Protest Mounting Over Canadian Museum For Human Rights Contents

Ottawa (December 15, 2010) – Concerns over the proposed contents of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, a taxpayer funded national museum set to open its doors in Winnipeg next year, are growing.
The Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association’s director of research, Dr. Lubomyr Luciuk, said: “A national museum dedicated to human rights and civil liberties should be equitable and inclusive in its treatment of the many episodes of genocide that have befouled human history, as well as focusing on Canadian stories, particularly those that are less well known. We were therefore surprised and deeply troubled when the final report of the museum’s Content Advisory Committee made only one passing reference to Canada’s first national internment operations and barely mentioned what was arguably the greatest genocide of 20th century European history, the Holodomor, the Great Famine of 1932-33 in Soviet Ukraine. While we appreciate how difficult it is to tell every story in such a museum, the clear partiality of its proposed contents is unacceptable. We are therefore joining the protest against that committee’s recommendations by launching a national campaign with postcards addressed to the Honourable James Moore, the Minister of Canadian Heritage. Clearly the Government of Canada now needs to intervene to ensure that a museum funded by all Canadians does not elevate the suffering of one community above all others.”
The growing controversy over the proposed contents of CMHR (see The Globe and Mail, “Group says rights museum slights sufferings of Ukrainians,”11 December 2010) was, in part, provoked because of promises made in April 2003 by the Asper Foundation in a letter from Moe Levy, Executive Director.
Dr. Luciuk said earlier that: “The [letter]… makes clear that in return for its support, the Ukrainian Canadian community was led to expect that the truth about the genocidal Holodomor and about what happened during this country’s first national internment operations would be allocated permanent and prominent space in this publicly-funded national museum. Reading through the final report of the Content Advisory Committee it becomes clear that those pledges have not been honoured. Making this letter public puts these facts on the public record.”