Museum of Anthropology at UBC — Attraction in Electoral Area A

Discrimination, illogical, and patronizing behavior by the security and hall staff. Just like any other Museum, MOA is a clean space with good exhibits, well-staffed, and very spacious museum. Wide hallways, and even if 10-15 people standing in one area or exhibit galleries, it is still wide and spacious. I took a family membership using online portal a day in advance. Ticket desk was nice and courteous and helped us with the entry stamp, gave us two 25c coins for the locker use. Up to this point, everything was good. As can be seen in the photos, my two daughters had two pink small kid backpacks, and wife had a very small handbag. As the photo was taken from up close, they look bigger, but they are 9"Hx5"Lx4W size. The lady staff and the Indian security man at the welcome desk on the left side towards the museum shop immediately told us to keep the bags in the lockers including the water bottles. We happily followed the instructions. I had a selfie-stick, and the security man told me not to extend it. His voice was authoritative and seemed patronizing, but I ignored it. But it did pinch me as I was wondering if he did not see he was talking to an adult. Telling in a loud patronizing voice that you can take the selfie-stick but don't extend it, was hurtful as just a day before I took the family membership, to be treated like this? Well, with all my positive thinking, I ignored it and went around, and took pictures. This time, a hall staff lady came and told me that selfie-sticks are not allowed to be used and not to extend the stick. I told her I won't. After some time, a Filipino security lady came and started telling me that the selfie-sticks are not allowed and I must keep it in the locker. The selfie-sticks can hit exhibits and break things. This was very disrespectful and unacceptable. My selfie stick was not extended. As a new responsible MOA member visiting with family, I was being careful about everything, but two staff gave a reminder but never said to keep the selfie-stick in the locker and the third one coming and telling something different to an adult, that was completely uncalled for and disrespectful. First, I did not extend my selfie-stick. And how did she assume I would break any exhibit with it? Really? I told her that I don't mean any offence, but two other staff didn't tell me to keep the stick in the locker, but I will keep it as a responsible member, but you are talking to an adult and educating me that I can break exhibits was hurtful and unfair. She didn't apologize but said thank you. I had to immediately tell her that you offended me, so do not say thank you to me. This just spoiled my mood and joyful spirit. I did not enjoy my visit after that. Once we are hurt, we see all negative and wrong things going around. True? We were told to keep our bags away that were small and kid bags. We were absolutely fine with it. But then I saw all White people, Asians, and a few Indigenous people were carrying bags bigger than my daughter's and wife's bag. How? Why? See the pictures. They are not of just one or two, but about 10 people with bigger bags. I checked; there were several lockers still available, so how come these Whites, Asians, and Indigenous people were allowed to take bags inside the exhibit hall? One guy wearing blue shirt was leaning on the exhibit arch, and hallway staff were standing right next to him, but no one said anything to him. Why? Isn't this a clear sign of discrimination? Disrespectful and patronizing behavior by the security guards and the hallway staff? It was interesting to observe that the racialized staff were mistreating and discriminating other racialized patrons. It's 2025. Rules apply on people of color, and the rest, they are given a free pass to break those rules. What actions will be taken to solve this issue? Lip service? I'm not a newbie Google reviewer. I'm a level 7 local reviewer. I honestly call out anything that's wrong and give words of appreciation, if I see hard work and something good and right. What happened today with me was completely...

I went on Wednesday right at opening and stayed until noon, though I could have easily stayed for the whole day for how much there was to see. The displays in each section offer an equally excellent experience whether you're a visual stroll-through type or a "stop and read everything" museum goer. Personal favourite was the Bill Reid Rotunda, where you can see his large and small works while walking alongside the history of the artist and the contributions he made to Pacific Northwest art. Another highlight was the multiversity room, which is like having access to the "other half" of a museum, since the curators have put EVERYTHING on display in some capacity. While a selection of items are placed in glass cases and are visually organized, the remaining items are available to look at and explain in the drawers below most display cases. What I appreciated most about how this was organized was that there were explanations for items that were partially on display (sacred items that the curators have communicated with the given community and asked how to respectfully be in possession of the item), sometimes the items were described in writing but were in boxes, and in one instance, the items were wrapped in a blanket as this is how they would be stored by the community - and if you belonged to the community of a partially displayed item, you could ask to arrange to see it (which I think is an amazing approach). I definitely will be coming back, as I'm sure I only saw about a quarter of the collection at best in my half-day visit. Also worth noting, no bags or water bottles are allowed with the museum itself - there are lockers near the washrooms, and if you choose not to get a locker, you can leave your water bottle at the front desk. Photos are allowed, but no flash as some items are photosensitive. Accessibility notes: there's a lot of seating available throughout the multiversity room and the Rotunda, and there are ramps as well as stairs to access each space of the museum (including the washrooms and gift shop), and the writing on the information plaques are a standard size, though the lighting is somewhat dimmer in the multiversity room, so you may need to approach the display case more closely to see the written information (though some are lower than...

The collectiona are nice. I was hoping to see some about the evolutionary history of humans and ancient human societies/cultures, but I guess this isn't that type of museum, which is fine! The First Nations exhibits were wonderful and I can absolutely recommend them. The museum consisted of collections of mainly First Nations artifacts mostly from the 1800s on up and education about their history, artifacts from other parts of the world (which had no dates, oddly enough, though I suspect the dates are stored in computer kiosks which were down while we visited) that seemed to go back to the 1500s with a few much older by my estimate, and a lovely European ceramics collection, plus a couple of other smaller exhibits. The outdoor exhibit and reflecting pool are closed for construction. The gift shop is nice with reasonable prices.

I do have to knock off a couple of stars, however, because while the museum is wheelchair accessible, wheelchair friendly it is not. There are ramps to each exhibit but the ramps are very steep and made it hard enough to safely work my way up and down them as-is, but their choice of carpeting for the main hallway/totem exhibit is somewhat plush carpet which makes it VERY difficult to move a standard wheelchair on. Inside the exhibits themselves, the flooring varies and a couple of them have harder floors that are much easier for moving a chair on. If you're coming here in a wheelchair I'd highly recommend having someone strong with you to help give you a push. Do not come alone if you depend on a wheelchair. If you use a powered scooter, you might be ok without help. The wheelchair accessible bathrooms are too small and are difficult to navigate and open the door if you are the one using the wheelchair. Additionally, some of the wheelchair door buttons which are supposed to open both doors to an exhibit just didn't work, and we needed help from kind bystanders to get me through a couple of the doors. The difficulty I had exploring the museum absolutely took points away from my overall experience, unfortunately.

All-in-all great exhibits, but not too disability friendly. Just keep that in mind if you're visiting here with...