Head of Royal B.C. Museum Resigns

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Alicia Dubois (courtesy Royal B. C. Museum)

Alicia Dubois, chief executive of the Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria, has resigned after 16 months in the job.

The resignation, announced Friday, follows controversy over recent changes, including the closure of a popular pioneer town at the museum in an effort to include a more diverse range of voices.

A public outcry also met plans announced a year ago by Dubois and then-premier John Horgan for a new $789-million museum building on the same site that would have shuttered exhibits for years. Horgan reversed the move, and the museum launched a series of poorly attended provincial sessions to collect public feedback about how to be more inclusive.

The museum's statement gave no reason for the departure of Dubois, a lawyer with intercultural experience, who replaced acting chief executive Dan Muzyka, who filled in after Jack Lohman's 2021 departure.

He left after Lucy Bell, the former head of Indigenous collections and repatriation, resigned in 2020, raising concerns about racism at the institution. A consultant's report subsequently concluded the museum was a "toxic" workplace with a culture of fear and distrust.

In the Friday statement, the museum's board chair, Leslie Brown, thanked Dubois for overseeing work on the museum’s new collections and research building and advancing "organizational cultural transformation." 

Prior to joining the museum, Dubois worked as the chief executive for the Alberta Indigenous Opportunities Corporation in Calgary.