Gail Asper isn’t visibly angry about ‘Nakba’ exhibit. But she’s resolute about fixing the rights museum

2026/07/08 Leave a comment

More on the CMHR Nakba controversy:

…“As a national federal museum,” she says, “there’s a very high standard here. This isn’t a community-centred exhibit. I fought for the designation, for this to be a federal institution with all the imprimatur and gravitas that title entails, because I wanted to show Canadians that this isn’t just the opinion of Izzy Asper or, you know, me or anybody else. This is something that matters to Canadians, that human rights are so important to Canadians, and Stephen Harper was the prime minister that finally delivered this as the national federal museum.

“It feels intentional that the Jewish voice and connection to this museum is deliberately being diminished,” she observes. Her phone and inbox have been “exploding” since the announcement. Supporters who trusted the Aspers to create something intellectually honest feel betrayed.

“The whole point of the museum is to bring people together,” she explains. “The whole point is to have dialogue and debate. So the whole point of this exhibit, as I said to everybody, was that there are hard truths on both sides. Let’s have all the hard truths and let’s have the rational, quiet, respectful debate the museum was intended to inspire.”

“But when you obliterate one side of the narrative so egregiously, obviously, and so ideologically and intentionally, you lose that trust from one part of the participants. And that’s where I really am so disappointed in the museum. They didn’t have to do it this way.”

She made repeated efforts to steer things differently, including a presentation to the board six weeks before opening. As an honorary board member, she reminded them of the museum’s mandate and warned about fanning antisemitism at a fraught time. There was no meaningful response.

“I just thought this is heartless,” she says. “There is no compassion for the place that we have now found ourselves in the Jewish community.”

Then, one week before opening, the sole Jewish board member, Mark Berlin, resigned. “I think he was gaslit,” Gail says. Berlin, a respected human rights lawyer who had lived and worked in Ramallah, called her before stepping down. “It was a very sad conversation,” but she understood.”…

Source: Gail Asper isn’t visibly angry about ‘Nakba’ exhibit. But she’s resolute about fixing the rights museum

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Foran: A quarter-century after his death, how is Mordecai Richler’s work remembered?

2026/07/07 Leave a comment

Always interesting to see what happens with the passage of time. I remember well the controversies, have read many of his books, seen the film adaptations of Duddy Kravitz and Barney’s Version, recall that my mother felt uncomfortable with his portrayal of Canadian Jews. Still worth reading IMO:

…English Canada, in contrast, has not kept faith in its “hero.” As he acknowledged, Richler was a chronicler of his times, and times – along with literary tastes – change. His voice, masculine and provocative, could tilt into the intemperate, especially when pressing a joke or grievance. Our age is quick to judge modes of expression declared deviant from our own progressive standards. 

Finally, nearly all literary criticism now emanates from within our universities, and with few exceptions, the professors just haven’t been interested.

Time usually sorts things out for artists. Either the work endures or it doesn’t. Mordecai Richler had his day and may have another up ahead. The pleasures of this erudite, funny, deeply moral writer are many, and veteran readers will envy newcomers to his books, especially the novels. Meanwhile, the invitation of Solomon Gursky Was Here stands. 

Source: A quarter-century after his death, how is Mordecai Richler’s work remembered?

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Why Is Canada’s Refugee Board relying on Francesca Albanese?: Randolph Hahn for Inside Policy

2026/07/06 Leave a comment

Reasonable question that deserves an answer. Difference between her official reports and activism? Institutional capture?

Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) decides who receives refugee protection — and for many successful claimants, a pathway to permanent residence and citizenship. Those decisions depend in part on country information the IRB makes available to its decision-makers as authoritative background material.

That is why one name appearing in the IRB’s National Documentation Packages should alarm anyone who expects Canada’s refugee system to rely on balanced and credible sources: the highly controversial Francesca Albanese, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Albanese has become one of the world’s most polarizing UN officials. She has been sanctioned by the United States, condemned by several democratic governments, and publicly rebuked by Canada itself. In 2024, Canada’s Permanent Mission in Geneva described her remarks as “unacceptable and incompatible with her duty of impartiality” and added that “antisemitism has no place anywhere.”

Yet, while the Canadian government has distanced itself from Albanese, the IRB continues to include her in reports in its official country documentation for Israel and for what it characterizes as the Occupied Palestinian Territories. After experienced Canadian immigration lawyers formally challenged the decision, the Board reviewed the matter — and chose to keep her reports in place….

Source: Why Is Canada’s Refugee Board relying on Francesca Albanese?: Randolph Hahn for Inside Policy

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ICYMI – Jack Jedwab: Antisemitism flies in the face of Canadian multiculturalism

2026/07/03 Leave a comment

Agreed:

…“Outside Israel, Canada has one of the highest proportions of Holocaust survivors in the world — part of a community that has made a profound mark on this country. When that history is treated as expendable, Jewish belonging becomes easier to question as well. For that reason, Canadian Multiculturalism Day should be an occasion not only to celebrate diversity, but also to recognize the challenges multiculturalism faces when prejudice is rationalized, historical memory is minimized, or minority communities are made vulnerable by conflicts beyond Canada’s borders.

That is why it is important to guard against those who would appropriate Canadian Multiculturalism Day in support of political agendas. A day meant to celebrate pluralism and strengthen mutual respect should not be turned into an occasion for advancing political narratives that decontextualize history or invite Canadians to view one community through the grievances of another. Multiculturalism is not served by selective memory, nor by historical accounts that intensify suspicion and fuel resentment. Ideally its objective should be to reduce intercultural tension, not to exacerbate it.”

Source: Jack Jedwab: Antisemitism flies in the face of Canadian multiculturalism

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Counterpoint: The Muslim Association of Canada’s recent conference was about faith and community

2026/07/02 2 Comments

Valid critique of some of the Postmedia reporting and commentary:

…There are 50 entries visible in the word cloud. The three words that dominate the image, rendered in the largest fonts because word clouds scale by frequency, are “United,” “Justice” and “Strong.” Those were the words Canadian Muslim youth chose most. Below them, in slightly smaller font, sits words such as “Peace,” “Equality,” “Equity,” “Freedom,” “Safety,” “Diverse,” “Supportive” and “Impactful.” These are the words of a generation thinking seriously about how to contribute to this country.

One of the entries, the one that has triggered conversation on social media, was “Jew free.” The facilitator did not notice it. A Juno News contributor was present at the convention. The photograph was taken by Juno News. Juno News did not call it out at the moment, when there was an opportunity to do so. Juno News then published it, leading to public controversy.

The phrase “Jew free” is offensive and hurtful to Jewish Canadians, to Muslim Canadians, and to anyone committed to a pluralistic society. Neither MAC nor the Muslim community should be defined by an anonymous submission to an open platform, but we will always name hatred for what it is.

For greater clarity, the phrase is unequivocally against Islamic teachings and, as such, it does not represent the values of the Muslim Association of Canada (MAC), the values taught at our convention or the values of Canadian Muslims. It is also worth stating something that should be obvious but has been obscured in this coverage: antisemitism and Islamophobia are not competing hatreds. They often travel together. Any organization genuinely committed to combating hate understands that you cannot separate them. MAC understands this all too well.

This is not the only misrepresentation of the convention, as we see it. Sessions of the convention were recorded, clipped and stripped of context. Specific remarks by speakers that directly contradict the narrative being constructed were not reported. For example, in one session, a speaker demonstrated a platform that helps citizens draft letters to elected representatives. The session was then framed as something threatening. The tool the speaker demonstrated is functionally identical to what environmental organizations, labour unions and faith-based advocacy groups across the political spectrum use every day, but apparently becomes sinister when Muslims use it….

Source: Counterpoint: The Muslim Association of Canada’s recent conference was about faith and community

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Canadian Museum for Human Rights made ‘error’ in Nakba exhibit presentation, minister says, Others defend as site for solidarity

2026/07/02 2 Comments

Of note:

Heritage Minister Marc Miller said Monday the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg made “an error” in its presentation of an exhibit about displaced Palestinians.

In an interview with The Canadian Press on Monday, Mr. Miller said the museum should change how it portrays the current conflict between Israel and Palestinians and update the museum’s oversight.

“It isn’t up to me to speak to, or insert myself in, the curation of any particular exhibit. But manifestly, you cannot deny the fact that this is an exhibit that is born in controversy – and perhaps some of it could have been avoided,” Mr. Miller said.

The museum says it is collecting feedback but is defending its phrasing in the exhibit.

In an interview Monday, Mr. Miller said he visited the Winnipeg museum Thursday morning and was troubled by how the exhibit portrayed the conflict that started in October, 2023.

On Oct. 7, 2023, Palestinian militants from Hamas – which Canada has listed as a terrorist entity for more than two decades – and its partners killed 1,200 civilians and soldiers in Israel. That attack prompted Israel to bombard the Gaza Strip in a relentless war that has killed roughly 73,000 people in the territory, according to data sourced in part from Gaza’s Hamas-controlled health ministry.

Mr. Miller said there are flaws in the museum exhibit that should be addressed.

“There are some words in there that are regrettable. Not identifying Hamas as a terrorist organization is, I think, a failure. And not clearly stating that, for example, Hamas intended to kill Jews is, I think, an unfortunate error in curation and should be rectified,” Mr. Miller said.

The exhibit, which opened to the public Saturday, focuses on the Nakba – Arabic for catastrophe – the forcible displacement of about 750,000 Palestinians from the region during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.

Museum spokeswoman Amanda Gaudes said Mr. Miller’s office has shared his concerns and they will be part of “an established content revision process.”…

Source: Canadian Museum for Human Rights made ‘error’ in Nakba exhibit presentation, minister says

The Canadian Museum for Human Rights’ Nakba exhibit can serve as a site for solidarity

…The exhibit’s historic opening was an occasion for people from the Palestinian and Jewish communities in Canada to convene. There were many shared meals and receptions in the museum, Winnipeg restaurants and local community halls where Nakba and Holocaust survivors and their descendants broke bread together.

Having seen the exhibit and the processes behind its creation, the opening of this exhibit in a major human rights institution feels historic. It is a breakthrough for challenging the Palestine exception, and a stepping stone to deepening solidarity across difference.

To that end, all Canadians owe a debt of gratitude and respect to the Canadian Museum for Human Rights for sharing this exhibit. It may have been difficult, but it validates Palestinian experiences, and, in so doing, reaffirms the first article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: that all humans are born free and equal in dignity and rights.

Source: The Canadian Museum for Human Rights’ Nakba exhibit can serve as a site for solidarity

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Biro: Canada’s activist academy and the rise of anti-Zionism

2026/06/29 Leave a comment

Of note:

…But anti-Zionism is not, as it is commonly described, a form of legitimate criticism of Israeli politics, practices, or leadership. It is a movement predicated on the belief that Israel is, and was from the start, an illegitimate state, and, more fundamentally, that Zionism—the Jewish aspiration for self-determination in an indigenous, biblically prophesied homeland—is an evil enterprise with colonialist, racist, and genocidal motivations. And so, if Israel, the Jewish homeland, is a pariah state, it is axiomatic that Jews are a pariah people.

This is the essence of anti-Zionism. And it is the aim of my conference to expose and explain the hateful character of anti-Zionism and to reflect on what the prevalence of this ideology in the ranks of our human rights establishment and of our social sciences and humanities scholars says about the state of liberal democracy in Canada and throughout the West.

That Palestinian voices should be heard is not remotely objectionable or even controversial. That human rights grievances must be exposed and that corresponding political and legal accountability must result are givens. But what, one must ask, could the rationale be for wanting, as some in the university did, to include those sorts of divergent and critical perspectives in a conference about the nature and societal implications of antisemitism? What reason might there be to honour and conform to an institution’s “mission and approach” by such measures if not to provide at least some plausible explanation—not to say, justification—for the fact that Jew-hatred is all the rage?

For each type of undertaking there is a corresponding forum. Public education—be it in a high school, university, or taxpayer-funded public museum—must be non-partisan, politically neutral, socially and morally responsible, and, above all, truthful.

Our academy—which, in the broadest sense, includes all of our institutions of research, learning, and teaching—has succumbed to what the Vanderbilt Report describes as “a distinctive form of politicization in which the scholarly enterprise is taken to be subordinate to, or in the service of, political (social or moral) goals beyond the advancement of knowledge and understanding.”

In a world in which activism has supplanted truth-seeking as the overriding mission of the academy and the spirit of the age, we would do well to heed the late Christopher Hitchens’ admonition to be wary of taking refuge in the false security of consensus.

Source: Canada’s activist academy and the rise of anti-Zionism

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Gail Asper, who helped create the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, raises concerns about its upcoming Nakba exhibit along with Cotler, with balance provided by Lederman

2026/06/25 Leave a comment

Struck a nerve:

When the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg opens a show about Palestinian displacement this weekend, one of its founders may be standing outside protesting.

Philanthropist Gail Asper, who led the museum project after the 2003 death of her father, media owner Izzy Asper, fears that the exhibition about the exile of Palestinians from what is now Israel lacks historical context and might inflame antisemitism in Canada.

“I definitely would protest. I am not going to attend the opening,” she said, although she added she does plan to see the show. It opens to the general public Saturday, after a launch on Friday. “I’m never the sort of person that wants a book banned before I’ve read it, so I will go and I will take a look.”

The show, entitled Palestine Uprooted: Nakba Past and Present, is devoted to the Palestinian experience of exile after 1947 and uses photographs, videos and objects to relay first-person accounts. It has become controversial in the Jewish community because it does not cover the history surrounding the establishment of Israel, nor the displacement of Jews from Arab lands after the creation of the state of Israel in 1948….

Source: Gail Asper, who helped create the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, raises concerns about its upcoming Nakba exhibit

The Canadian Museum of Human Rights has failed its mandate

…In truth, 1948 produced a double catastrophe: Arab Palestinian displacement resulting from war, and the mass displacement of Jews from Arab lands. Any institution claiming scholarly seriousness must grapple with both.

Instead, the museum privileges one historical memory while marginalizing another.

That is not education. It is curation by omission.

Museums are not activist or propagandistic platforms. They are custodians of public trust. Their role is not to inflame but to illuminate; not to advance ideological narratives but to encourage inquiry, historical nuance and civic understanding.

When museums abandon scholarly neutrality for activism, they become instruments of polarization.

That risk is especially acute today, amid an unprecedented explosion of antisemitism, deep communal fracture and public anxiety.

The Canadian Museum for Human Rights should be helping bridge divides, not deepen them.

A museum devoted to human rights need not avoid difficult subjects. But it must present them with evidence-based inquiry, context, intellectual honesty and moral seriousness.

In this case, it has failed that test.

If the museum wishes to contribute meaningfully to public understanding, it must revisit this exhibition’s framing and ensure it reflects historical truth rather than a selective political narrative.

Canadians deserve better from one of their most important public institutions.

Irwin Cotler was Canada’s minister of justice and first special envoy on Holocaust remembrance and antisemitism,Mark L. Berlin is Professor of Practice at McGill University and former senior adviser on the Middle East to the minister of justice, Alan H. Kessel is a former assistant deputy minister and legal adviser at Global Affairs Canada.

Lederman: The Canadian Museum for Human Rights is right to portray the stories of displaced Palestinians

…Ms. Khan says she is concerned about antisemitism, as the head of a human rights museum should be – as every Canadian should be. She is also concerned that Palestinian experiences were under-represented in the museum. As she should be.

Rational people should be able to distinguish between a foreign dignitary’s museum visit and actual foreign interference. Reasonable people should understand that a human rights museum has every reason to profile the stories of displaced Palestinians. Reasonable people should also understand that the museum has a responsibility to present such stories with integrity. The Canadian public is counting on this national museum, this Crown corporation, to tell these stories. And to tell them fairly and responsibly.







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Human rights museum board member resigns over ‘one-sided’ exhibit on displaced Palestinians

2026/06/24 2 Comments

Of note. One sided is, of course, partially in the mind of the beholder but this is a hard issue to navigate but one that merits attention:

A trustee for the Canadian Museum for Human Rights says he has resigned from the Winnipeg facility’s board over an upcoming exhibit about displaced Palestinians.

Mark Berlin submitted his resignation in a letter to federal Heritage Minister Marc Miller and the museum’s board chair. In it, Berlin accuses the museum of putting forth “ideology” instead of an accurate history.

“Telling the story with a one-sided perspective chosen by the museum serves to deepen division and contributes to further hostility toward Jews in Canada,” Berlin wrote in his letter, shared with media outlets.

“Presenting the Palestinian displacement of 1948 without its proper historical and political context offers a narrow, one-sided argument of history that can only deepen the distrust and animosity that currently exists between Jews and Muslims in this country.”

Berlin, a professor at McGill University’s international development institute with a background in human rights law, argued the exhibit fails to explain that Arab states fought those who ultimately established the State of Israel in 1948 and then expelled Jews to Israel.

The exhibit, set to open Saturday, focuses on people affected by the forced displacement of about 750,000 Palestinians during the 1948 Palestine war — an event known as the Nakba, Arabic for catastrophe.

Source: Human rights museum board member resigns over ‘one-sided’ exhibit on displaced Palestinians

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Lederman: There’s a lot not to like about the new anti-hate council

2026/06/22 Leave a comment

Never was convinced that these two positions were effective in reducing hate but they did provide assurances to the specific groups. We will see if the council will be more or less successful (don’t envy the officials responsible…):

…The group replaces Canada’s Special Representative on Combatting Islamophobia and the Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism. That was the government’s first mistake. Why not keep those positions (and perhaps set up others) and have the various representatives sit on a wider council? 

The problem is urgent, but beyond this announcement, it’s unclear what is happening. In responding to an interview request, one council member indicated they had not yet been officially onboarded and was waiting to have a better sense of specifics. 

Meanwhile, Canadian youth are being hired by a foreign entity to shoot up synagogues. 

Government bureaucracy is notoriously snail-paced. This is no time for dawdling or endless committee discussions, but for meaningful action. This week’s passing of the anti-hate bill will offer some protection. But hate must be targeted at its root, not just its activation. It’s going to be a massive challenge. Let’s go.

Source: There’s a lot not to like about the new anti-hate council

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