In recently urging Governor-General Michaëlle Jean to withdraw her patronage of the “Canadian Museum for Human Rights”, Canadians for a Genocide Museum (CGM) have focused on perceived injustice and bias within the $311-million project.

CGM, an organization representing 27 cultural communities through 43 associations is convinced that in its present form the Museum for Human Rights will not give a fair accounting of human rights violations for many different nationalities throughout the world.

In a recent statement CGM has specifically stated that the museum will not be inclusive and equitable in its treatment of the many cases of genocide and crimes against humanity of 20th century Europe and other regions. The CGM feels that a project funded largely by taxpayers cannot suggest one atrocity meriting more consideration than another.

CGM also claim that the suffering that befell one community should not be made to appear as being more deserving of memory that those endured by others.

At the risk of being accused of anti-Semitism CGM notes that Museum for Human Rights intends to focus attention on the horrors suffered by European Jews. While CGM says that the holocaust, which took millions of Jewish and non-Jewish lives, has its rightful place within the Museum for Human Rights, the Museum should not be partial or prejudiced, favouring one group at the expense of many others.

CGM says that Canadian Jewish organizations have been repeatedly invited to join its ranks but without success.      

The Museum for Human Rights, for which the federal government has pledged $100-million, will be erected in Winnipeg. It was first championed by Izzy Asper, the media magnate who died in 2003 and is scheduled for completion by 2010.

On a related theme, Estonia, observing Holocaust Day on January 26th, was slated (when this paper went to print) to have two main commemorations: lighting of candles at Klooga, the site of Nazi extermination of Jews and others, and a “Memory Mission” conference with the participation of Estonian, Israeli and other international representatives.

The Estonian Central Council in Canada wants that Canadians of Estonian heritage be aware of some inherent problems related to publicly financed and sponsored projects. These are issues that cannot be ignored but need attention with due delicacy and circumspection.

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