Even before opening its doors on Friday (September 19) the Canadian Museum for Human Rights has been dogged by controversy. Ukrainian Canadians, Palestinians, and Canada’s Indigenous people are among those criticizing the museum.
As the official ceremony began, Indigenous First Nations women were protesting, a woman yelling, “Your museum is a lie.”
First Nations performers A Tribe Called Red were to perform Saturday evening but cancelled over concerns about how the museum portrays Indigenous issues.
Friday they released a statement: “Human rights are great for society. We appreciate the work the museum has been doing to bring attention to global issues. Unfortunately, we feel it was necessary to cancel our performance because of the museum’s misrepresentation and downplay of the genocide that was experienced by Indigenous people in Canada by refusing to name it genocide. Until this is rectified, we’ll support the museum from a distance.”
This week, Canadians of Ukrainian and other backgrounds urged a boycott due to “the lack of a meaningful portrayal” of Canada’s internment of so-called “enemy aliens” during the First World War.
“This is supposed to be a Canadian museum of human rights and really the internment should be front and center,” said Marsha Skrypuch, whose grandfather was interned for about a year a century ago.
“I don’t think you could possibly build a human rights museum without there being controversy,” Gail Asper, a museum board member who championed its fund-raising drive told the Reuters news agency. “What we want is for people to come in, check out the whole museum, see how everything fits together, and then, if they’ve got concerns, fair enough.”
More information:
Reuters – Canada human rights museum stirs controversy as doors open – here
CBC News – Demonstrators call for attention to murdered and missing aboriginal women, Palestinian struggle – here
National Post – Canada’s human rights museum was meant as a unifying force, but, so far, has only inspired criticism – here
Canadian Museum for Human Rights website – museumforhumanrights.ca
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