Human rights museum seeks public input on future exhibits

Representatives of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights say the mandate of the Winnipeg-based museum will be to tell the sensitive and even controversial stories of real Canadians.

Construction on themuseum began last month, and public consultations launchedThursday will help determine which subjects will be the focus of future exhibits.

Museum officials will seek out individual stories in a series of sessions across the country. Two topics already settled on are First Nations rights and the Holocaust.

Museum spokeswoman Angela Cassie said she anticipates some of the topics people might want to talk about include age, gender, ability, culture and beliefs, as well as language.

"Language isn't always something you consider a human rights issue, [but] in Canada, language rights is important," Cassie told CBC News.

The discussions are a preliminary step toward developing the museum's master content plan, which will be approved by the board of trustees.

Cassie says suggested topics will be "subjected to secondary research," meaning that stories must be investigated and verified before they are finalized for museum display.

The museum's content advisory committee, made up of human rights experts, scholars and specialists, will hold sessions in 16 Canadian cities over the next nine months.

Discussion groups will "guide people through questions," said Cassie, to ensure topics reflect the concerns of Canadians.

She says questions might include: What is your individual experience of human rights? and What do you think the challenges of human rights will be in the future?

With such sensitive subject matter, there is bound to be some controversy and mistakes, Cassie said.

"We recognize there will be times we get it wrong. If people do feel misrepresented, we're interested in hearing from them,"she told the Winnipeg Free Press.

The museum will be a continual work in progress, said Cassie. Exhibits will change periodically in order to reflect the shifting concerns and perspectives of Canadians.

"We want to develop an ongoing conversation," she says. "We want stories that we've missed or overlooked."

The Canadian Human Rights Museum is projected to open in 2012. Public consultations will continue through to January 2010.