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ATROCITIES GALLERY 'TOO MUCH': MUSEUM TO REVAMP CONTENT; EX-WORKERS DISPARAGE MOVE
Winnipeg Free Press
Nov 30 2012
Canada
By: Bartley Kives
Posted: 11/30/2012 1:00 AM
The Canadian Museum for Human Rights is being criticized for its plan
to focus on fewer atrocities and include more Canadian content when
it opens in 2014.
Against the wishes of former employees, Winnipeg's first national
museum has done away with a plan to feature more than 80 genocides
in an atrocities gallery in favour of focusing on five officially
recognized by the federal government. The museum has expanded its
Canadian content to ensure visitors are more aware of domestic
human-rights success stories and failures.
Museum officials describe the changes to the content as the result of
several years of engagement with the public and human rights experts.
Disappointed former employees, however, accuse the museum of kowtowing
to a board directive to ensure "positive Canadian stories" are given
prominence in the $351-million institution, which will receive $22
million in annual federal operating funding.
The original plans for the museum's atrocities exhibit garnered
negative feedback during the public-engagement process that deemed
80 serious incidents "too much" for a single gallery, communications
director Angela Cassie said.
"People said this gallery felt like a little shop of horrors," Cassie
said Thursday. Planners don't want visitors to get so depressed they
would be compelled to leave, added assistant communications manager
Maureen Fitzhenry.
CMHR president and CEO Stuart Murray said curators could not properly
represent more than 80 mass atrocities. "How could we possibly do
them all justice?" he asked.
The museum's inauguration will focus on Ukraine's Holodomor, the
Holocaust in Europe, the Armenian genocide, the Rwandan genocide and
the Srebrenica massacre. The Canadian government has recognized all
five 20th-century events as genocides, Murray said.
Notably absent from this list is the largest Asian genocide of the
20th century -- the slayings and starvation of at least two million
Cambodians by the Khmer Rouge regime between 1975 and 1979. Murray
said the CMHR may feature the Cambodian genocide at some point in the
future, noting the museum's touchscreen displays allow for regular
content updates.
"Because of the technology we employ, we're not beholden to fixed
dioramas," he said, vowing to do a better job of explaining the
museum's multi-layered approach to content.
Another content change will be more Canadian stories throughout the
museum's galleries. While the museum was always supposed to have
Canadian content, its layout -- a series of galleries that spiral
from the ground to the top -- wound up placing the nation's stories
at the end of the "journey," Cassie said.
"We realized you were walking through three-quarters of the museum
before you get Canadian content," she said. "We can't expect everyone
will go through the entire museum... we needed to answer the question:
Is this a Canadian museum for human rights?"
Departed museum staff, speaking on condition of anonymity, claim
the institution's board issued a directive to feature more positive
Canadian stories. Some complained of museum-board fears of upsetting
the federal government or potential trade partners.
Murray denied the allegation, insisting the museum strives to maintain
a balance between human rights success stories and failures. "If there
are gritty stories to tell, they will be in the museum," he said,
insisting there is no way to glamourize human rights.
At the same time, the museum cannot be simply depressing, said Murray,
noting one scholar told him, "I hope to hell this is not a museum of
human wrongs."
Cassie and Fitzhenry said disgruntled former museum staff may have
different ideas about presentation due to their academic backgrounds.
Actual museum-goers have different expectations from scholars,
they said.
That concept is problematic, two University of Toronto professors
suggested in a 2011 paper that makes direct reference to the Canadian
Museum for Human Rights.
If the museum presents human rights success stories about First
Nations, for example, "its visitors might not consider taking action
to address current rights violations," museum studies Prof. Jennifer
Carter and human rights law Prof. Jennifer Orange wrote in a paper
presented to a British conference. Orange and Carter questioned
whether a state-funded museum can freely criticize government actions
and policies.
Canadian human rights failures such as the forced placement of
First Nations students in residential schools, the internment of
Japanese-Canadians and the ban on South Asian immigration will be
featured prominently in the museum, Cassie said.
Murray said he is under no pressure from the federal government
regarding the museum's content. The Harper government recently changed
the mandate of Gatineau's Museum of Civilization to focus more on
Canadian history.
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/atrocities-gallery-too-much-181497341.html
Winnipeg Free Press
Nov 30 2012
Canada
By: Bartley Kives
Posted: 11/30/2012 1:00 AM
The Canadian Museum for Human Rights is being criticized for its plan
to focus on fewer atrocities and include more Canadian content when
it opens in 2014.
Against the wishes of former employees, Winnipeg's first national
museum has done away with a plan to feature more than 80 genocides
in an atrocities gallery in favour of focusing on five officially
recognized by the federal government. The museum has expanded its
Canadian content to ensure visitors are more aware of domestic
human-rights success stories and failures.
Museum officials describe the changes to the content as the result of
several years of engagement with the public and human rights experts.
Disappointed former employees, however, accuse the museum of kowtowing
to a board directive to ensure "positive Canadian stories" are given
prominence in the $351-million institution, which will receive $22
million in annual federal operating funding.
The original plans for the museum's atrocities exhibit garnered
negative feedback during the public-engagement process that deemed
80 serious incidents "too much" for a single gallery, communications
director Angela Cassie said.
"People said this gallery felt like a little shop of horrors," Cassie
said Thursday. Planners don't want visitors to get so depressed they
would be compelled to leave, added assistant communications manager
Maureen Fitzhenry.
CMHR president and CEO Stuart Murray said curators could not properly
represent more than 80 mass atrocities. "How could we possibly do
them all justice?" he asked.
The museum's inauguration will focus on Ukraine's Holodomor, the
Holocaust in Europe, the Armenian genocide, the Rwandan genocide and
the Srebrenica massacre. The Canadian government has recognized all
five 20th-century events as genocides, Murray said.
Notably absent from this list is the largest Asian genocide of the
20th century -- the slayings and starvation of at least two million
Cambodians by the Khmer Rouge regime between 1975 and 1979. Murray
said the CMHR may feature the Cambodian genocide at some point in the
future, noting the museum's touchscreen displays allow for regular
content updates.
"Because of the technology we employ, we're not beholden to fixed
dioramas," he said, vowing to do a better job of explaining the
museum's multi-layered approach to content.
Another content change will be more Canadian stories throughout the
museum's galleries. While the museum was always supposed to have
Canadian content, its layout -- a series of galleries that spiral
from the ground to the top -- wound up placing the nation's stories
at the end of the "journey," Cassie said.
"We realized you were walking through three-quarters of the museum
before you get Canadian content," she said. "We can't expect everyone
will go through the entire museum... we needed to answer the question:
Is this a Canadian museum for human rights?"
Departed museum staff, speaking on condition of anonymity, claim
the institution's board issued a directive to feature more positive
Canadian stories. Some complained of museum-board fears of upsetting
the federal government or potential trade partners.
Murray denied the allegation, insisting the museum strives to maintain
a balance between human rights success stories and failures. "If there
are gritty stories to tell, they will be in the museum," he said,
insisting there is no way to glamourize human rights.
At the same time, the museum cannot be simply depressing, said Murray,
noting one scholar told him, "I hope to hell this is not a museum of
human wrongs."
Cassie and Fitzhenry said disgruntled former museum staff may have
different ideas about presentation due to their academic backgrounds.
Actual museum-goers have different expectations from scholars,
they said.
That concept is problematic, two University of Toronto professors
suggested in a 2011 paper that makes direct reference to the Canadian
Museum for Human Rights.
If the museum presents human rights success stories about First
Nations, for example, "its visitors might not consider taking action
to address current rights violations," museum studies Prof. Jennifer
Carter and human rights law Prof. Jennifer Orange wrote in a paper
presented to a British conference. Orange and Carter questioned
whether a state-funded museum can freely criticize government actions
and policies.
Canadian human rights failures such as the forced placement of
First Nations students in residential schools, the internment of
Japanese-Canadians and the ban on South Asian immigration will be
featured prominently in the museum, Cassie said.
Murray said he is under no pressure from the federal government
regarding the museum's content. The Harper government recently changed
the mandate of Gatineau's Museum of Civilization to focus more on
Canadian history.
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/atrocities-gallery-too-much-181497341.html