[R-G] Asper-led museum sets off alarm bells

[shniad at sfu.ca]

Winnipeg Free Press    February 27, 2003 

Asper-led museum sets off alarm bells

View of genocide said too exclusive 

By Paul Samyn 

Ottawa - A multicultural coalition is raising alarm bells over the Asper
family's proposed human rights museum and what it fears will be a view of
genocide that is too exclusive. 

Canadians for a Genocide Museum yesterday said the federal government should
not put tax dollars into a museum that marks the suffering of one race at
the expense of others. 

"We believe that all genocides should be memorialized," said John
Gregorovich, chairman of the 27-member coalition, which includes support
from the Armenians to the Palestinians to the Rwandans. It does not have the
support of any Jewish groups. 

"We shouldn't single out one as being more significant or more important
than others. All are dreadful and all should be remembered." 

Moe Levy, the Asper family's point man on the proposed $200-million museum
to be built in Winnipeg, denied the project will play favourites. 

"It is a museum for human rights, not the Holocaust," Levy said. 

But the Asper-led proposal will no doubt be dogged by controversy as its
subject matter and the historical debates surrounding it are a flashpoint
for anger. 

Five years ago, there was a huge outcry over federal plans to add a
Holocaust memorial to the Canadian War Museum, an outcry that ultimately
forced Ottawa to back down. 

Documents obtained under the Access to Information Act also document the
sensitivities surrounding the question of Holocaust or genocide memorials. 

According to one 1998 Heritage Canada briefing note obtained by Ken Rubin,
the government has been under pressure for some time by both the Canadian
Jewish Congress and other groups. 

"The Canadian Jewish Congress is urging the government to establish a
national Holocaust/memorial in Ottawa," says the document. "However a number
of groups are also urging the government to establish a more broadly scoped
museum or memorial depicting all world genocides." 

The same briefing note says the Canadian Jewish Congress's commitment to
financial support for a Holocaust memorial may not extend to a project more
commemorative of other genocides. 

As well, Heritage Canada makes clear that the Canadian Museum of
Civilization has stated " a strong preference" that a Holocaust museum be
"run as an independent museum with its own board of trustees." 

Added to the mix are the concerns of Liberal MP Sarkis Assadourian, who has
his own private member's bill calling for a national exhibit in the Canadian
Museum of Civilization recognizing crimes against humanity. 

"My point of view is we have 95 million innocent people killed in the 20th
century," said Assadourian, who is now trying to find out more about the
Asper proposal. "If it has to be funded by the taxpayers, it has to be as
inclusive as possible." 

Levy said he has already responded via letter to Canadians for a Genocide
Museum and is committing to as broad a consultation as possible as the Asper
Foundation continues its push for a museum in Winnipeg. 

"There will be this consultative process and it will be equitable, we will
listen to what everyone has to say," Levy said.