BC’s diverse cultural groups and ensure their stories are part of the over-arching narrative the Royal BC Museum preserves and shares.
Now, the Royal BC Museum, in partnership with the Centre for Indo Canadian Studies at the University of the Fraser Valley (UFV) and through collaboration with regional institutions, is establishing seven community consultations throughout the province to gather feedback from the Punjabi community, a pioneer group that has made a significant impact on the province’s cultural, economic and social history.
The first two consultations will happen in June:
· June 27, 10:00 am – 1:00 pm: the Reach Gallery Museum, Abbotsford
· June 28, 10:00 am – 1:00 pm: the Central BC Railway & Forestry Industry Museum, Prince George
The consultations are the first step in the creation of a provincial Punjabi legacy project that preserves and shares community history. In fact, the consultations will invite attendees to suggest what this legacy project might look like and include.
“These consultations will act as a catalyst to kick-start the momentum needed to undertake this historically significant work with the Royal BC Museum,” said Satwinder Bains, Director of the Centre for Indo Canadian Studies at UFV. “And we are proud to be partnering with the province’s museum in sharing the legacy of the community’s presence in BC.”
“This is a great opportunity for the community to advise the Royal BC Museum on how we want our Punjabi history to be preserved for future generations,” said Dr. Balbir Gurm, Chair of the Royal BC Museum Punjabi Intercultural History Advisory Committee.
The consultations will also inform the Royal BC Museum’s long-term planning for research, collections, temporary and permanent exhibitions and learning outcomes. What the Royal BC Museum’s Learning team discovers at these sessions will help guide the creation of online multicultural content for schools, linked to the new curriculum. The consultations have been made possible thanks, in part, to the generous support of the London Drugs Foundation.
The Learning team will bring along the Royal BC Museum-designed and -built Historical Wrongs outreach kits, created in partnership with BC’s Chinese Canadian community, to discuss as a possible model for long-term outreach.
The boxes are a tangible example of a successful model that can be used in the future at schools, libraries and community centres. Such educational boxes can also be created to explore important elements of a cultural group’s history and contemporary perspectives.
To register for either event or for more information, contact Sharanjit.Sandhra@ufv.ca by June 22.
