Chinatown Museum is here to stay

The museum, which opened as a temporary extension of Vancouver’s Chinese Canadian Museum in 2021, will remain in Fan Tan Alley after it was announced that the board of directors of the Victoria Chinatown Museum Society (VCMS) will take over operations.

VCMS officially took control on Tues., completing the objective the society has had since its inception in 2020. 

“Our goal has always been to take it over,” said Grace Wong Sneddon, VCMS chair. “It was just lining things up to make sure we had our charitable status and enough support among the community to operate.”

Wong Sneddon told Capital Daily that she and the rest of VCMS believe that the oldest Chinatown in Canada—and the oldest remaining Chinatown structures in North America—deserves its own space to share Chinese Canadian history.

“We felt that not only the stories, but the buildings, the spaces, the courtyards, the alleys, all hold vibrant history,” Wong Sneddon said, explaining that Chinese immigrants would first arrive in Victoria when relocating to Canada, often staying around modern-day Chinatown where the immigration building was located. 

“I mean, how can we not use this space as a living museum to share the history and our evolving culture and history?”

With its new permanent status, the museum is expected to expand—both physically and through its programming.

Read more about future programming at the museum—and why preserving Asian representation in the historic neighbourhood is vital.

Construction has begun on the new TownePlace Suites by Marriott, at Victoria International Airport (YYJ).

The three-storey, 129-room hotel will go up on 1.4ha of commercial-zoned land at the corner of the Pat Bay Highway and Beacon Avenue West. 

“The Island’s business and tourism sectors have long recognized that there is a vital need for more hotel rooms in the region,” said Elizabeth Brown, the Victoria Airport Authority (VAA) president.

“Having TownePlace Suites at Victoria International Airport is a welcome addition,” she said.

This will be welcome news for those who travel early in the morning or late at night to and from Greater Victoria, because many flights out of YYJ leave early in the morning, Destination Greater Victoria CEO Paul Nursey tells Capital Daily.

Nursery says his group has been working on a Saanich Peninsula tourism strategy. “One of the topics that has come up is the need for more accommodation in the area. Marriott is a reputable brand and it's great to see the project progressing.”

The Kothari Group, which owns and will manage the TownePlace Suites, said once open at the end of next year, the Marriott will become the region’s first extended-stay hotel—meaning it will offer long-term accommodation for guests with a lot of the amenities from home, like self-serve laundry and in-suite kitchens. 

The hotel will feature a combination of studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom units. It also will have a heated, saltwater swimming pool and more than 1,500 square feet of meeting space for conferences, something also needed in Victoria. The lodgings will cater to tourists, business travellers and locals who want to get away from the city or as Nursey said, have early flights.

The Kothari Group said it will be a green project featuring energy-efficient systems, water conservation measures, and waste reduction programs.