Update on the BCMA’s Ongoing Commitment to Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion: July 2025
The BC Museums Association is committed to supporting justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion within the museum and cultural sector and our own organizational practices. These priorities are woven throughout our current Strategic Plan 2024-2029, which you can find here. A key component of this commitment is being open and transparent with our community. We aim to provide regular updates about our steps to support justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. If you have feedback or would like to share your thoughts, we encourage you to contact us.
The BCMA has published regular justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion updates since 2020. To read our past updates, please visit this page.
Jump to Recent Updates
Change Can Be Hard, But We Can Do It Together.
The last months have been marked by change at the BCMA, most recently the hiring of Tim van Wijk as Director of Finance and Revenue, and Jules André-Brown as our new Executive Director. We know that Tim and Jules are both dedicated to supporting the longevity and extending the value of our justice, equity, diversity and inclusion work.
While we welcome new faces to our team, we also want to recognize the work and dedication of Madison Bridal in supporting the IBPOC Network and the Researching Accountability Practices project. We appreciate all the contributions that Madison has made, and say ‘see you later’ due to grant turnover and new opportunities for Madison.
BCMA staff have done their best to ensure that none of our programs fell through the cracks and that members experienced a seamless transition during this season of change.
We all deal with change differently, and the more informed we are, the easier change can be. In recent feedback opportunities, BCMA members have expressed confusion and feelings of exclusion from various equity initiatives the BCMA has created. These regular Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Updates may have left behind those members uncertain about the why. We have also heard from members who do not identify with the networks, but want to participate and learn from the networks, so that they can improve the working conditions of the sector and learn how to better themselves. We hear you, but that is not the purpose of these network events, and you are welcome to attend other programs and education opportunities the BCMA provides.
BCMA staff created a post to help members understand the motives behind these initiatives, to promote an understanding of the needs these programs meet, and to highlight some of the recordings and resources from those networks that all members can access. The Networks are also creating and offering programs for allies, including a recent Human Rights Clinic Webinar: Obligations of Employers under the Human Rights Code, which was open to everyone and saw low attendance. We aim to offer additional webinars for allies in the fall. To help create additional communal space for our membership, the BCMA has reintroduced Watercooler Wednesday, which took a hiatus due to low attendance, and a new season of BCMA Book Club in which there is no reading but instead an opportunity to discuss actions or concerns museums have in decolonizing work. We hope that our members will join us and engage with us in these spaces, as well as with the plethora of resources the networks have created. It is up to those of us who are not part of these networks to seek out opportunities to learn and make changes so that we can be better allies in our workplaces and communities.
Understanding the BCMAs Equity Initiatives: An Overview
In recent feedback opportunities, BCMA members have expressed confusion and feelings of exclusion from various equity initiatives the BCMA offers. This post is meant to help members understand the motives behind these initiatives and to promote an understanding of the needs these programs meet.
Recent Updates
IBPOC Network
The IBPOC Network continues to hold an accountable space for racialized staff, volunteers, and students in the sector to find support and build community. In addition to our monthly online sessions, Tea and Talk On The Road has returned for 2025. This year, we are bringing in-person sessions to Victoria, Kelowna, Surrey, and Coquitlam, and are excited to offer a few additional activities to complement them, including nature walks and forest bathing.
Online mentorship Tea and Talks will also continue to take place every few months; our last one was with guest mentor Grace Wong-Sneddon in June 2025. This year, we plan to continue offering mentorship opportunities in a variety of formats to make the process as accessible as possible.
Our network continues to work with the BCMA’s 2SLGBTQIA+ Network to host joint sessions and create more intersectional spaces for our members. Our online book club, Beyond The Margins, ran for the fall/winter and spring/summer seasons, and will continue later this year. So far, we have covered the themes of “lessons from nature” and “intersectional joy.”
Joint Network Events
Connect with arts, culture, and heritage IBPOC and 2SLGBTQIA+ professionals, students, and volunteers from across British Columbia.
Lastly, our IBPOC Network Podcast has also continued, with the most recent episode featuring activists from the grassroots group Museum Liberation Force. Episode 4 covered some of the community work that has gone into the development of the South Asian Canadian Museum, and why care is needed when representing complicated histories of historically marginalized communities. Episode 5 is currently in production and features two IBPOC Network members based on the island, passionate about the cultural connections and conversations that can be found between Black and Inuit communities. Stay tuned to listen to the episode soon!
IBPOC Network Podcast Episode 4: Museum Liberation Force
In this episode, Jazmin and Madison chat with two members of Museum Liberation Force.
2SLGBTQIA+ Network
The 2SLGBTQIA+ Network continues to build our community and support queer identifying folks in the sector. In March of this year, we welcomed our second group of advisors to our advisory group.
Since August 2024, we have been hosting monthly Queer Connect, a casual online monthly meetup for queer professionals in the arts, culture, and heritage sector modelled after the IBPOC Network’s Tea & Talk events. In December of 2024, in collaboration with the IBPOC Network, we started our intersectional book club, Beyond the Margins, from December – March. Building on the success of the first session, we hosted a second session from April – July 2025.
2SLGBTQIA+ Network Advisory Community Guidelines
To facilitate authentic relationship-building and support the emotional wellbeing of our Advisors, the BCMA dedicated three months to the co-creation of process standards prior to any program development for the Network. This includes, but is not limited to: community guidelines, conflict management practices, and non-hierarchical decision making systems. This document serves as an internal reference to guide behaviours, as well as an externally available resource to ensure public accountability. This is not a formal policy, but is a living document that will evolve as new needs and methods emerge that better serve our community.
In May 2025, we signed on with the Old SchoolHouse Arts Centre’s Creative QueerPreneur program to act as a virtual hub for the program.
The QueerPreneur Program is dedicated to fostering community hubs across the Island, providing 2SLGBTQI+ creative entrepreneurs with space and resources to connect, collaborate, and thrive. These hubs serve as vibrant gathering places where individuals can access a network of support, share experiences, and build meaningful relationships. Each hub will host a variety of engaging and informative events, including workshops, networking meetups, mentorship sessions, and skill-building opportunities, all tailored to the unique needs of the community. Through this program, BCMA intends to host 5 virtual workshops in 2025/2026.
BCMA Reconciliation Resource Advisor
With funding support from the BC Arts Council, the BCMA announced in the Fall of 2024 a new role and portfolio for Leia Patterson as the BCMA’s Reconciliation Resource Advisor. In this role, Leia is supporting organizations and Indigenous communities in accessing information about funding, resources, case studies, and peer support for repatriation and reconciliation initiatives.
The BCMA recognizes that for many Indigenous communities, making connections and finding resources to support repatriation can be barriers to action due to a lack of capacity. Leia hopes to make finding resources and connections more accessible and to have open conversations with the BCMA membership to support their outreach efforts.
Indigenous Culture and Heritage
The BC Museums Association is proud to feature a collection of resources for Indigenous communities, cultural centres and museums as well as non-Indigenous museums, galleries, and cultural organizations who wish to strengthen their relationships with Indigenous communities.
Leia hosted Canadian Heritage and Movable Cultural Property to share their funding options for repatriation in May. You can find a recording of that session here.
Leia has also been having conversations with the Canadian Conservation Institute, Canadian Border Services Agency, and other museum associations. She regularly updates the resources on the Indigenous Culture and Heritage page with useful resources. Please reach out if you are looking for something specific, and she can point you to it or make plans to create it!
Opportunities for Indigenous Heritage and Repatriation Projects with Canadian Heritage.
Webinar: Learn more about the Indigenous Heritage component and the Movable Cultural Properties funding programs.
The Repatriation and Reconciliation Funding Sources Newsletter has been sent out four times (December, February, May, June). Leia aims to send it out when significant deadlines are upcoming. The full archive is available online here. You can sign up for the email list here (you only need to sign up once). The goal is to provide a full year of newsletters, with additional issues as staffing capacity allows.
June 2025 ICH Funding Newsletter
PDF copy of the June 2025 Repatriation and Reconciliation Funding Sources Newsletter.
Leia is happy to meet to discuss your priorities with you, and hopes to curate and develop resources to respond to member and community needs. You can contact Leia directly at engagement@museum.bc.ca
BCMA Book Club
Instead of sharing a reading, the BCMA is offering an opportunity to connect, share, discuss and brainstorm action. In the Decolonizing the Museum Community Chat, Lorenda and Leia will be available on the last Tuesday of each month until September 30, from 10:00 – 11:00 AM, to discuss what your organizations are working on or struggling with. We want to get into action with you! We ask that attendees come prepared to share their work or struggles so we can help find a path of action, together.
BCMA staff members Lorenda and Leia lead these sessions to create opportunities for sector professionals to hold themselves accountable for reading and discussing key pieces of legislation or important resources that can help support their equity and justice work. Many sources of information exist, and each forms a stone in the foundation of knowledge that can help the sector understand why equity and justice are key components of our work today.
BCMA Book Club
The BCMA hosts sessions of the BCMA Book Club with staff members Lorenda and Leia. This series of online discussions aims to be part of cultural heritage professionals’ decolonization efforts and utilize existing resources to inform our work. Join us to hold yourself accountable for reading important resources to help your professional practice! You can find the list of previous Book Club readings and the dates for future sessions on our website.
Honesty and transparency are a critical part of this work and we welcome our members’ feedback on how we can continue growing and improving. If you have questions, comments, or thoughts, please contact us at any time. Alternatively, if you would like to discuss how the BCMA can support your organization’s own justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion work, we would be happy to hear from you. This work will take time, but together we can use the transformative power of museums to reinvent our sector for the betterment of everyone.
