Point Ellice House turns focus to Indigenous past under a new operator
A national and provincial heritage site in Victoria that’s cycled through three operators in as many years is getting $250,000 from the federal government as part of a push to promote Indigenous tourism.
Point Ellice House is one of Victoria’s oldest homes and a time capsule of 19th-century settler life.
About 12,000 objects from a single family, the O’Reillys, fill a house that was built in 1862.
But new operators who took over in January are hoping to shift the museum into a place where more Indigenous stories can be told.
Since Métis Nation B.C. took over Point Ellice House in January, the site’s visitor centre has been transformed into what the nation calls a “trading post” showcasing Métis artists and objects.
Métis Nation B.C. minister of culture, heritage and language Patrick Harriott said attendance is up by about 48 per cent.
It’s important to have a space for the history of Métis and First Nations peoples that were part of the early fur trade and subsequent settling of Victoria, he said.
Men from Fort Victoria’s most prominent families — including Hudson Bay Company chief factor and colony governor James Douglas and fur trader John Tod — married First Nations or Métis wives, Harriot said.
“We want to tell the whole story of Point Ellice House, which includes First Nations, Métis, and the colonial story,” he said.
Asked about the connection between Point Ellice House and the Métis peoples, Harriott said the land was first owned by Hudson Bay Company employee John Work, who married Josette Legacé, the daughter of a fur trader and a Nez Perce woman.
When Legacé’s daughter, Catherine, married entrepreneur Charles Wentworth Wallace, they purchased the land from John Work and built Point Ellice House, he said.
The stately Victorian estate was sold to Peter O’Reilly in 1867, whose family would own the house for another 108 years until it was sold to the province and turned into a heritage site.
“Peter O’Reilly was such a large figure,” said Harriott. “He was a judge, he was a gold commissioner, he was even also a reserve commissioner.”
The life of the O’Reilly family is preserved at Point Ellice House in situ — in their original context.
Bearskin rugs cover the floors and the desk where O’Reilly drew up many of B.C.’s present-day First Nation reserves is still in his office.
Métis Nation B.C. is looking at the possibility of deaccessioning — permanently removing some objects from a collection — of some of the Point Ellice House collection to make way for new exhibits.
“We have so much in storage that we want to be able to take out, and we want to be able to make sure that we can tell more stories,” he said. “But right now, it’s pretty darn full.”
With the new federal funds, Métis Nation B.C. will conduct deferred maintenance and put together a marketing campaign to attract tourists to the 2616 Pleasant St. waterfront site in Rock Bay, a primarily industrial neighbourhood.
“It’s got a dock you can access through the little Victoria harbour taxis,” Harriott said.
His organization is the fifth group to take on Point Ellice House since the B.C. Liberal government in 2002 contracted out site operations to third parties.
Five people are employed at the site by Métis Nation B.C, including a recently hired collections manager, Harriott said.
A government-commissioned study in 2007 said it would take $230,000 annually to properly run the site. B.C. is only offering $160,000 in annual funding, according to the province’s last request for proposals in 2023.
Harriott did not have the details of the operating agreement between Métis Nation B.C. and the province, but said whatever the province is giving is “definitely not enough” to maintain the space.
While the federal and provincial governments have a part in maintaining the space, visitor revenue should also play a role in funding, he said.
Previous groups have served food and rented out the site’s carriage house as a residence in an effort to make ends meet.
One group that ran the site from 2019 to 2023 estimated that it would take $325,000 annually for sustainable operations.
The one-time $250,000 federal funding, announced Thursday, comes from Pacific Economic Development Canada, a B.C.focused federal economic development agency, and is part of a $998,000 push to advance tourism on Vancouver Island.