The Canadian Museum of Human Rights

zy Asper, the founder of the now defunct CanWest was the source of the idea of putting up a building where Canadian students would have an opportunity to study human rights and associated issues. Upon his death, his daughter, Gail Asper continued to lobby for this cause until the year 2007 when the Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, made known the government’s intention of putting up the Canadian Museum of Human Rights as the first building of its kind in more than forty years. This decision was made into law through the bill C-42 with support from all legislators and received Royal assent which led to the consideration of the Canadian Museum as a state museum. This museum will cover the milestones reached in human rights in Canada and in the world in general, prevailing issues concerning human rights, and will highlight times when Canada was active in the promotion or demotion of human rights.

Fig 1: The Canadian Museum of Human Rights

Source: N.a. Canadian Museum for Human Rights. 29 December 2010. 9 Nov 2012. <http://top100projects.ca/2010/canadian-museum-for-human-rights-2/>

The design for the Museum was obtained through an international competition. Out of sixty two entries from twenty one countries, the work by Antoine Predock of Albuquerque, New Mexico was selected. The world renowned architect designed the building to look like an expedition commencing with a downward section followed by large spaces and ramps which are a passage through the Great Hall and finally the Tower of hope, a lengthy spiral which facilitates a view of downtown Winnipeg. This was inspired by the unique natural scenes in Canada such as the northern lights, the tress and the ice among others.