Editorially speaking...
I’m sure you’ve heard this expression before: “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.”
Well, the provincial government appears to be on a course of fixing things up real good when it comes to our—I repeat, our—heritage.
Last week, the volunteers who operated the provincially-owned Point Ellice House Museum walked away, unable to carry on without sufficient funding. Other historic sites, including the flagship Barkerville ghost town, are in the same tenuous position.
But it’s even worse than that.
The Provincial Heritage Branch has pulled the rug out from under the Yale & District Historical Society, the people who founded the Yale Museum, known as the Yale Historic Site, and who’ve operated and nurtured it over the past 40 years.
The accompanying story of this latest misstep since last year’s debacle of the Royal BC Museum re-build is told by one of the YDHS directors, Christian Ward, who’s promoting a petition to stop the train before it’s too late.
The Yale Museum is one of those out-of-the-way treasures that makes travelling in B.C. such a joy. —Yale Historical Society
We need your support to stop local history from being taken out of the hands of those who have it in their blood; those who live it and whose ancestors have lived it. Keep the stories from history authentic, and honour what has gone before by allowing those who know it best, to tell it...
After 40 years of service, the Provincial Heritage Branch has removed Yale & District Historical Society (YDHS) as managers of Yale Historic Site, in favour of a mysterious organization with no experience of managing heritage sites, located 220km from Yale.
Yale Historic Site is a Provincial Heritage Site and was created by the people of Yale and area, and a number of years ago was sold to the Government of BC for $1, with a good faith agreement that YDHS would continue to manage it. Despite this, towards the end of 2022, YDHS was asked to re-tender for the contract to manage Yale Historic Site.
The application process was based on a scoring system that was weighted most heavily on experience, and so – having managed the site for 40 years, and owning 95% of the museum’s artifacts and historical information displays— YDHS felt it was in a strong position.
Their application was also reviewed by a certified heritage professional prior to submission, who deemed it to be a strong application. YDHS submitted several letters of support, including from Yale First Nation, Fraser Valley Regional District and Tourism Hope.
A few weeks after submission YDHS was informed by Heritage Branch that they had been unsuccessful in their application, and instead, the contract had been awarded to Forager Foundation, without any Indigenous consultation.
The YDHS membership has voiced significant concern over the future of their site and artifacts. In particular, Chief James Hobart of Spuzzum Nation commented, “there was absolutely no Indigenous consultation, which is required for such transactions or transfers of historical data and artifacts. This doesn't have to include only First Nation items as all of the information is part of our collective history as well."
There is very little information available about Forager Foundation; however, they are based in Gibsons, BC, 220km from Yale, and the Provincial Heritage Branch have admitted in discussions that they had no pre-existing experience of managing heritage sites.
The Heritage Branch commented that one of the strengths of Forager Foundation is their experience in social media management, yet their Instagram account has no posts and only 71 followers.
Similarly, their Twitter account was last updated 6 years ago. Their director is also [a] director of several limited companies, all of which market their services to heritage sites and museums, for profit.
In negotiations for the transition period for the handover of site management to the successful applicant, the Heritage Branch has offered to pay YDHS to ‘transfer knowledge’ to Forager Foundation on site management and building maintenance. The Heritage Branch have also asked the Society to consider selling or leasing their collection of artifacts to Forager Foundation.
In the spirit of reconciliation, the Government has agreed that it should not be telling the story of First Nations. YDHS has First Nations members on its Board and among its membership, and holds First Nations artifacts in its collection.
YDHS has submitted a formal complaint to Provincial government, however they are not working with us.
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Background information:
The Yale Historic Site is a Province of British Columbia Heritage Site and is managed by the Yale and District Historical Society. The Society was formed in 1977 to gather, preserve, record and exhibit Yale’s history. The ‘Historic Yale’ story is told through the preservation and maintenance of the ‘Creighton House’ Museum, 1863, St. John the Divine Church, the On Lee property and the 1880’s Ward Tea House and B&B.
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Brief history of Yale:
Yale, B.C. was once the largest city north of San Francisco and west of Chicago.
Originally established in 1848 as a Hudson’s Bay Company trading post, Yale grew with the influx of an estimated 30,000 gold miners during the gold rush of 1858.
In the 1860’s, with the construction of the Cariboo Wagon Road, Yale became the main terminal for one of the largest sternwheeler routes in North America.
The 1880’s saw the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway, with construction headquarters housed in Yale. Yale Historic Site website: https://historicyale.ca/
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Details of the petition follow (TW):
Christian Ward, YDHS Director: As one of the directors on the Board of Yale & District Historical Society, I am dismayed at the decision by provincial government to remove us as managers of Yale Historic Site.
The Society has successfully and faithfully managed this provincial heritage site for the government for 40 years, and there was a good faith agreement made many years ago that our Society would continue to manage this important site. This agreement has been broken, and management has been passed to an organization that has no experience of managing heritage sites and is located 220km from Yale.
Please consider signing our petition to support our work in over-turning this upsetting decision, and keep the telling of our local history in the hands of the people who live here, and whose families have lived here for generations. Read the whole story when you click on the petition link.
Please note that you may be asked for a donation to change.org, however you are under no obligation to donate, and any funds go to change.org, not the Society. Thank you for reading, and we appreciate your support. https://chng.it/S2JPgHJZsB
Sign this petition to support Yale & District Historical Society in their work to overturn the decision to remove them as managers of Yale Historic Site.(Please note that after signing, you may be asked for a donation to change.org to help with their running costs.
You are under no obligation to donate, and any donations go to change.org.
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TW speaking: I hope Chronicles readers who share these concerns for the future management of the Yale Museum and the other provincial historic sites mentioned, will sign this petition.
Or at least make your concerns for the way our B.C. government seems to be mismanaging our heritage known to our local MLA, Sonia Furstenau, who can bring it up in the Legislature. And, of course, directly to the NDP government.
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