Burnaby was where the studio scenes of Motherland were filmed, at Vancouver Film Studios. Address: 3500 Cornett Road Vancouver, BC V5M 2H5
They don’t run studio tours for the public, so there is no way to see the studios. But you can see the outside.
A more interesting and accessible location is Burnaby Art Gallery. Address: 6344 Deer Lake Ave, Burnaby, BC V5G 2J3. The back of the Art Gallery was used for Memorial Hall in episode 1.03.
The gardens at the back of the Art Gallery were used several times. The best example is probably when Anacostia and Berryessa Tansey walked through the trellis in the gardens talking about Anacostia’s first Beltane. Yes, this was the first mention of Channing Grafton, of Mothertongue fame! The trellis was dressed in wisteria for filming, it is normally free of plants, but plants can be used to hide a lot of things while filming.
The gardens were used several times for walks in the ‘Fort Salem’ grounds and other characters filmed here. Sometimes you can see the trellis or the art gallery in the background of a shot. An Adil and Khalida scene with an umbrella (it rains a lot in Vancouver) was filmed with the characters standing almost exactly where I was while taking this photo.
Nearby is Hart House Restaurant 6664 Deer Lake Ave, Burnaby, BC V5E 4H3, the back of this has a field which was the site of the lacrosse pitch from episode 1.03. It really is not worth visiting now, it is essentially a muddy field. A lot of greens were used in those shots covering up scenery. The bench is the bottom photo is where the bleachers were.
Another Burnaby location is Windermere Secondary School, address: 3155 E 27th Ave, Vancouver, BC V5R 1P3. This was the filming site for the rescue of Scylla in episode 3.08. In that episode, they filmed the actual rescue inside the building, but they did a night shoot outside the building.
If you visit a school, it is important to visit it when the students are not there. School holidays or weekends. Do not try to go inside, even if the school is open. Schools have safety protocols about student safety. When I went there, it was the weekend and the area outside the school was public.
This is the guarded entrance where Raelle sneaks in while Adil and Abigail provide a distraction.
This gives a better view of the covered walkway that we see a lot of in this episode. To the right is the hedge where Raelle, Abigail and Adil hide while trying to work out how to get in.
The piece of hedge they hid behind is actually quite short. For filming, the bicycle racks were removed and army vehicles were parked there. The swings were set up in the grassy space at the bottom of the picture above.
There are two other Burnaby filming locations.
The Youth Custody Services Centre, address: 3655 Willingdon Avenue, Burnaby V5G 3X1 was the site of much of the filming for Citydrop, episode 1.08. It has been extensively demolished and rebuilt and little or nothing of the original filming site remains.
Overlynn Manor 401 Esmond Ave V5C 1SH was the site of some of the interior filming, such as the War Room in episode 1.02, the interior of the hospital in episode 1.03 and others as well as the office in episode 1.06. I believe it may have been used in season 2 as well, but I cannot be sure. Overlynn Manor is private property and has been extensively renovated since filming and the interior filming locations likely no longer exist.
Links to blogs of my visits to Burnaby are below
Preparing for Beltane https://returntofortsalem.com/2025/06/06/preparing-for-beltane/
The Rescue (Windermere School) https://returntofortsalem.com/2023/10/08/vancouver-pilgrimage-the-rescue-of-scylla-windermere-school/
ReturntoFortSalem 