Ukrainian Canadian Perspective on Canadian Museum for Human Rights

Speaking on behalf of the Ukrainian Canadian community, the chairman of the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association, Dr. Lubomyr Luciuk, briefed members of the Content Advisory Committee for the Canadian Museum for Human Rights on June 11 in Ottawa.

Dr. Luciuk noted that the Ukrainian Canadian community favours the creation of a “museum that will be truly national and truly Canadian in content,” focused largely on “telling Canadian stories not likely to ever be treated in any museums outside Canada.” Examples of such stories would include the expulsion of the Acadians, the mistreatment of some aboriginals in the Residential School system, the use of the War Measures Act that saw Ukrainians and other Europeans branded as “enemy aliens” during Canada’s first national internment operations of 1914-1920, restrictive immigration polices and the eugenics movement.

Acknowledging that many Canadians came here from other countries where they were victims of persecution and even of genocide, and that some of their descendants have maintained an abiding interest in such homeland issues, he spoke of the need for developing a permanent gallery where stories from outside the country could be told in an equitable and inclusive manner without any one ethnic, religious or racial minority’s experience or perspective being given pride of place.

Should it instead be decided that permanent gallery spaces will be afforded to non-Canadian events, he called for attention being given to such lesser known tragedies as the genocidal Great Famine of 1932-33 in Soviet Ukraine, the Holodomor, which he said was “arguably the greatest crime against humanity to befoul 20th century European history.”

He also stated that the Ukrainian Canadian community wants to ensure that a national museum funded by all Canadians never become partisan neither in its content nor in its management, and so called for transparency in hiring for all senior management positions and in appointments to the museum’s board of directors.