[BCMA] Fwd: Where is Our Museum? – An Open Letter

Tue Mar 26 11:43:17 PDT 2024

Jazmin Hundal
Outreach Coordinator
Pronouns <https://equity.ubc.ca/resources/gender-diversity/pronouns/>:
She/Her/Hers

The BC Museums Association office is located on the traditional, unceded
lands of the Lekwungen <https://vimeo.com/275788251> peoples (Songhees and
Xwsepsum Nations). We respect past, present, and future Indigenous stewards
and recognize that we are uninvited guests on this territory.

Do you identify as Indigenous, Black, or a Person of Colour working in the
cultural sector? Check out our IBPOC Network homepage
<https://museum.bc.ca/membership/mentorship/ibpoc-museum-professionals-network/?cm=1&cy=2023>,
where resources, community support, and upcoming networking sessions can be
found.

BC Museums Association || 675 Belleville Street  || Victoria, BC || V8W 9W2

www.museum.bc.ca

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Museum Liberation Force <
museumliberationforce at 209004294.mailchimpapp.com>
Date: Tue, 26 Mar 2024 at 10:59
Subject: Where is Our Museum? – An Open Letter
To: <communications at museum.bc.ca>

Stories are powerful. They connect us to our ancestors and act as
lighthouses for future generations.

Where is Our Museum?

March 25, 2024

To whom it may concern;

*RE: Open letter and community invitation*

Stories are powerful.

They connect us to our ancestors and act as lighthouses for future
generations. But most importantly, they offer those living in the present a
unique opportunity to understand that they belong.

Having said that, a museum that addresses the desperate desires and
necessary needs of British Columbia’s Punjabi and wider South Asian
communities is not only long overdue, but an essential step in the Province
forwarding its anti-racist policies.

Many across BC celebrated the provincial government when the NDP promised a
museum which would “highlight the histories, cultures, and contributions to
British Columbia from Canadians of diverse South Asian heritages.”

It seemed like we could finally breathe a sigh of relief, with the
announced arrival of an institution that has been long overdue.

However, during the past two years since this promise was made by the
provincial government, the Ministry of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport
— mandated to undertake this work — has broken promises, harmed
relationships, and excluded community voices. Time and time again, we are
not afforded a chance to engage in a meaningful way, let alone unpack
important issues, including, but not limited to, the use of the word ‘South
Asian’.

There has been mismanagement, disarray, and condescension, creating more
harm to our communities throughout this process.

Our stories continue to belong to us, and we cannot allow the performative
language of decolonization and white fragility from the institutions and
their agents to dictate the way our space and storytelling should take
form.

We are the subject, we are the source, we are the people, we are the
descendants, and we will be the ancestors that have to answer to this work.
Lived or professional experience — only we can be the experts on ourselves.
The only way this museum works is if this is in the hands of the community.

These are our stories, our complexities, our triumphs, our issues, our
joys, our existences.

Whether we discuss the term South Asian and its complexities, the location,
the future, the whos, the whats, and the what nots — this needs to be
driven by the community, not the systems in power that continue to dismiss
and ignore us.

So, you are invited to be a part of a movement to get our museum creation
underway. You are invited to be a part of a gathering, a conversation, a
larger family reunion, so that a meaningful dialogue can finally be had.
This is a leaderless movement. For us. By us.

It’s time to finally get moving.

It’s time to be heard.

Join us at the Surrey City Hall at 6pm on April 2, 2024.
<https://gmail.us18.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8b946f35e1b374a5cf722b5b&id=671dd5f573&e=a9fcf348a7>

Sincerely,

*The Museum Liberation Force*

*To support this movement:*

   1.

   *Forward this letter to friends, family and colleagues!*

   -

   Link to letter

   <https://gmail.us18.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8b946f35e1b374a5cf722b5b&id=4e74d459be&e=a9fcf348a7>

   1.

   *Sign the Letter (names will be kept anonymous)*

   -

   Email museumliberationforce at gmail.com and ask to be added

   1.

   *Come to the event on April 2 @ 6pm*

   -

   Register on Eventbrite

   <https://gmail.us18.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8b946f35e1b374a5cf722b5b&id=7a44f557cf&e=a9fcf348a7>

   1.

   *Make your voice heard on how the museum can best serve YOU!*

Join the Museum Liberation Force!

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<https://gmail.us18.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8b946f35e1b374a5cf722b5b&id=49e22f3560&e=a9fcf348a7>

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