Documents raise questions about Canadian Museum of Human Rights political independence, professor says
Just days before the Canadian Museum of Human Rights opens, the federal minister responsible for museums is taking a closer look at its exhibits -- which is raising concerns about political interference.
The Winnipeg Free Press reports that Heritage Minister Shelly Glover visited the museum twice in the past week to review its content -- and then asked staff for a list of all exhibits that refer to the Government of Canada.
This isn't the first time questions have been raised about whether Ottawa is respecting the museum's independence.
Karen Busby, a law professor at the University of Manitoba, recently reviewed the museum's 2012 and 2013 gallery profiles -- a high-level internal document that describes the planned content of exhibits -- and compared the differences.
She found a significant description change in an exhibit about same-sex marriage. The 2012 document read:
In the 2013 version, it read:
"So you can see a real difference between those two," Busby tells Carol. "The first one talks about the social movement and the fight to have unions recognized in law and as well talks about a philosophical dispute within the community on the desirability of marriage... [in the 2013 version] the political fight is lost and philosophical debate is also lost."
What does she suspect happened between 2012 and 2013?
"Somebody didn't like the negative message. And someone didn't want a presentation of the struggle by gay people. [Though] it's very possible that the queer opposition movements will be presented in other places in the gallery."
Another significant exhibit description change Busby found was about the refugee experience in Canada. The 2012 document read:
In the 2013 version, it was revised:
"The lack of control that refugees have in Canada, that's lost," she says of the revision. "Instead, only the celebratory message is reflected. Based on what I saw in comparing the 2012 profiles with the 2013 profiles, I have to ask the question, why did those things change?"
Busby is co-editing a book about human rights museums titled The Idea of a Human Rights Museum.
"We've seen evidence of interference in human rights museums where governments use them as a political instrument to promote the interests of the states. That's something that we want to be vigilant about around the museum."
She continues: "If what we see in the museum is lots of stories about the Canadian government doing wonderful things in areas where we know there's controversy -- the status of refugees, the treatment of migrants workers, their position on missing and murdered aboriginal women, and on water rights in First Nations communities -- if those stories are not told in complex way, I think that would be concerning."
Rhea Yates, Canadian Museum for Human Rights's media relations adviser, responded to CBC News about Busby's concerns: "When people come into the museum and look at the content, that [gallery profiles] document won't have any relevance... We don't shy away from telling the difficult stories."
The Canadian Museum of Human Rights opens for previews this weekend and officially opens to the public on Friday, September 17.