New Royal Museum: BC defends its project of more than 1 billion dollars

Building the new facility on the site of the old museum will cost $789.5 million. Added to this is the $224 million for a new building for research and archival preservation, to be established in Colwood, the cost of which had previously been announced.

The building, visited by hundreds of schoolchildren every year, is unstable in earthquakes, vulnerable to flooding, and also contains hazardous materials like asbestos, lead and mercury, according to the thousands-page document released by the province on Wednesday.

The rehabilitation of the museum is necessary to deal with this, makes the document understandable, as well as to improve the accessibility of the museum. It will also make it possible to respond to a lack of space to work together with the indigenous communities, and to carry out the process of repairing the artefacts.

The Royal Museum has recently been criticized for its narrow approach about the province’s colonialist past, its exhibits that do not represent all of the communities and for the culture of racism that prevails in its workplace.

Five options assessed

The cost of this construction project prompted an outcry from the Liberal Party. Its leader Kevin Falcon has said he will cancel plans to rebuild the museum if elected prime minister in 2024.

The province, however, explains that it has examined five possible options for rehabilitating the building, detailed in the published documents.

The extensive analysis confirms that the costs of repairing or improving the museum are higher than the costs of replacing the building with a more modern one.says Melanie Mark, the province’s Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport.

” I understand that this investment represents a lot of money. But we are not ready to take the risk of sweeping away our culture, our collective history. »

7 million artifacts to move

The museum’s rehabilitation project is particularly long and costly, as the site covers 2.6 hectares and contains valuable elements of the province’s history, flora and fauna.

According to the documents presented, the museum holds 7 million artifacts, including the largest collection of Canadian artist Emily Carr, but can only present 1% of its collection at any time.

The movement of these collections and the equivalent of 27 km of archival material will have to be carried out with care, explains the provincial government. These items are priceless.

It is a complex project. I hope that British Columbians will realize what condition this museum is in, how complex it is to move 7 million artifacts and that they will also understand the risk that arises if we do nothingsupports the Minister of Tourism.

Some archives of indigenous communities are in a basement, below sea level and are vulnerable to floodingshe argues.

The reality is that the museum building is almost half a century old and it has reached the end of its lifeargues Melanie Mark.

Not a plus for a minusassures the Minister of Tourism

The Liberals denounced the frivolity of the project last week, in a context where the province is facing a shortage of doctors and British Columbians are struggling to pay their bills. Instead, Kevin Falcon suggests using this money to help the population cope with rising prices.

The province assures that it is also investing in hospitals and education, alongside this project, assures Minister Melanie Mark: It’s not a plus for a minus, it’s a plus for a plus. We have a duty to protect our history.

I honestly thought it would be a historic moment, to be lucky enough to get an artistic building here in BC that incorporates all of the values ​​that are important to usshe says.

The Royal Museum is due to close in September and reopen in 2030. Providing access to the facility during the process of conceptualizing and planning the new buildings would be too costly and would lengthen the duration of the works, according to the government.