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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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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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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Allen: This was just the latest attempt to silence Palestinian voices in Canada. But these stories should be heard

2025/12/02 Leave a comment

Agree:

The recent attack by the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) on the Canadian Museum for Human Rights for daring to include an exhibit on the Palestinian Nakba is the latest attempt to suppress the Palestinian narrative in Canada. It follows B’nai Brith Canada’s effort to prevent the Palestinian flag from being raised at Toronto City Hall, even though Canada recently recognized Palestine as a state. This turned a peaceful, one-day gesture of pride for Palestinians into a political storm that served only to sow further divisions between Jews and Palestinians at time when polarization is already at an all-time high.

These are not isolated incidents but rather they reflect a pattern in which mainstream Jewish organizations exert pressure on institutions and community leaders to silence Palestinians and those who support them.

The Jewish community in Canada is absolutely entitled to safety, dignity, and protection of its rights. They marched in celebration of Israel’s independence and to remember the victims of Oct. 7. This was important for the community. Why then should anyone object to the desire of Palestinians in Canada to tell their story?

…Canada must not allow itself to become a place where human rights institutions are bullied into erasing Palestinian history, or where gestures of inclusion are treated as existential threats. Museums must be free to tell the truth. Cities must be free to recognize the communities who live in them. Canadians must be free to hear every side of a story without intimidation.

Silencing Palestinians will not bring safety. It will not prevent antisemitism. It will not produce justice. Demanding equality and dignity for one group cannot come at the expense of another.

Let the museum speak. Let the flag fly. And let Palestinians — and all who stand with them — be heard.

Source: Opinion | This was just the latest attempt to silence Palestinian voices in Canada. But these stories should be heard

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Lederman: The backlash against the Canadian Museum for Human Rights’ Nakba exhibit is preposterous

2025/11/28 Leave a comment

Indeed:

…But it is ludicrous to suggest that historical events not be explored – that perhaps they should even be suppressed – by a national museum devoted to human rights, in order to counter this disturbing rise. One should not have anything to do with the other. If someone walks away from a Nakba exhibit wanting to bully (or worse) some Jews, the problem is not with the museum – which, not incidentally, includes a comprehensive permanent gallery about the Holocaust.

“Sharing the stories or experiences of one group doesn’t somehow take away the experiences of another,” as the museum’s director and CEO Isha Khan told me. In an interview, Ms. Khan said the concerns are being heard and she stressed that the exhibition is still in development. “We take our responsibility very seriously. And this exhibition is being given the same care and thoughtful concern that any exhibit would,” she said. 

“I know that these are polarized times,” she continued. “Our job is to cut through that … and to inspire reflection, bring people together in dialogue. We hope this will do that.”

With the current state of discourse, the history of the Middle East has been dumbed down to the point of absurdity to fit social media posts and a prevailing narrative. There is more reason than ever for a museum to offer enlightenment.

Source: The backlash against the Canadian Museum for Human Rights’ Nakba exhibit is preposterous

Predictably enough, the National Post has the contrary position, weak IMO: Terry Newman: Actually, the backlash against the Canadian Museum for Human Rights’ ‘Nakba’ exhibit is justified

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Canadian Museum for Human Rights – More Dissent

2014/09/20 1 Comment

More on the CMHR and one of the most vocal critics, Lubomyr Luciuk (see Canadian Museum of Human Rights: Letter Regarding Portrayal of World War 1 Internment):

The editorial Museum opening may silence critics Sept. 17 advises us to wait and see what the Canadian Museum for Human Rights is all about before complaining.

What that counsel ignores is that the CMHRs spokespeople have always admitted that this publicly funded institution will feature a permanent and privileged central gallery space elevating the suffering of one community above all others.

More than four million Ukrainians perished of hunger in six months during the Holodomor, making this arguably the greatest genocide to befoul modern European history. Why wouldnt this Soviet crime against humanity already have a permanent and central place at the CMHR?

The newspaper’s uncritical boosterism in support of the CMHR does not mask the fact that this project will remain controversial and divisive because those responsible for its content never wanted that content to be thematic, comparative, or inclusive. What a shame.

Lubomyr Luciuk

Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association

Most subsequent letters have taken issue with this view, including the assertion of the Holodomor, not the Holocaust, as the “greatest genocide to befoul modern European history.”

By what measure? What criteria? Starvation worse than gas ovens? Numbers of victims?

Comparing collective and individual suffering under genocides or equivalent atrocities undermines Luciuk’s arguments by diminishing what was, arguably again, unprecedented in terms of its explicit ideology and industrialization.

Just as Luciuk did with the Orwell Animal Farm-inspired postcards saying “some galleries are more equal than others,” and invoking pig imagery (see The war against the Holocaust).

Unfortunate, as he and others in the Ukrainian Canadian community have done much to raise awareness of the Holodomor and World War 1 internment.

Have your say – Winnipeg Free Press.

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