Come and make a splash with AquaVan.

Marine educators will be on hand in the Community Room on the main floor, next to Sequoia Cafe with hands-on touch tanks and activities to help you learn more about our coastal ecosystems. 

AquaVan is an Ocean Wise initiative.

Professional development opportunity for educators

Freedom. The word makes us think of liberty, lack of constraint, power, the right to speak or act. But how else might we experience freedom or the lack of freedom? How are our ideas of freedom reflected in historical objects and museum protocols?  How has music agitated or supported free expression of political ideas? And what of intellectual freedom as seen in the books on our library shelves?

By the 1990’s, ethical concerns regarding the care, display and return of human remains in museum collections had grown. As a result, a new way of thinking emerged within museum cultures - changing protocols and increasing moves to repatriate Indigenous ancestral remains back to their respective homelands. Join us for this participatory discussion on the diversity of protocols and practices involved in the respectful process of repatriation.

Other discussions in the series:

See for yourself where we usually keep those jars, boxes and bins and experience the working environment of our talented researchers and staff. This tour will focus on our entomology collection and how these collections help us to learn about our province.Tours are limited to 10 people. Sign up begins at the information desk in the main lobby one hour prior to the tour start time.

Destination Canada has identified these amazing tours as a Canadian Signature Experience.

See for yourself where we usually keep those jars, boxes and bins and experience the working environment of our talented researchers and staff. This tour will focus on our mammal collection and how these collections help us to learn about our province.Tours are limited to 10 people. Sign up begins at the information desk in the main lobby one hour prior to the tour start time.

Destination Canada has identified these amazing tours as a Canadian Signature Experience.

Join our friendly and informative guides and embark on a special sixty-minute tour in the museum’s modern history galleries. Tours are free with same-day admission or membership. Meet near the escalator, to the right (west side) of the Box Office in the main floor lobby.

Have you ever been spooked in the night by a set of glowing eyes that stare at you from a distance? Wonder Sunday will help you understand exactly what you were seeing and why the eyes glowed.

Come and spend Sunday afternoons with us during the month of October and discuss the critters that roam after hours.

You’ve heard rumours about some of our most fascinating artifacts and objects. This is your chance to see them up close in an exclusive, informal setting. Join us on a four-part adult learning program as we dive deep into our world-class collections of art, photography, First Nations, marine and terrestrial life, and much more, with the kind of access usually reserved for researchers and scientists.

Led by our expert staff, you’ll explore big ideas about the role of objects, the meaning of museum collections and the human experience of things.

This one day symposium is an interdisciplinary and inter-generational symposium that will seek to present and explore Indigenous philosophies related to storytelling and oral histories. 

Register to take part in a series of interactive workshops and a lunch, or drop in later in the day for a site-specific performance and a panel discussion.

This is a City of Victoria initiative, presented in collaboration with the Royal BC Museum.

Workshops (9:00 am - 4:00 pm, registration required)

Join our friendly and informative guides and embark on a special sixty-minute tour in the museum’s modern history galleries. Tours are free with same-day admission or membership. Meet near the escalator, to the right (west side) of the Box Office in the main floor lobby.

Join us for a First Nations art showcase, Reclaimed: Culture and Life at the Royal BC Museum. This two-week program is part of the TimberWest First Nation Cultural Art Showcase which took place on the upper plaza in late July, giving artists the chance to interact with visitors and showcase their work, including carvings, cedar weaving and contemporary clothing with traditional designs.

Find out what's happening at the museum and archives in these monthly talks featuring curators, staff and researchers. First Wednesday of each month.

Women's History Month

Join our panel of three museum staff members for a talk highlighting women who have worked at the Royal BC Museum and BC Archives or whose records are held here. How have their legacies impacted us, and what are some the challenges they may have faced?

About the speakers:

Join our friendly and informative guides and embark on a special sixty-minute tour in the museum’s modern history galleries. Tours are free with same-day admission or membership. Meet near the escalator, to the right (west side) of the Box Office in the main floor lobby.

See for yourself where we usually keep those jars, boxes and bins and experience the working environment of our talented researchers and staff. This tour will focus on our mammal collection and how these collections help us to learn about our province.Tours are limited to 10 people. Sign up begins at the information desk in the main lobby one hour prior to the tour start time.

Destination Canada has identified these amazing tours as a Canadian Signature Experience.

See for yourself where we usually keep those jars, boxes and bins and experience the working environment of our talented researchers and staff. This tour will focus on our mammal collection and how these collections help us to learn about our province.Tours are limited to 10 people. Sign up begins at the information desk in the main lobby one hour prior to the tour start time.

Destination Canada has identified these amazing tours as a Canadian Signature Experience.

In the fall of 2018 British Columbia is having a referendum on what voting system we should use for provincial elections. Join our panel for a non-partisan discussion on the ups and downs and history of proportional representation in BC.

The panel consists of Rebecca Penz, the Communications Manager at Elections BC, Laurel Collins, an interdisciplinary PhD candidate at UVic in Social Justice Studies and Sociology and Frederike Verspoor an archivist at the BC Archives. 

Other discussions in the series: 

Join our friendly and informative guides and embark on a special sixty-minute tour in the museum’s modern history galleries. Tours are free with same-day admission or membership. Meet near the escalator, to the right (west side) of the Box Office in the main floor lobby.

Let's Talk Science is joining forces with the Royal BC Museum to celebrate Science Literacy Week. Check out  Budding Marine Biologists near the sea shore diorama to get your hands wet and maybe inspire a future scientist. 

This lecture is presented by Dr. Donald Ryan, an archaeologist and Egyptologist, who has made multiple excavations in the Valley of the Kings, including one that resulted in the rediscovery of a tomb containing the mummy identified as that of Hatshepsut, an 18^th Dynasty female pharaoh.

About the speaker:

Let's Talk Science is joining forces with the Royal BC Museum to celebrate Science Literacy Week. Check out  Ancient and Playful Machines in front of the entrance to Egypt: Time of Pharaohs to get your hands on some ancient technology and maybe inspire a future architect or engineer.