Victoria Chinatown Museum to be made permanent

Canada’s oldest Chinatown now has a permanent space to tell its story.

What was intended as a temporary exhibit in Victoria’s Fan Tan Alley will now be made permanent, and be named the Victoria Chinatown Museum.

The Victoria Chinatown Museum Society is now seeking provincial and federal funding so it can expand the facility and share Chinese Canadian history and stories with visitors from B.C. and around the world.

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Those efforts got a boost when B.C. Lt.-Gov. Janet Austin came on board as the museum’s honourary patron.

“We believe our history is important and now having her honour be our honourary patron means that everyone will understand the importance of Chinese Canadian history as Canadian history,” society chair Grace Wong Sneddon said.

The museum first opened in 2021 and has hosted 100,000 visitors since then.