Canada 150: exhibiting national memory at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights

Abstract

This paper features an analysis of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CMHR) and its showcase for ‘Canada 150’, the sesquicentennial anniversary of Canadian Confederation. Particular attention is paid to how the Museum frames national memory, and its responsiveness (or lack thereof) to critiques and re-framings of Canada 150 by Indigenous artists, activists, historians and community leaders. Since opening to the public in 2014, the CMHR has had a mixed reception, including criticism for inadequately addressing Canada’s colonial past and present, privileging narratives of state benevolence and downplaying ‘missteps’ when it comes to Canada’s own human rights and Indigenous rights record. Recognizing that national museums have long served the colonial project of state formation and official memory, this paper nonetheless tries to notice potential openings for decolonizing or unsettling Canada 150 at the CMHR. Shoal Lake 40 First Nation’s Museum of Canadian Human Rights Violations is taken up as a counter example.

Keywords:

• Canadian Museum for Human Rights
• politics of recognition
• Shoal Lake 40 First Nation Museum of Canadian Human Rights Violations
• Indigenous rights
• decolonizing museums

Notes

1. On this point, see Amber Dean’s discussion wherein she describes an example of the CMHR’s inability to respond to an immediate crisis on its doorsteps: as Winnipegers gathered at the Forks to protest and mourn the violent death of Tina Fontaine, a young woman from nearby Sagkeeng First Nation whose body was recovered just upriver from and in view of the CMHR, the Museum remained silent on the issue, using its social media feeds to instead promote its gift shop and new postage stamp (Dean 2015).

2. I base this observation in part on the fact that despite having an active membership with the CMHR and following its communications and promotions for research purposes, I was unaware of either dialogue event until after they occurred. To date, the Museum has also not made any proceedings related to these events available, thus I am not able to evaluate or comment on them any further here.

3. For further discussion on the significance of this location, including the highly publicized findings of an archaeological dig undertaken prior to the Museum’s construction, see Failler (2015) and Wong (2014). On the significance of this location with respect to the CMHR being part of a civic project to revitalize downtown Winnipeg and the Forks area, see Wodtke (2015) and Dean and Failler (forthcoming).

4. The Haudenosaunee are a confederacy of Indigenous nations including the founding nations of the Seneca, Cayuga, Tuscarora, Onondaga, Oneida and Mohawk (2017).

5. This explanation was offered by curators of the exhibit at a members’ preview held on 7 December 2017.

6. Discussed by Karine Duhamel in her keynote presentation ‘Kanata/Canada: Re-storying “Canada 150” at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights’ for Re-thinking the Museum Through Collaboration and Community-Based Curatorial Practices at NSCAD University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, 24–26 April 2017.