzyka, was devoid of details and opened the door to troubling speculation."

The poster in the RBCM with the quote signed by Daniel Muzyka that I put on the top of the petition says that visitors have until January 2 to see the First Peoples Gallery, visit Becoming BC and walk the Old Town for the last time. That is pretty clear in their intent as in the various statements from them on the subject.

The address by Mark was quite telling and may actually be quite the blunder. By saying that the public would effectively be ignored and the decolonization agenda on the third floor will continue unabated actually shows that it is the politicians pulling the shots and not the museum administration, which negates any independence of the organization, in lieu of political orders from the top, which is not surprising as the heads of the Provincial NDP have been saying for months that they are going to clean house at the museum:

https://vancouverisland.ctvnews.ca/...ations-of-racism-at-royal-bc-museum-1.5303983
https://www.timescolonist.com/local...-fix-toxic-culture-at-royal-bc-museum-4687487
 
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G Huxley

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Nov 16, 2021
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https://nationalpost.com/opinion/to...ediately-gutted-in-the-name-of-decolonization


"
And in less than two weeks, 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.
"

"When the American Alliance of Museums gave the exhibit their Excellence in Exhibition award in 2015, judges marvelled in particular at the RBCM’s work to track down speakers for some of B.C.’s rarest languages in order to build an accurate auditory catalogue to accompany the exhibit.

Our Living Languages — as well as Chinatown and the rest of the third floor — is scheduled to be gone in less than two weeks."
 
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Jinentonix

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Sep 6, 2015
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The irony is, Native groups just wanted a little more representation and accuracy when it came to their role. Half-wit leftards heard, "We want the museum to remove all aspects of colonialism."

History is ugly and beautiful. It can be uplifting or abhorrent.. History just is. Picking and choosing which aspects of history are to be "approved" is denying history.
 

Tecumsehsbones

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Mar 18, 2013
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The irony is, Native groups just wanted a little more representation and accuracy when it came to their role. Half-wit leftards heard, "We want the museum to remove all aspects of colonialism."

History is ugly and beautiful. It can be uplifting or abhorrent.. History just is. Picking and choosing which aspects of history are to be "approved" is denying history.
Sigh. Have the authorities ever dealt with Natives? Seems to me like it's usually Shemanese "representing" the Natives.
 

taxslave

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Nov 25, 2008
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Sigh. Have the authorities ever dealt with Natives? Seems to me like it's usually Shemanese "representing" the Natives.
The authorities mostly talk to natives. Not quite the same as having a conversation with natives.
Several years back in the same museum there was a painting that was done sometime in the late 1800s that had some bare breasted native women. The good people demanded it be taken down because somehow being accurate for the time is not acceptable today.
 
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G Huxley

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Nov 16, 2021
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Taxslave: That was the BC Legislature.

Tecumsehbones: I think that is the point, by doing this they are pretending to be decolonizing when they are not. Some indigenous writers have been pointing this out:

"Indigenous being used by colonists, yet again


The Royal B.C. Museum board is being disingenuous in its claim that it is “decolonizing” its space to make it safe for Indigenous peoples.

In fact, it is doing the opposite, and is using Indigenous peoples to further its own goals, as colonists have always done.

As an Indigenous person myself who has an inherently strong interest in reconciliation, I am outraged by the way the museum board is using us to claim that its destructive plan is being done for our benefit.

We need to ask to what is really going on here. The museum appears to be trying to accomplish a few goals, and all of them benefit only the institution, not us.
"

https://www.timescolonist.com/opini...gestions-for-senior-friendly-warships-4918771