A Message from the Acting CEO

As many of you know, I became acting CEO in February of this year. This is a temporary position while the board of directors conducts the search for a new CEO. It has been a challenging and inspiring time. The staff of this museum and archives are uniquely committed to working with the communities we serve, and I am heartened by the work they do every day.

On June 29, on behalf of the board of directors of the Royal BC Museum, I shared the findings of the Public Service Agency evidentiary investigation into reports of racism and discrimination at the museum. I also discussed the findings of the internal inclusion and psychological safety audit we performed last fall, and the important changes we have been making as well as the ones we need to make going forward.

These two reports show that we are not the museum we wanted to be, and we are not the museum we should be.

We want to be a museum where every person feels safe, welcome and appreciated when they walk in the front door. I am sorry this has not been the case.

The board is humbled by and thanks Lucy Bell and the many individuals and organizations who shared their truths with us. We accept with humility the difficult learnings of the past year.

We must do better.

We believe that this museum is accountable to all the people in British Columbia, and that this isn’t about a single act or a single individual. It’s about our failings as the provincial museum, and we own and wear that responsibility.

We have reviewed multiple aspects of the organization’s practices, processes and systems. We’re providing more and better training to staff at all levels, including the board, to improve our cultural agility and understanding of equity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility (EDIA); we have undertaken an organizational review and realignment; we are reviewing our policies and procedures; we have increased vigilance; and we are adopting the governance systems required to embed EDIA principles at the museum and monitor alignment with these principles.

We are in the process of recruiting a new CEO, and we are moving forward on planning for further recruitment to fill permanent positions at the executive level.

Importantly, we are ensuring the museum’s operations are aligned with our commitment to the principles of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

We’re moving forward with modernization of the museum and archives. This is a modernization of both buildings and practices. On June 24, together with our partners in government, we posted the request for qualifications (RFQ) for the new Collections and Research Building (CRB) in Colwood.

This is the first step in finding a design-builder for the project. The result of the RFQ process will be a shortlist of up to three teams of developers and designers who will be asked to submit a proposal for the CRB. The CRB will house most of the museum’s seven million artifacts and specimens, the BC Archives, and spaces for the community to come together with museum experts.

While that work is happening, we are also planning what we will do with our site downtown. The museum will continue to steward the Indigenous collections and the exhibitions and galleries—but these will look dramatically different as we modernize how we share the stories of the province. We are creating a plan to replace outdated core galleries with new exhibits that will include the voices and reflect the lived experiences of the communities, nations and peoples in the land we call British Columbia today.

No decisions have yet been made about the downtown site: we are crunching numbers, discussing issues like sustainability and ensuring we are incredibly well prepared when we send our business case to the Treasury Board this fall. And while all this is happening, staff are getting ready to pack and move our collections.

We know that we’re at the start of a journey with many milestones, and we have a lot of work to do.

Our work includes rebuilding relationships, earning trust and ensuring everyone— and particularly Indigenous people—feels welcome, respected and valued, whether they are working at the museum, volunteering or joining us as a visitor.

Because at the end of the day, this is British Columbia’s museum. It belongs to all of us.

Sincerely yours,

Dr. Daniel F. Muzyka Acting Chief Executive Officer, Royal BC Museum