The B.C. government denies claims that it has an obligation to permanently house the Maritime Museum at its current location in Bastion Square or anywhere else.
In a statement Friday, the Ministry of Technology, Innovation and Citizens’ Services said the museum has produced no proof of any obligation beyond an unsigned document from 1977.
“It is a draft agreement between the City of Victoria and the province for the purchase of the building at 28 Bastion Square,” the ministry said.
“The ministry has received a legal opinion determining that this document does not obligate the province to provide housing in perpetuity for the museum operations or provide continued funding for its operations.”
The museum’s trustees beg to differ. They say the City of Victoria transferred the Bastion Square courthouse to the province for $1 in 1977 on the condition that the province would “house the museum in perpetuity — either in the courthouse or another mutually agreeable location.”
The Victoria Daily Times reported that the agreement was signed by then Victoria mayor Mike Young and provincial secretary Grace McCarthy.
The museum does not have a signed copy of the deal, but Victoria lawyer Keith Reed, a life member and past president of the Maritime Museum of B.C. Society, said it’s up to the province and the City of Victoria to locate the documents, since they were the signatories.
The museum does have a copy of a resolution, passed by Victoria council in 1977 and signed by Young, that sets out the conditions for the property transfer.
“How did title transfer if it wasn’t in accordance with the conditions that the city was proposing at the time?” Reed said.
Victoria Coun. Pam Madoff said city officials will try to track down a signed copy of the deal and “hope that our record keeping is up to a high standard.”
She said it’s crucial the museum remain in Victoria “as a major cultural institution.”
The museum closed its doors last October due to concerns about the safety of the 126-year-old courthouse building.
Trustees had hoped to relocate the museum to the CPR Steamship Terminal, but the provincial government announced this month that negotiations had reached an impasse with the landlord Greater Victoria Harbour Authority.
The province also announced that it wanted the museum to vacate Bastion Square by the end of September to allow for repairs to the old courthouse.
Until then, the province says it will continue to provide $10,000 a month in “bridge financing” to cover the cost of staff and storage of artifacts. It also remains ready to help the museum negotiate a lease at a new location “by providing information on possible options and advice on lease agreements,” the ministry said.
Reed said the provincial government seems to be under the mistaken impression that its only role is to “assist” the museum in finding a new home.
“That’s not what the responsibility is,” he said. “The responsibility is to provide another location.”
