Welcome everyone. I am pleased to be here today to speak to you about the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.

 

Je suis très heureux d’être avec vous pour parler du projet le plus passionnant au Canada, le Musée canadien des droits de la personne.

 

First of all, I would like to congratulate you on taking part in such a great initiative – Creative Retirement Manitoba. We share a similar goal with Creative Retirement – that of lifelong learning. At the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, we are committed to lifelong learning and believe that it is necessary to move human rights forward. The more we learn, the more we are able to expand our own frame of reference and understand the point of view of others. 

 

Thank you for being here to learn more about our inspiring project. I’m here to give you a better sense of what we mean when we call the Canadian Museum for Human Rights an ‘idea’ museum.  But first, I would like to give you some background on the project itself as I am not sure that everyone is familiar with us.

 

The Museum was created in March 2008 through an amendment to the Museum’s Act and officially became a Federal Crown Corporation in August 2008. We are Canada’s fifth national museum, and the first ever to be established outside of the National Capital Region.

 

The official mandate of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, to quote the Museums Act of Canada, is “to explore the subject of human rights, with special but not exclusive reference to Canada, in order to enhance the public’s understanding of human rights, to promote respect for others and to encourage reflection and dialogue.” 

 

Notice this doesn’t speak about collecting artefacts.  It’s a very broad and open mandate and it actually speaks of social change. This requires us to be innovative and unique in our design and content, and is one of the major reasons why the CMHR needs to be an ‘idea museum.’

It is important to mention that the CMHR Canada’s first national museum to be established with financial contributions from all levels of government and with very significant contributions from the private sector.

We cannot speak of the CMHR without mentioning Gail Asper and her team and their tireless determination to realize Izzy Asper’s dream. It was truly his belief and Gail’s action that has made the dream of this museum a reality. She is an amazing fundraiser and without her, this project would not be where it is today.  

 

It took a tremendous amount of effort on behalf of the Friends of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights as well as the Museum staff to arrive at the ground breaking in December 2008. Since then, much work has been done both on the content of the CMHR and the construction of its physical home. 

 

 

 

Construction is well underway and the CMHR is set to open in 2012. If you have driven or walked by the Forks lately, you will have seen the tremendous progress that has been made on the construction site. Root A, one of the 4 ‘fingers’ of the Museum grasping into the ground much like the root of a tree, is almost fully formed. This first ‘root’ will house our classroom and education wing. Given the importance of education to the Museum, it is fitting that this would be the first section constructed!

 

The Museum site is located at The Forks, on Treaty 1 territory and we are working closely with First Nations and Métis leaders to determine how we can best show respect for the peoples and the history of the region.

We are also working to ensure that Winnipeg’s rich history of human rights, a history that has had a substantive impact in Canada, is better understood from the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919, French language rights, Métis rights through Louis Riel, to women’s rights through suffragette Nellie McClung.

An international architectural competition was held in 2004 to develop an architectural icon and the competition’s review committee chose the design of US based Antoine Predock. 

 

The Museum employs Smith Carter Architects and Engineers, a firm headquartered in Winnipeg to transform Antoine Predock’s architectural design into engineering drawings –and PCL Constructors, another Canadian Firm, to bring this very complex project to life.

 

This building will be an icon; it is an architectural jewel that has already begun to capture people’s imaginations.

The CMHR will be a place of community and of dialogue; a provocative place that doesn’t shy away from controversy, but insists on respect for all people. A touching, doing, role-playing, technological, multi-sensory experience that will meet you at the place of your deepest reservations and hesitations, then guide you through a journey of learning and experience resulting in a one-word, compelling conclusion – HOPE.

 

Envision a mission focused on action – challenging and equipping people, especially young people, to, as I paraphrase Gandhi “Be the change you want to see in the world.”

 

The journey will be an ascending, enlightening process, beginning with a descent into “Mother Earth” – where we were meant to begin life as equal beings; then rising up through a series of illuminated ramps towards the sun – radiating light into the museum through a “cloud” fashioned by 54,000 square feet of glass and a 23 storey Tower of Hope. Whether you travel up the ramps from bottom to top or take the elevator from floor to floor, it will be an unforgettable experience.

 

Welcome to today’s museum – your museum - the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. This is what we envision an ‘idea’ museum to be. 

 

Our work involves bringing many people together, providing an opportunity to hear from difference perspectives, and challenging all to think differently and to consider other points of view.  

 

An ‘idea’ museum means that we will not be presenting single interpretive panels for each issue but will, instead, present many perspectives and points of view. These perspectives will sometimes converge, sometimes conflict, but will most certainly always be deeply held. Our objective in the museum will be to foster a better understanding of human rights – the challenges, the triumphs, the common links between seemingly diverse situations, but always to advance that knowledge through a better understanding of others’ points of view. It’s a daunting task but one that we believe can be achieved through strong research and curatorial work, use of technology, and deep and rich partnerships with educational institutions and academia from grade school through to post-doctoral programs.

 

The Canadian Museum for Human Rights is different from a regular museum in that we will not have large collections of ‘things.’ Collecting objects is not our main focus. We will house some artefacts, and we will from time to time seek to borrow artefacts from others, but our stories will be told through narrative dialogue, through first person accounts, through memory and oral history.

 

That means, among other things, that our collection will be predominantly digital. We can think of it as a 21st century collection. One of the benefits is that we can use many means beyond the museum building to tell our human rights stories.

The CMHR will encourage visitors to interact with our content through the use of digital technology, multimedia, and the internet. The Museum will display our ‘ideas’ is through the use of visual arts, music, dance, and theatre to engage, educate, and inspire our visitors. Through these various mediums, we hope to be able to tell the very personal and very complex stories of human rights. 

 

Our website will provide visitors that cannot make it to Winnipeg to see the physical exhibits the opportunity to learn about human rights and be inspired towards human rights action. We intend to be both a traditional museum in a gorgeous new building built in Winnipeg, and a virtual museum housed on the internet. The online exhibits will not duplicate the physical exhibits though; we want to develop two complementary experiences for the visitor. The website will also be an authoritative access point to human rights content and partner organizations.

 

The Museum will contain a research centre and extensive library for scholars in residence and researchers to conduct their work and have access to our archives, but will also have programming in place for lifelong learners, like yourselves, to come and constantly push your own boundaries and encourage self-reflection.

 

Just as we expect our visitors will learn about human rights though our exhibitions, they too will be able to learn from each other. We are going to challenge the traditional approach of standing quietly and looking at exhibits. We will have safe spaces in the Museum for people to actively discuss the ideas and stories that you see, encouraging visitors to share their points of view with others. So, not only will you be learning from us, you will be learning from and about each other.    

 

One of the most important parts of an ‘idea’ museum is choosing the content that will depict these ‘ideas’ in a cohesive and comprehensive way. The development of the content of the CMHR is well underway. 

 

The Museum’s Board of Trustees and staff have been working with Ralph Appelbaum Associates, the world’s foremost museum exhibit designers based in New York, to develop and refine an exhibit plan and ensure that all the necessary elements are included to create a unique and life-changing experience within a national cultural institution. Our research team has recently come on board at the Museum, led by our Chief Knowledge Officer, Dr. Victoria Dickenson. Her team, which includes experts such as Judith Dueck, our Director of Research, Content and Scholarship, are dedicated to creating exhibits that will be world-class, educational, and inspiring.

 

The CMHR will examine issues from the past, present and future. The content will be ever-changing and dynamic, and woven together with common themes and threads, just like many human rights issues. We will constantly be undertaking new research to ensure that our exhibitions are up-to-date, timely and relevant. 

There will certainly be exhibits on human rights violations and injustices that have occurred in the past or that are more contemporary. From residential schools, the internment of various communities in Canada like Chinese Canadians and Japanese Canadians, to the Holocaust and crimes against humanity, we need to examine these issues, in order to learn from them.

 

We need to look at these issues to understand the resonating effects they have had on Canadians and people around the world. And we need to understand them in order to make sure that they never, ever happen again.

 

But I want to assure you that all of the stories we tell will not be depressing or grim. While we will explore dark periods of our history, we will also show past and present actions undertaken to change human rights history for the better. We will demonstrate the collective and individual triumphs that have helped Canada and the world to overcome these tragedies and inspire action today. These positive stories of resilience, strength and success are the stories that instill a sense of pride in all of us.  We want our visitors to leave with a sense of hope.

 

We can’t end with hope. Canadians across the country have told us that we cannot explore human rights without also considering our responsibilities. Our exhibits need to inspire and equip people for human rights action. Our goal is to provide visitors with a sense of personal responsibility, encourage active citizenship, and call visitors to action in the area of human rights, whether it be in their school, their community, their workplace, or in the field around the world. 

 

One of the most interesting projects we have been working on to develop content is our cross-country story gathering tour. This tour has brought us to 20 cities across Canada, at least one in every province and territory. We have met with over 2000 Canadians on this unprecedented journey.

Prior to the actual creation of the Museum, a report to the Minister of Canadian Heritage on the Canadian Museum for Human Rights recommended that a group of human rights scholars, specialists and leaders be appointed to elicit relevant information from individuals, organizations and groups. 

 

In January 2009, a Content Advisory Committee (CAC) was established. It is made up of 17 scholars, lawyers and human rights activists from around the country tasked with gathering stories from Canadians across the country. Roundtable sessions took place across the country and gave people the chance to share their ideas, perspectives and stories. The input participants gave us will inform the content, programming and research of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. 

 

We have worked with Toronto-based LORD Cultural Resources, the world’s largest cultural professional practice, to undertake this unprecedented initiative. Public engagement on this scale has never been done before by any other museum or cultural institution in Canada. I believe it was an incredible success. 

We held two roundtable sessions here in Winnipeg on the 26^th and 27^th of January and I am proud to say that we had the largest turn out here than anywhere else in the country! There were over 350 participants during the two evenings – the turnout was incredible. 

 

I had the opportunity and the honour to participate in the Toronto and Scarborough public engagement sessions and was very moved by what I heard and by the willingness of people to share their experiences. It was fantastic to watch people hear about the mandate and vision for this project and take ownership of it. We have noticed throughout these sessions is that regardless of people’s backgrounds and different points of view, everyone was willing to sit at the same table, engage in a respectful dialogue, and learn something new about each other. This type of dialogue is what we would like to see in the Museum: people sharing their stories, perspectives and ideas in order to foster a better understanding of each other’s point of view. These simple conversations – small steps – will help move human rights education and action forward.

 

During these public engagement sessions, we have heard from people at complete opposite ends of the ideological spectrum. Our team has been struck by the openness, generosity and frankness of the people who have shared their stories with us. We have heard a wide range of human rights issues including: Aboriginal issues, Language, Immigration, Gender, Religion, Labour, Sexual Orientation, Disability, Poverty, Water, Environment, and Age. This is by no means a complete list, and only covers a small portion of the issues we have heard along the way.

 

We have also set up a web-based “Share your story” campaign where people from all over the globe are invited to contribute their story. Not only for those who are unable to participate in our sessions, but also for those who have stories that can be hard to share in a face to face meeting or at a roundtable session with strangers. 

 

This unique and innovative ‘idea’ museum will not only be a beacon of hope and a centre for scholarship and lifelong learning, the Canadian Museum for Human Rights will create tremendous opportunities for our city. The Museum will add to the profile for our city as the ‘gateway to the west’ and will mark the beginning of an exciting legacy for all Canadians.

 

Currently, we have about 35 employees and we are continuing to grow each week. We are employing talented people from Manitoba, but also attracting candidates to Manitoba from across and outside of Canada. These are quality, competitive jobs requiring solid educational backgrounds and significant experience being created in Winnipeg

 

Employees are relocating with their families to work at the Museum, contributing to economic growth in the province. They also bring with them the skills, talent and expertise needed to move a project of this caliber forward and will contribute to the development of local experts in human rights, new media and museum management, which will benefit the community as a whole.   One month ago, we had 5 new researchers start at the Museum. Of these 5, 4 are former Winnipeggers, returning home after gaining education and experience in institutions and organizations across Canada and internationally. It is great to welcome these educated, skilled, and passionate people back home to Winnipeg!

 

Over the course of the next three years, 140-180 full and part-time jobs will be created at the museum, offering challenging opportunities to local graduates and highly skilled professionals. It also provides us with an opportunity to recruit educated, skilled, and passionate people to Winnipeg.

 

In addition to attracting employees, the Museum expects to attract youth, educators, scholars, ethno-cultural groups, recent immigrants, international visitors, Canadians from other parts of the country and of course, local residents as visitors to the Museum. Conservative estimates indicate the Museum will attract approximately 250,000 visitors annually to Winnipeg which is estimated by Manitoba Bureau of Statistics to generate annual visitor expenditures of $25.7 million which are a direct boon to the economy and result in still further tax benefits to government.

 

And these numbers represent what we know so far– given that a project of this nature acts as a catalyst for rejuvenation - the creation of new jobs, new hotels, restaurants and attractions – the economic stimulus generated both locally and nationally will continue long after the doors are open. The on-going economic benefits of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights are a work in progress and let me say that we believe the sky is truly the limit.

CMHR is going to be a museum unlike any other institution in this country. It will be an emblem of Canada’s commitment to human rights, education and a proud legacy for all.

 

As you might know, we are still fundraising to help build this institution. If you would like to know how you can contribute to this project, I would be happy to share more information with you. Please catch me after this presentation!       

 

Let me thank you for allowing me to meet with you today and to give you a better sense of what ‘an idea museum’ is. Watch our progress online and sign up to our mailing list for future updates. I hope to see you at the grand opening in 2012!