[BCMA] Ownership of Unclaimed or Abandoned property & Section 19 of the BC Heritage Act

[Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv.]

Hello,

I'm a student taking the Collections Management course as part of the Cultural Resource Management program at UVic. As part of my final assignment, I'm trying to come up with a theoretical policy for BC museums to deal with abandoned or unclaimed objects (such as expired loans, or unwanted donations), as well as objects deemed "found in collections," which have no ownership documentation. My teacher made me aware of the Section 19 legislation in the BC Heritage Act, which in summary, calls for museums to apply to the BC Supreme court for a change in title making them the legal owner of a particular object. It just seems like a complex and potentially costly thing to do. I was wondering if anyone here has any experience with or knowledge of the application of this legislation? Do you know if this legislation applies to artifacts or objects found in a collection from possibly 25+ years ago? (is there a specific cut off date that the legislation applies?) What policies do other BC community museums have in place to deal with abandoned, unclaimed or "found in collections" property/objects?

Thank you!


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