Your Excellency, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,
How appropriate for today’s ceremony to be opened by our Aboriginal peoples—the First peoples on these lands. Megweetch for the blessings.
I’m delighted to be here with you today on behalf of the Government of Canada and Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
So let me begin by thanking the organizers and volunteers who have done such a wonderful, wonderful job today—and, of course, the museum staff and the Board of Directors. Thank you so much for all of your efforts over these past years.
I’d also like to recognize my colleagues from the House of Commons and the Senate, from all parties, who have lent their support over the years to bring us to this day. I would like the representatives from both the Senate and the House of Commons to please stand so we can recognize your efforts to make this museum a reality. From all parties, please stand.
So what a day this is! This day is for Winnipeg. This day is for Manitoba, and this day is for Canada.
As a proud Manitoban, as a proud Métis woman, and as Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages, I know how positive the opening of this museum is for this city, for this province, and for our country.
Today, as we open the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, we are bringing a dream to life. We are realizing the vision of the late Izzy Asper, who believed this new national institution should be built right here in Winnipeg. It was an extraordinary vision, and it gives me great pleasure to salute Izzy’s children, Gail, David and Leonard, for continuing the remarkable work of your father. He would be very proud of you today.
I remember so well that day in 2007 when the Prime Minister announced that the vision would become a reality. From then on, thousands have worked tirelessly to create a museum that is unique in its concept, purpose and design. And today, it officially opens its doors—the first national museum to be built outside the National Capital Region.
It is also the first museum in the world solely devoted to human rights awareness and education, and the first museum that will present the human rights struggles and atrocities of the past alongside the victories and successes of today.
I’m so proud that our Government has been a key partner in this project, thanks to the leadership of one man, Prime Minister Stephen Harper. He knew that it would create jobs and bring lasting economic benefits, but the Prime Minister also believed strongly, as I do, in the Museum’s educational value and the opportunity to learn from the darkest parts of our history.
We live in the greatest country in the world, and this museum is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to demonstrate the strength of the shared values that bind us together and to demonstrate how far we’ve come.
At a time of so much turmoil around the world, we can be proud that Canada and Canadians are always ready to demonstrate our values with pride and with conviction. Values like the respect for freedom, diversity and pluralism.
This year, as we mark the 75th anniversary of the beginning of the Second World War, and the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the First World War, we honour the memory of the tens of thousands of Canadians who paid the ultimate price to uphold Canadian values, both here and abroad.
Their sacrifice secured the freedom of generations that they will never know. They fought for all of our human rights. And more recently, our Canadian Armed Forces have put their lives on the line to defend fundamental rights and freedoms in some of the most dangerous places in the world, such as Afghanistan.
From Haiti to Sudan, from Eastern Europe to the Middle East, Canadians act to protect the rights that are celebrated in this museum. The promotion of fundamental rights also includes the often unsung work of volunteers, charities, religious institutions and public servants in Canada and overseas.
We must never forget that Canada was born precisely because its founders were determined to preserve the equality, the freedom and the diversity of all Canadians. A few weeks ago, in Québec City, I took part in a ceremony in honour of Georges-Étienne Cartier, one of the principal architects of the Canadian confederation. He is the Francophone who gave me the gift of the French language, as my country was being established.
In speaking about the creation of Canada, he said, “Some individuals have supposed that Confederation would not work, on account of the differences of race and religion. Those who share that opinion are in error. On the contrary, it is on account of the variety of races and local interests that the federal system ought to be resorted to, and would be found to work well.” And he was right.
No country can claim an unblemished record when it comes to human rights, and Canada has had its dark hours too. Some of those times are recorded in this museum, as they should be. But it is the mark of a great country like Canada that we learn from our mistakes and right the wrongs of our past.
We are able to acknowledge the times when we have failed to live up to our highest ideals, because we see our flaws in the broader context of the proud history of a country that, more than any other, has embodied the best of human rights at home and abroad.
For this museum to do justice to Canadian history, it must present a balanced and factually accurate account of the good as well as the bad—of the times we have stood tall and not merely when we have stumbled. Canadians and all visitors to this museum will expect no less.
And those who have sacrificed themselves in the defence of human rights—they deserve no less. As we prepare to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Confederation, we should never forget that freedom, dignity and opportunity are part of our inheritance and the legacy that we leave for future generations. It is my sincere hope that this museum becomes a way to share that legacy with the world.
Megweetch. Thank you very much. Congratulations to you all.
