Royal B.C. Museum CEO resigns after 16 months

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The museum introduced Alicia Dubois’ resignation in an announcement Friday afternoon

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Michael John Lo,  Darron Kloster  •  Victoria Instances Colonist

Revealed Jun 16, 2023  •  Final up to date 9 hours in the past  •  3 minute learn

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The CEO of the Royal British Columbia Museum has resigned 16 months after taking up the job, after overseeing a tumultuous interval for the museum.

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The museum introduced Alicia Dubois’ resignation in an announcement Friday afternoon. Its board of administrators is now trying to appoint an interim CEO.

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No cause was given for Dubois’ departure.

Within the assertion, Royal B.C. Museum board chair Leslie Brown expressed gratitude to Dubois for her efforts overseeing work on the museum’s new collections and analysis constructing, advancing “organizational cultural transformation,” and fascinating with communities about the way forward for the museum.

Dubois was named the museum’s chief govt officer in February of final yr, changing then-acting CEO Dan Muzyka.

On the time, Carole James, a member of the museum’s board of administrators, mentioned the board was impressed with Dubois’ intercultural experience and expertise in “change administration” inside massive, advanced organizations.

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Dubois, a lawyer, got here beneath intense criticism final yr, nonetheless, for the closure of among the museum’s hottest displays on the third ground, together with Previous City, in an effort to “decolonize” the museum and embrace extra voices from B.C.’s historical past.

In Might 2022, with then-premier John Horgan, Dubois introduced plans for a $789-million alternative constructing on the museum web site, however the plan was scuttled a number of months later by Horgan after a large public pushback.

Later that yr, Dubois launched B.C.-wide periods to gather suggestions from the general public and First Nations communities to revamp the present museum’s shows in a extra inclusive method, however periods exterior Victoria not often attracted above 30 attendees. A public session in Prince George on March 10 drew solely a single attendee past the town’s mayor.

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The province gave the museum $1 million for the engagement course of and people funds at the moment are getting used to reopen the third ground.

The First Peoples Gallery on the third ground stays closed, and continues to be getting used for engagement conferences with First Nations.

“I do know folks miss it, are captivated with it and wish entry to it. We’ve got heard you,” Tourism Minister Lana Popham mentioned on Might 10 of the plans to reopen Previous City.

In response to a request for touch upon Dubois’ departure, a spokeswoman for Popham mentioned Friday the minister’s workplace was referring media inquiries to Brown.

Within the announcement of Previous City’s reopening, Dubois mentioned the museum is “dedicated to growing inclusivity and accessibility to the museum via in depth engagement and co-creation of displays with communities, and alluring folks again into this area permits additional alternatives to try this.”

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Jack Lohman, Dubois’ predecessor on the museum, resigned in 2021 after a variety and inclusion advisor deemed the establishment a “dysfunctional and poisonous office, ­characterised by a tradition of concern and ­mistrust” in a report.

The third-party investigation occurred after Lucy Bell, the museum’s former head of Indigenous collections and repatriation, resigned in 2020, citing a office tradition of racism and anti-Indigeneity in her farewell speech.

Previous to her appointment on the Royal B.C. Museum, Dubois served because the chief govt for the Alberta Indigenous Alternatives Company in Calgary.

Dubois was a trustee for the Royal Ontario Museum for 3 years and held senior govt positions throughout quite a few outstanding Canadian organizations, together with nationwide director of Indigenous monetary companies and compliance authorized counsel for Scotia Financial institution, and vice-president of Indigenous markets for CIBC.

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