OTTAWA, August 27, 2008 - The Honourable Josée Verner, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Status of Women and Minister for La Francophonie, today announced appointments to the Board of Trustees of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.
"I am excited to see this group of individuals appointed to the first Board of Trustees of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. This new museum will benefit greatly from their diverse skill sets," said Minister Verner. "With their strong leadership, this museum will take its deserving place in the history of our country as the first federal museum dedicated to the topic of human rights."
Arni Thorsteinson (Manitoba) has been appointed chairperson, and Gail Asper (Manitoba), Bill Barkley (British Columbia), Ronald Corey (Quebec), the Honourable Constance R. Glube (Nova Scotia), Vim Kochhar (Ontario), Yves Laberge (Quebec), and Dr. Wilton Littlechild (Alberta) have been appointed as members of the Board.
Located in Winnipeg, the Canadian Museum for Human Rights will be the first new Canadian national museum in 40 years and is also the first national museum in Canada to be located outside of the National Capital Region. The Museum will explore the subject of human rights to enhance the public's understanding of human rights, to promote respect for others, and to encourage reflection and dialogue.
Information:
Kassandra Albert
Press Secretary
Office of the Minister of Canadian Heritage
and Status of Women
and Minister for La Francophonie
819 997-7788
BIOGRAPHIES
ARNI C. THORSTEINSON
Arni Thorsteinson is president of Shelter Canadian Properties Limited. He is a director or trustee on a number of private and not-for-profit boards, including Huntingdon REIT, Lanesborough REIT, Temple REIT, ONEX Corporation, Bird Construction, and The Banff Centre. He served as chair of the Advisory Committee on the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. Mr. Thorsteinson received a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) from the University of Manitoba and holds a Chartered Financial Analyst designation.
GAIL ASPER
Gail Asper graduated with a B.A. and LL.B. from the University of Manitoba in 1981 and 1984, respectively. After receiving her call to the Bar of Nova Scotia in 1985, Ms. Asper practised corporate and commercial law with Goldberg and Thompson. In 1989, she joined CanWest Global Communications Corporation as corporate secretary and legal counsel. She also acts as the president of the CanWest Global Foundation.
Ms. Asper is president of the Asper Foundation, a private charitable foundation. She has served on the boards of numerous not-for-profit groups, including acting as co-chair of the Manitoba Theatre Centre Endowment Campaign, vice-chair of the Council for Business and the Arts and past vice-chair of the Advisory Committee on the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. In 2007, Ms. Asper was awarded the Order of Manitoba and was recently made an Officer of the Order of Canada, in recognition of her work as an arts advocate, fundraiser, and business and community leader.
BILL BARKLEY
Bill Barkley is currently working as an independent consultant, focusing on planning, management, and teaching for museums and related institutions. At the Royal British Columbia Museum, he served as assistant director from 1977 to 1984, then as chief executive officer from 1984 to 2001. In the latter capacity, he was responsible for the overall planning and direction of the Museum. Before that, he was employed by Environment Canada as the chief naturalist at the Wye Marsh Wildlife Centre. Mr. Barkley has served on a number of associations and boards, including the Advisory Committee on the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, the Canadian Museums Association, the Virtual Museum of Canada and the Canadian Federation of Friends of Museums. He holds a Master of Arts in adult education and a Bachelor of Science (Honours Zoology) from the University of British Columbia.
RONALD COREY
As president and chief of operations of the Montréal Canadiens, Mr. Corey oversaw the construction of the team's new arena, The Molson Centre, and led the hockey team to win two Stanley Cup Championships. Prior to his experience with the Canadiens Hockey Club, Mr. Corey held senior management positions with a number of companies, including Carling O'Keefe, G. Lebeau Ltd., and Molson Brewery. As an active member of his community, Mr. Corey has organized successful fundraising campaigns for several organizations, including Concordia University, the United Way of the Greater Montréal Area and the Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital Foundation. He has been involved on the boards of a number of organizations, including the Banque Laurentienne, the Transamerica Life Insurance Company, and the Old Port of Montréal Corporation Inc., for which he acted as chairperson. In 1991, Mr. Corey became a member of the Order of Canada and received the Vanier Medal.
THE HONOURABLE CONSTANCE R. GLUBE
Constance Glube is a retired Chief Justice of Nova Scotia (Court of Appeal) and became the first woman to be appointed Chief Justice in Canada when, in 1982, she was made Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia. Before her appointment to the bench in 1977, she practised law with the firms Kitz, Matheson, then Fitzgerald and Glube, and later acted as a solicitor for the Legal Department of the City of Halifax. She served as city manager for the City of Halifax from 1974 to 1977.
Chief Justice Glube is a graduate of both McGill University and Dalhousie University and holds honorary doctorates in law from Dalhousie University, Mount Saint Vincent University, and St. Mary's University. She was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2006 and was appointed to the Order of Nova Scotia in 2005. She has played an active role on the boards of a number of organizations and associations, including the Advisory Committee on the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.
VIM KOCHHAR
Vim Kochhar is president and founder of the Vimal Group of Companies in Toronto. Working for InterContinental Hotels and Howard Johnson Hotels, he was responsible for project management of major hotels around the world.
For the past 30 years, Mr. Kochhar has played an active role in community work by creating the Canadian Foundation for Physically Disabled Persons. Through this foundation, Mr. Kochhar has created the annual Great Valentine Galas, the Terry Fox Hall of Fame, Rolling Rampage for elite wheelchair athletes, The Canadian Helen Keller Centre, Rotary Cheshire Homes for the Deaf-Blind, and the WhyNot Marathon for the Paralympics. He has served as a member of the Advisory Committee on the Canadian Museum for Human rights. Born in India, he received his engineering degree at the University of Texas and immigrated to Canada in 1967, becoming a Canadian citizen in 1974.
YVES LABERGE
Yves Laberge is a sociologist and film historian. He has been a visiting professor at the University of Ottawa, the Université de Provence in France, and the University of Iceland. During the last 15 years, Dr. Laberge worked as a consultant for museums and for UNESCO. His academic research focuses on American and Canadian studies, as well as the sociology of culture, media and film, and citizenship studies. He serves as the series editor for the book series L'espace public and Cinéma et société for the Presses de l'Université Laval, as well as a member of the editorial board of the journals Laval théologique et philosophique and Sociological Research Online. He currently acts as a member of the Canadian Association of Cultural Studies Advisory Board. Dr. Laberge graduated with a Ph.D. in sociology from Université Laval.
DR. WILTON LITTLECHILD
For more than 30 years, Dr. Littlechild has worked to build bridges between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people through athletics, politics, and law. An accomplished lawyer, he is the first Indigenous person appointed to Queen's Council by the Alberta Law Society. He brought Native issues to public attention while serving as one of the first Aboriginal Members of Parliament. Dr. Littlechild has been active with a number of organizations both within Canada and abroad, including the Indigenous Parliament of the Americas, the United Nations, the National Indian Athletic Association, and the Canadian Council of International Law. He has given lectures on various occasions, including recently at the Human Rights Institute of the University of Hawaii.
For his participation in Aboriginal and athletic endeavours, Dr. Littlechild has been honoured with several awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award as an Aboriginal Role Model and the Order of Canada. He graduated from the University of Alberta with a Master's Degree in Physical Education, a Bachelor of Law Degree, and a Doctorate at Law.
