A new Canadian Museum of Human Rights (CMHR) is scheduled to open in Winnipeg in April 2013.The museum will explore the evolution of
human rights in this country as it has affected different population groups. The work of the museum will both complement and directly support the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), according to Stuart Murray, its new president and chief executive officer.The facility will foster critical thinking about how large-scale human rights abuses have unfolded in Canada and around the world. More importantly, Murray told delegates to the recent “Sharing Truth” conference in Vancouver, organized by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), the museum will inspire visitors to dialogue and action. “We have come a long way down the road toward true universal human rights,” Murray said, adding that “we still have a long way to go.”With input from First Nations, Metis and Inuit advisers, the museum will “open the door to a much wider understanding of the aboriginal people of Canada and of the residential school experience, and will foster discussion to ensure a more equitable future for indigenous people,” he said. Among its exhibits will be primary-source evidence of the abusive treatment of Canada’s indigenous populations. “It will show, for example, that there was forced sterilization in the residential schools,’ ” Murray said, noting that the impact of Canada’s racist policies is tangible today. The goal of this “ideas” museum is to ensure that such episodes enter mainstream consciousness. Ω
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