Museum of Human Rights

  Tom hosts Tuesday's Treasures.

In doing a 31 Days in Canada series, I realized I had never posted the Museum of Human Rights located in Winnipeg Manitoba! It seemed appropriate to do so now, in light of what is happening in the world today.

September 2017 - Winnipeg MN

 The Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CMHR; French: Musée canadien pour les droits de la personne) is a Canadian Crown corporation and national museum located in Winnipeg, Manitoba, adjacent to The Forks. The purpose of the museum is to "explore the subject of human rights with a special but not exclusive reference to Canada, to enhance the public's understanding of human rights, to promote respect for others and to encourage reflection and dialogue."

Established in 2008 through the enactment of Bill C-42, an amendment of The Museums Act of Canada, the CMHR is the first new national museum created in Canada since 1967, and it is Canada's first national museum ever to be located outside the National Capital Region.

Located on Treaty 1 territory, at the crossroads of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers in a historic gathering place for the Anishinaabeg, Inninewak, Anishinewak, Dakota Oyate and Denesuline, and in the birthplace and homeland of the Red River Métis, the Canadian Museum for Human Rights continues to be a place dedicated to the evolution, celebration and future of human rights. The water in the Museum is sourced from Shoal Lake and has been cared for by First Nations in Treaty 3 territory for thousands of years.

Harriet Tubman (c. 1822–1913): The leftmost portrait displays the famous full-length photograph of Tubman taken around the 1870s. The description beneath details her legacy as an American abolitionist who led enslaved people to freedom via the Underground Railroad.

Louis Riel (1844–1885): The middle placard shows the iconic image of Riel seated and reading. The accompanying text designates him as a Métis leader of the Red River Resistance and the North-West Resistance in Canada.

Lassa Oppenheim (1858–1919): The portrait on the right highlights the prominent German jurist widely regarded as one of the fathers of modern international law. The text marks his dedication to global understanding through international law frameworks.

Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945): The leftmost panel shows Roosevelt in a wheelchair with a dog and a young girl. The text highlights his "Four Freedoms" speech, which heavily influenced the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962): The middle panel features a portrait of her holding a pen. The description notes her role as an American civil rights supporter and chairperson of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.

Lester B. Pearson (1897–1972): The rightmost fully visible panel shows the Canadian statesman speaking. The text details his 1957 Nobel Peace Prize win for his pioneering work in United Nations peacekeeping.

Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948): The leftmost panel shows the Indian leader who pioneered nonviolent resistance against British colonial rule, inspiring civil rights movements globally.

Nelson Mandela (1918–2013): The second panel features the South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, political leader, and philanthropist who served as President of South Africa.

Betty Friedan (1921–2006): The center panel features the influential American feminist writer and activist, author of The Feminine Mystique, and co-founder of the National Organization for Women (NOW).

Martin Luther King Jr. (1929–1968): The fourth panel displays the American civil rights leader who advanced civil rights through nonviolence and civil disobedience.

Raphael Lemkin (1900–1959): Partially visible on the far right is the Polish-Jewish lawyer who coined the word "genocide" and initiated the Genocide Convention.

Harvey Milk (1930–1978): The leftmost fully visible panel displays the American politician and activist. He became one of the first openly gay officials elected to public office in the United States and famously championed 2SLGBTQI+ civil rights before his assassination.

George Manuel (1921–1989): The center panel features the influential Secwépemc (Shuswap) political leader, author, and chief from British Columbia, Canada. He dedicated his life to Indigenous rights, serving as president of the National Indian Brotherhood (now the Assembly of First Nations) and founding the World Council of Indigenous Peoples.

Desmond Tutu (1931–2021): The rightmost brightly colored panel highlights the South African Anglican bishop, theologian, and human rights activist. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 for his pivotal leadership in the anti-apartheid movement.

Mary Robinson (born 1944): The leftmost panel shows the prominent Irish politician. She served as the first female President of Ireland (1990–1997) and subsequently as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (1997–2002).

Harold Cardinal (1945–2005): The center panel features the influential Cree writer, political leader, and lawyer from Alberta, Canada. He is widely known for authoring The Unjust Society (1969), a monumental book that strongly countered the Canadian government's 1969 White Paper and profoundly shaped the modern Indigenous rights movement in Canada.

Aung San Suu Kyi (born 1945): The rightmost panel features the Burmese politician and Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

What Are Human Rights? (Left): The colorful, curved horizontal panels on the left form the global human rights timeline. This exhibit traces 100 landmark moments and concepts of human dignity spanning thousands of years.

Indigenous Perspectives Theatre (Center): The prominent circular wooden basket structure is a 360-degree immersive theatre. It screens a multi-generational film exploring First Nations, Métis, and Inuit concepts of interrelated rights and collective responsibilities.

Universal Declaration Quote (Right): The dark wall on the right displays the opening line of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in English and French: "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.

In 2018 these dresses were loaned to Toronto for an exhibit.

This story is featured within the Canadian Museum for Human Rights to highlight the personal impact of the legalization of same-sex marriage in Canada (which occurred nationally in 2005 under the Civil Marriage Act). It showcases how institutional human rights victories translate directly into everyday personal milestones, family acceptance, and cultural expression.

This section of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CMHR) houses the Chinese Canadians and Immigration Policy exhibit, located within the Canadian Journeys gallery.

The central artifact is a multi-figure bronze sculpture titled "Remembering the Workers" (En souvenir des travailleurs)

.The Artist: It was created by the internationally renowned Chinese artist Wang Guangyi.

The Subject: The piece honors the thousands of Chinese laborers who immigrated to Canada in the late 19th century to build the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR).

The Narrative: The specific figures captured in the frame communicate the intense physical misery, exhaustion, and hazardous working conditions these workers endured while carving a transit system through the terrain of Western Canada

This section of the Canadian Journeys gallery expands on early systemic discrimination, focusing heavily on anti-Asian exclusion policies, institutionalized racism, and the community resilience of Asian Canadians.

Notable Framed Historical Artifacts

Anti-Asian Riot Media (Bottom Center-Right): The vertical rectangular frame contains historic news clippings documenting the Anti-Oriental Riots of September 1907 in Vancouver. Organized by the Asiatic Exclusion League, a violent mob swept through Chinatown and Powell Street (Japantown), destroying immigrant-owned businesses and homes.

Targeted Communities (Bottom Right): The adjacent horizontal frame shows storefront structures in Vancouver damaged during those 1907 riots, highlighting the severe vulnerability of immigrant families under hostile local climates.

Enlistment and Military Service (Top Left/Center): The upper tier features photographs of young Asian Canadian soldiers who volunteered to fight for Canada during the World Wars. Despite fighting for a country that denied them basic civil liberties, thousands served bravely to demonstrate their loyalty and secure full citizenship rights upon their return

"Land and Lifeways: Inuit Rights in the North" and outlines the historical disruptions and modern resilience of Inuit communities in Canada.

Key Themes on the Panel

Traditional Lifeways: For thousands of years, Inuit lived sustainably across Canada's vast North, relying on deeply established cultural practices closely tied to the land.Mid-20th Century Disruptions: Starting in the 1940s, an influx of outsiders arrived for mining, resource extraction, and military operations (national defence). This severely disrupted age-old methods of obtaining food and shelter, forced community relocations, and endangered aspects of Inuit culture.

Regaining Autonomy: The panel highlights the creation of the territory of Nunavut in 1999 as a monumental milestone, providing a self-governing framework that directly reflects Inuit values and cultural control.

Modern Threats: It notes that today, Inuit face a critical new challenge: rapid environmental and climate change in the Arctic ecosystem.

 "Freedom of Faith: Resisting Religious Oppression" 

 It explains how religious minorities expanded legal protections for all Canadians.

Core Historical Facts Highlighted

The Charter Guarantee: Under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, individuals have the constitutional right to hold, practice, and promote their religious beliefs safely.

Jehovah’s Witnesses Battles: The community endured decades of targeted government persecution and police crackdowns, particularly during the 1940s and 1950s. They launched landmark legal battles that directly advanced civil rights and freedom of speech at the Supreme Court level.

The Canadian Bill of Rights: Members of the faith mobilized to collect hundreds of thousands of citizen signatures demanding legislative action. This massive effort directly pressured the government to enact the Canadian Bill of Rights in 1960, which formally enshrined religious freedom nationwide.

Diverse Contributions: The text notes that other religious groups—including Sikhs, Muslims, and Seventh-day Adventists—have since used the courts to continually reinforce, protect, and expand these freedoms for everyone.

"Out from Under: Disability, History and Resistance in Canada"

The exhibit utilizes everyday historical artifacts to challenge traditional medical stigmas and explore how Canadians with disabilities fought for their autonomy, legal inclusion, and basic dignity.

Core Display Artifacts

The Travel Trunk (Far Left): Represents the historical institutionalization and forced relocation of disabled children and adults, symbolizing the loss of home, agency, and community connection.

The Suction/Ventilation Pump (Upper Center): An early portable respiratory medical device, highlighting the era of polio outbreaks in Canada and the absolute reliance on mechanical equipment for survival.

The Suitcase Display Case (Center): Contains personal personal items, records, or journals detailing the internal lived experiences of individuals navigating institutional systems.

The Wicker Cradle / Bassinet (Bottom Right): Connects heavily to the historical Canadian thalidomide medical tragedy of the early 1960s. It honors the families and infants born with severe congenital disabilities due to prescribed pharmaceuticals and their subsequent battle for government accountability.

The Adaptive Garment (Top Center-Right): Displays historically modified or institutional apparel designed for individuals with unique physical or medical requirements.

It highlights the secret network that brought freedom seekers to Canada and their subsequent lives as new citizens.

Critical Historical Insights

The Network: The "Underground Railroad" was a covert network operated by anti-slavery groups and individuals—both Black and white—across Canada and the United States to assist thousands fleeing American enslavement.

Arrival and Settlement: Most freedom seekers arrived in Ontario between 1840 and 1860, integrating into established municipalities or founding vibrant, all-Black independent settlements.

Rights and Realities: While these newcomers gained essential legal and political rights upon crossing the Canadian border, they still encountered widespread systemic barriers, social exclusion, and racism.

Post-Abolition Choice: Following the abolition of slavery across the United States in 1863, many chose to return south to rejoin families, while others stayed permanently to establish deep roots and build new lives in Canada.

This exhibit section expands on the historic realities faced by Black Canadians after arriving via the Underground Railroad, directly addressing the social segregation and racism mentioned on the previous panel.

Historical Quote Analysis

The right-hand panel displays a stinging contemporary critique of 19th-century racial prejudice:"Color-phobia is a contagious disease. It frightens them up from the dining table at public houses, not because of a black man's cooking the dinner or waiting on the table, but because of his sitting down to eat. It excites them awfully when colored passengers enter the rail cars or stage coaches."

This quote perfectly illustrates the hypocrisy of systemic racism at the time. White society fully accepted Black individuals in subservient or labor roles (cooking, waiting tables) but fiercely rejected them when they attempted to exercise basic human equality (eating at the same table, sharing public transit seats).

Upper Section: Escape From Oppression

1. Seeking Sanctuary: The top painting depicts freedom seekers traveling at night through dense woods, guided by the North Star, symbolizing the extreme physical dangers of the Underground Railroad network.

2. Henry Bibb (1815–1854): The center-left portrait features Henry Bibb, an author and abolitionist who escaped slavery and founded The Voice of the Fugitive in Windsor, Ontario—Canada's first black-owned newspaper.

3. Mary Ann Shadd Cary (1823–1893): The center-right photograph shows the trailblazing anti-slavery activist, lawyer, and publisher of The Provincial Freeman, who fiercely campaigned for full integration and education access.

Lower Section: Past Oppression

4. Mapping the Routes: The historic document and map overlay show the primary escape routes that freedom seekers utilized to cross from northern U.S. states into Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritimes.

5. Segregated Settlements: The bottom photograph features members of a Black community gathered outside a modest wooden building. This highlights both the sanctuary found in Canada and the harsh reality of systemic exclusion, where racial prejudice forced Black settlers to build independent, segregated schools, churches, and neighborhoods to survive.

Komagata Maru incident of 1914, a critical event in Canada's history of exclusionary immigration policies.

The Historic Event Featured

The Ship: In May 1914, the steamship Komagata Maru arrived in Vancouver carrying 376 passengers from Punjab, India (mostly Sikhs, alongside Muslim and Hindu passengers).

The Policy: The Canadian government used the discriminatory "Continuous Journey" regulation to deny them entry. This law stated that immigrants must travel via a non-stop voyage from their country of origin—an impossible feat from India at the time.

The Outcome: The ship was forced to sit in the harbor for two months under miserable conditions before being escorted out by the military, sending the passengers back to India where many were later killed or imprisoned by British authorities.

Supreme Court Ceremonial Robe: On the left is the distinctive red, ermine-trimmed ceremonial gown worn by judges of the Supreme Court of Canada. These robes are worn during special ceremonial occasions, such as the opening of Parliament or the swearing-in of new justices.

Judicial Oaths: The large framed document in the center contains the ceremonial Oath of Allegiance and Oath of Office signed by the judges of the Supreme Court of Canada, symbolizing their formal commitment to justice and the rule of law.

The Royal Proclamation of 1867: On the far right is the official proclamation issued by Queen Victoria, which legally established the Dominion of Canada on July 1, 1867, uniting the provinces of Canada (Ontario and Quebec), New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia.

Rising Up for Gender Rights" (Protester pour l'égalité des sexes) and details a pivotal moment in Canadian history when women fought to secure constitutional equality.

The Problem: When the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms was first proposed in 1980, the early drafts lacked explicit guarantees for gender equality.

The Catalyst: When government officials abruptly cancelled a planned national conference to discuss the Charter's impact on women, activist Doris Anderson resigned from her post as president of the Canadian Advisory Council on the Status of Women in public protest.

The Mobilization: Her actions ignited a grassroots movement. In February 1981, roughly 1,300 women defied the cancellation and self-organized their own Ad Hoc Conference on the Status of Women inside a committee room on Parliament Hill.

The Victory: Their intense lobbying successfully forced lawmakers to rewrite the Charter, adding Section 28, which guarantees that all Charter rights apply equally to men and women without exception.

This large mural is an artistic map of Canada overlaying a crowd illustration, highlighting the core principles of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The Orange Map Silhouette: The central orange shape forms a stylized map of Canada, symbolizing that these legal rights stretch across the entire geographic expanse of the country.

The Crowd Concept: Surrounding and blending into the map are hundreds of hand-drawn diverse figures. This illustrates that the Charter belongs to, protects, and is upheld by everyday people.

Bilingual Key Terms: Written across the orange silhouette are fundamental legal rights in both English and French, reflecting Canada's constitutional framework.