September 4, 2009 - Chronicle-Herald.ca By: Michael
Lightstone
Canada’s human rights museum crosses country in search of stories
Residential schools forced on native children. Japanese families sent to Second World War-era internment camps. Black citizens resisting racism in their struggle for civil rights.
Gay bashing. Anti-Muslim activity.
The Holocaust.
Survivors of the aforementioned human rights abuses are among the many people in this country who have been victimized by state-sanctioned bigotry or the hateful intolerance of individuals.
This month, Nova Scotians will get their chance to say how they think such societal stains - and others - should be handled by a new national museum being built in Winnipeg.
Officials from the Canadian Museum for Human Rights will be holding a public roundtable Sept. 23 in Halifax and local folks are welcome to participate.
The session aims to collect “human rights stories, perspectives and ideas that can be used to develop the content of the museum,” a website said.
To register for the roundtable, call 1-877-295-6639 or register online at www.humanrightsmuseum.ca/share-your-story.
In Halifax, a submission from the Atlantic Jewish Council will be part of the consultation process, a spokesman said Thursday. The council is affiliated with the Canadian Jewish Congress, which has urged its member agencies to address the content committee when it visits various communities across Canada.
The consultation process began in May and is resuming now after a summer break.
The Canadian Jewish Congress “will be submitting a brief to the museum on the need for a prominent and dedicated Holocaust section in the new museum,” said an email message sent to the Atlantic Jewish Council.
Jon Goldberg, the council’s executive director, told The Chronicle Herald he intends to take part in what has been described as a two-pronged process. He said he’ll attend the public roundtable and a more private “bilateral” discussion with museum officials. Mr. Goldberg said it’s too early to say what exactly his submission will be about, but he acknowledged it’ll promote the historical significance and impact of the Holocaust.
Six million Jews and other Holocaust victims, such as Gypsies, homosexuals, the mentally disabled and political enemies, died during Hitler’s reign, when the Nazis ruled Germany. The start of the war was 70 years ago this month.
A museum spokeswoman said construction began in April and the building is to open in 2012. She said aside from exhibits showcasing the Canadian perspective, there will be international human rights stories “seen through a Canadian lens.”
Mr. Goldberg noted there have been several historical injustices in this country worthy of educational treatment in a museum dedicated to human rights.
One of them is the black experience, and Nova Scotia’s place in that experience will be part of a submission Haligonian Irvine Carvery plans to make to museum staff.
Mr. Carvery, president of the Africville Genealogy Society, said it’s his goal to see the Africville story as part of a stand-alone section dedicated to African-Nova Scotians.
The north-end Halifax community was razed in the 1960s in the name of urban renewal. A sundial monument in what is now Seaview Park pays tribute to the original black families that settled there.
“What I’d like to see is the Africville story to be in there, but representative of all people of African descent here in this province,” Mr. Carvery said.