Royal BC Museum

BC's flagship museum with outstanding First Peoples gallery

The province's flagship museum, sitting on the Inner Harbour just behind the Parliament Buildings. Its strength is the First Peoples gallery, with one of the best collections of Northwest Coast carving and regalia anywhere, and the Old Town exhibit, a full-scale recreation of a turn-of-the-century BC street complete with cobbles, gaslight and a working cinema. The natural history floor walks you from coastal rainforest to ocean shoreline. Allow at least half a day.

Address: 675 Belleville Street.

things to do inner harbour museum
A story
The museum holds the Kwakwaka'wakw collection assembled by Franz Boas in the 1880s and 1890s — masks, regalia, and ceremonial objects that Boas bought or commissioned at a time when First Nations potlatches were illegal under Canadian law. The First Nations community has been negotiating for the return of specific items for decades. The museum's handling of Indigenous patrimony has evolved dramatically, and repatriation agreements are ongoing.