B.C. and Surrey agree to advance plans for a provincial museum honouring South Asian Canadians

The BC NDP-led provincial government and the City of Surrey have agreed to work together on plans for a provincial museum dedicated to Canadians of South Asian heritage, years after the province began planning the project. The two governments reached a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Sept. 18, 2026. The province had also considered Vancouver but has now chosen Surrey. Four days later, on Sept. 22, Premier David Eby called a snap provincial election. British Columbians will elect the MLA for their riding on Saturday, Oct. 24, a week after municipal elections across the province on Saturday, Oct. 17.

A 2025 provincial public consultation report called Surrey the “most suggested” location, largely because many South Asian people live, work and shop there. Nearly 40 per cent of Surrey residents are of South Asian descent, with heritage rooted in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and the Maldives. The report also identified technical advantages, including lower land acquisition costs for a suitable site. Vancouver’s advantages included a potential downtown location that could give the museum greater international exposure by drawing on pedestrian traffic and tourism. The report did not mention the previously assumed potential location in Vancouver’s struggling Punjabi Market, near Main Street and East 49th Avenue.

The MOU sets out the governments’ next planning steps: examining specific possible locations, consulting and developing a strategy to advance the project. An announcement last month identified no specific site, budget or timeline. The proposed museum would explore how Canadians of South Asian heritage have helped shape B.C. and preserve and share the histories of the different communities.

Anne Kang, B.C.’s Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport and the BC NDP MLA candidate for Burnaby-Deer Lake, said South Asian Canadians have made extraordinary contributions to the province’s social, cultural, economic and political development over generations. Their stories, achievements and contributions are an important part of B.C.’s past and present success, she said. Kang called the agreement an important step toward creating a place where people can learn about, celebrate and connect with those stories for years to come.

Brenda Locke, the incumbent Surrey mayoral candidate with Surrey Connect, welcomed the choice. She had lobbied the province to select Surrey. Locke said there was no better place for a museum dedicated to Canadians of South Asian heritage, thanked the provincial government for choosing Surrey and advancing the project, and said the community itself would shape the museum’s success. She said she looked forward to listening to community members, learning from their perspectives and working together on a space that honours South Asian Canadians’ stories, contributions and experiences for generations.

Surrey’s municipal government is also in the early stages of planning a standalone building beside Civic Plaza for a city-backed Interactive Art Museum. The province’s choice of Surrey for the South Asian museum follows its decision to establish the provincial Chinese Canadian Museum in Vancouver’s historic Chinatown. The museum opened in summer 2023, and the non-profit organization overseeing it received more than $50 million in funding from all three levels of government.

The provincial government is also at a very early stage of considering a provincial Filipino Cultural Centre. The federal government has indicated it will provide some financial support. No location has been chosen, though Vancouver is expected to be the site. A leading proposal envisions mixed-use hotel towers on Main Street in Mount Pleasant, with a large cultural-centre space on the ground level of one tower. Vancouver City Council has given the proposal preliminary support, and the proponent’s next step is to submit a rezoning application.

In September 2025, work was well underway to convert the former Blenz Coffee space in the Library Square atrium in downtown Vancouver into a temporary Filipino Cultural Centre. The interim centre, spanning more than 1,500 sq. ft., was expected to open soon and serve the community until a permanent space is ready. Warren Flandez, chair of the Filipino Legacy Society, said Filipino Canadians are a core part of Vancouver’s diversity but had not previously had a cultural home in the city. For decades, he said, they had gathered in borrowed spaces. The interim Library Square space, at an iconic Vancouver location, would give the Filipino community a place it could proudly call home for now.