1538 replies to this topic

[LJ]

Is that done to protect the exhibits?

[LJ]

I know someone who will be working there. No one wants to make the move. Many live closer to town and it's going to take them a long time to get there. Some took early retirement because they said no way. Someone will now have to buy a car or it will take them forever on the bus, and they have a young child. There isn't enough parking for staff, but hey, you can ride a bike. They're leaving bright, well-lit offices with daylight to work in offices with no natural light. There were supposed to be skylights, but they've been eliminated. Most staff are pretty unhappy about the move. Other government employees working downtown have to visit to retrieve records. They usually just walk over. Now will it be taxis? 

Tell them to move to the Westshore, then they can finally get rid of the stink of Victoria.

[Mike K.]

I know someone who will be working there. No one wants to make the move. Many live closer to town and it's going to take them a long time to get there. Some took early retirement because they said no way. Someone will now have to buy a car or it will take them forever on the bus, and they have a young child. There isn't enough parking for staff, but hey, you can ride a bike. They're leaving bright, well-lit offices with daylight to work in offices with no natural light. There were supposed to be skylights, but they've been eliminated. Most staff are pretty unhappy about the move. Other government employees working downtown have to visit to retrieve records. They usually just walk over. Now will it be taxis?

Is there like an unusually high number of provincial workers actually working from within an office at the RBCM’s offices? So many government offices are sitting around empty all day every day.

[Victoria Watcher]

Inside the Royal B.C. Museum, just past admissions on the left, is a wall plaque by the water fountain bearing a falsehood.

 

“Today, we acknowledge that we are uninvited guests of the lək̓ʷəŋən People, the Esquimalt and Songhees Nations, on whose lands we reside.”

 

It makes even the most acidic land acknowledgements sound like a Christmas greeting.

 

It takes great chutzpah to mash together history, law and morality into a single, viciously loaded sentence, and demand that every visitor wear the accusation.

 

The plaque goes on, saying, “We are grateful to the Nations for hosting us … as we live, work, learn and grow together.”

 

Victoria has a complicated past, as does the entire country, but to call a local elementary schooler on a field trip an “uninvited guest” is wrong, not only on the grounds of decency, but on the facts as well.

 

Much of Greater Victoria is on land encompassed by the Douglas Treaties, 14 agreements struck by British authorities and local First Nations between 1850 and 1854.

 

 

 

https://www.timescol...ctoria-11665402

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 24 December 2025 - 06:11 AM.

[Blair M.]

It's all designed to instil in you a deep, strong feeling of personal shame.

Your British Columbia Provincial Government, through its carefully crafted tentacle that we know as the RBCM, wishes to embarrass you into feeling that profound sense of shame upon entering your Provincial Museum, such that you become overwhelmed by the appropriate negative emotions as you walk through the exhibits.

 

By definition, "shame" is a painful, negative emotion about the "self". It's rooted in feeling fundamentally and irrevocably flawed ("I am very bad"), and leads to feelings of utter worthlessness, secrecy, and fundamental disconnection with society, friends, and family.

 

The above negative emotions are all firmly backed up and supported by the remaining, or modified exhibits that your friendly museum administrators have prepared for you, and that you'll shortly be seeing while walking through the museum.

All that unsolicited "shame" happily dumped on you upon your passage through the entry doors, and all for the low, low price of $23.00 per adult for admission.

 

Enjoy!

 

 

[Victoria Watcher]

To be fair, since Monty’s closed it has been harder to find a place downtown to be ashamed of entering.

[lanforod]

1 Centennial Square fits that desription quite handily, no?

[aastra]

 

 

Victoria has a complicated past, as does the entire country...

 

Maybe I'm taking it too far but I'm really starting to get the impression that the entire human world has a somewhat complicated past. Suffice it to say, it's going to take a lot of plaques and pledges to fully address all the complexities. My living room is running out of bare wall space.

[LJ]

It's all designed to instil in you a deep, strong feeling of personal shame.

 

I do feel that, but it is caused by the provincial government, not by anything our ancestors did.

[Tony]

I do not own the behaviour of my ancestors and feel no personal shame for even their worst behaviours. 

 

I do think it is important to recognize that their behaviours have resulted in complex consequences that are still evident today.

[Blair M.]

Maybe your ancestors, but certainly not mine.

Much of what you presumably reference was perpetrated by Provincial and Federal governments as part of government policy.

Much, or all of that “behaviour” has absolutely nothing with my ancestors.

Are you sure it even has anything at all to do with your own ancestors?
Unless they were politicians, they probably had nothing whatsoever to do with “behaviours” untoward.

As a result of the above, guilt tripping visitors to the museum is the equivalent of a cheap party trick, perpetrated by amateurs and facilitated by egg-heads who believe in their hearts that they “know” far better than you do - what’s good for you personally.

[Tony]

II do not own the behaviour of my ancestors and feel no personal shame for even their worst behaviours. Any exhibits that reference there wost behaviours is not  guilt tripping me.

 

The attitudes and behaviours of long past governments for the most part also reflected the attitudes and beliefs of the people that elected them.

[Mike K.]

Given what I’ve seen my governments do in recent years, very few people are actually supportive of their broader agendas, and many of us are shocked by their plans and actions, but we remain stuck with them in power.

Right now, a minority of British Columbians elected the NDP to govern. And a minority of Canadians elected the Liberals to govern.

[spanky123]

Given what I’ve seen my governments do in recent years, very few people are actually supportive of their broader agendas, and many of us are shocked by their plans and actions, but we remain stuck with them in power.

Right now, a minority of British Columbians elected the NDP to govern. And a minority of Canadians elected the Liberals to govern.

 

With a 5 party system it ,is unlikely that any party will ever receive the majority of votes. Last time it happened was in 1984 when Mulroney got 50.03% and there were only 3 parties at the time. 

Edited by spanky123, 27 December 2025 - 01:52 PM.

[mbjj]

The person in question does not want to move that far out as she's now near her parents, who help out quite a bit. And I think there are quite a few employees working at any given time. They could still have offices on the outer perimeter of the new building with windows, while still protecting exhibits within, sort of like the Fannin Building is now. 

 

I feel no guilt whatsoever about what has happened in B.C.'s history! 

[Victoria Watcher]

Ry Moran named acting CEO for Royal BC Museum

 

 

 

Since 2020, he’s served as the University of Victoria‘s first associate university librarian, focusing on reconciliation through strengthening relationships and Indigenous approaches at the library and across campus.

 

“Mr. Moran is a proud member of the Red River Métis,” states the Royal BC Museum, noting his contributions to reconciliation.

 

Prior to coming to UVic, Moran committed nearly a decade to strengthening truth and reconciliation work at the University of Manitoba and at the National Truth and Reconciliation Commission (NTRC) of Canada in Winnipeg, MB.

 

 

https://cheknews.ca/...museum-1299413/

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 15 January 2026 - 03:55 AM.

[Blair M.]

Mr. Moran appears as the final nail being hammered into the Provincial Museum's coffin.

Close it down - then tear it down (it is, as Horgan told us all, "seismically unstable" after all).

 

British Columbia has demonstrated with great clarity that its days of operating a Provincially owned "peoples museum" is now (unfortunately) over. 

[Victoria Watcher]

Anyone who has dreamed of swimming with orcas can now have their wish granted at the Royal B.C. Museum with a little help from an augmented-reality headset.

A new exhibit titled Critical Distance, which opened Friday, lets visitors dive into the world of a 10-year-old J Pod orca dubbed Kiki.

After learning about the southern resident orcas that frequent the Salish Sea, guests enter a round room with blank walls and put on a headset that lets them see and hear an ocean scene.

The 10-minute experience follows Kiki as she echolocates with her family members, but then struggles to find them when boats enter the scene, producing noise that disorients the orcas.

Guests can reach out and touch Kiki and her family during the show, using technology that gives the feeling of tactile feedback.

After the augmented-reality portion of the exhibit, visitors enter a third area to watch videos featuring three orca and ocean conservation advocates.

Visitors with questions about orcas and conservation efforts can write them down on a card with their email address, and one of three experts will answer.

 

 

https://www.timescol...-orcas-11783284

 

 

The 10-minute experience follows Kiki as she echolocates with her family members, but then struggles to find them when boats enter the scene, producing noise that disorients the orcas.

 

Of course.   

 

 

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 24 January 2026 - 05:43 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

Visitors with questions about orcas and conservation efforts can write them down on a card with their email address, and one of three experts will answer.

 

 

Why not have some cards already made up with question, guests can just pick one of the pre-written ones.   Like:

 

• Why are (white) humans so awful?
• What can we do to hamper shipping in the oceans?
• Why does this museum suck?
• How do we give the "land back"?
• How can I offer myself as a human sacrifice to the whales?
• I like taxes.  (this is just a statement, but copies are sent to David Eby).
• I'm surprised the whales didn't choke on plastic straws (carelessly discarded by <white> people).  Can you add that to the exhibit?

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 24 January 2026 - 05:50 AM.