Going To The Canadian Museum For Human Rights In Winnipeg

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Table Of Contents

What Is The Canadian Museum for Human Rights About?
The Hardest Part of the CMHR
The Best Part of the CMHR
- Architecture
Accessibility and Inclusivity
- The Information
Conclusion

I went to Winnipeg, Manitoba for a few days in May. The main reasons why I wanted to go to Winnipeg was to go to the Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CMHR). I’d been to Winnipeg 10 years prior, but it was a quick stopover on a road trip and I didn’t have the time to see or do anything. Plus, the CMHR wasn’t finished being built at that time. The CMHR is the only national museum in Canada outside of the nation’s capital of Ottawa, Ontario or its neighbouring city of Gatineau, Quebec.

What Is The Canadian Museum for Human Rights About?

The CMHR is a museum dedicated to exploring information and ideas about human rights. As its a Canadian Museum it focuses quite a bit about Canadian issues and perspectives when it comes to human rights. However; isn’t just a museum about how amazing Canada is at human rights; it takes a serious look at where Canada has failed and sadly in some cases continues to fail in these regards. However it also looks at human rights on a global scale as well.

Winnipeg, Manitoba: Outside the Canadian Human Rights Museum with its unique architectural design. Image from TakeMeToTheWorld.com — Outside the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.

There are seven floors to the museum, all accessible by walking up a gently sloping ramp (instead of stairs) or by an elevator. Each level covers a different topic or idea related to human rights. Some floors focus on one aspect of human rights (like human rights in terms of the law) and others take a more broader approach. There are some exhibits that are about Canada’s relationship to human rights and various groups of people like Indigenous and Métis peoples, the disabled community, women, the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, and more. Then some of the exhibits are focus on human rights on a global scale. There are permanent exhibits in this museum, and temporary or travelling exhibits that change out every few years or so.

The Hardest Part of the CMHR

As much as I want to rave about how great the CMHR is I will warn it isn’t the easiest museum to visit, regarding the subject matter. The CMHR isn’t a museum espousing how wonderful Canada is and how we have great human rights records. We don’t, and this museum addresses that.

An exhibit about Viola Desmond, a civil rights and women’s rights activist in Canada. She’s featured on the Canadian $10 bill along wit the CMHR on the other side. Viola Desmond shows some of the areas where Canada has failed in regards to human rights.

In particular I’ll warn floors 2 and 4 deal with some really difficult subject matter. Floor 2 is about Canada’s relation to human rights including how we’ve failed immensely for several groups of people. Floor 4 is about various genocides that have occurred in the world including the ongoing one in Darfur. On floor 4 part of the exhibit has computers with headphones. Here you can listen to stories from survivors and family members of survivors of genocides. Some of the genocides I knew about, but others I was less familiar with. While I didn’t listen to every clip available I did listen to a couple from each genocide. All of them were heartbreaking. Clearly, this isn’t a fun floor to visit, but it’s important to go through. Some of these genocides occurred far enough in the past there no living survivors. It’s up to all of us to listen to and understand these stories to ensure that history isn’t repeated.

The Best Part of the CMHR

Honestly I loved this museum. I’m not overexaggerating when I say this museum is the best museum I’ve ever been too. And obviously I haven’t been to every museum in the world, but I’ve been to few. So I’m gonna break down why I think the CMHR is incredible in a few ways.

Architecture

I do not know much about architecture, but this museum’s design is quite amazing. It was designed by architect Antoine Predock. You’ll see the CMHR on photos and postcards of Winnipeg and it’s easy to understand why. Just looking at this museum from the outside it looks stunning. This page on the website has some information about the architecture of the museum. But then on the inside there are also really cool architecture features. The basalt ramps, the windows that make parts of the museum feel open and bright (and give you some nice views of Winnipeg if the weather is good). There’s also a tower if you want more views. I’ll be honest I tried to walk up the staircase (glass in an area where you can look down and see several floors below), to the tower and started to get a bit dizzy, so I skipped that part. But overall the design of this museum is really great. There’s a nice flow, it feels open and not crowded (though I’m sure it’d be busier if I had gone on a weekend or during school holidays).

A view of the ramps that go from floor to floor.

Accessibility and Inclusivity

Speaking of design one thing I immediately noticed in the CMHR was how accessible and inclusive this museum is. I don’t think I’ve seen a museum that’s been so accessible and inclusive for everyone. I know that some museums are in older buildings that need to be retrofitted to include some of these things I’m gonna mention. The CMHR is a new building and was purposely designed to include with these accessible and inclusive elements. These aren’t things that I required to visit the museum easily and safely, but I wanted to include a few things I noticed. Click each point below to expand it and learn more.

Employee on Each Floor

There is at least one employee at the start of each floor to answer any questions or help with anything you need. Of course this is helpful for all visitors, but particularly for those who are disabled and may need help finding/using the various accessible features the CMHR has.

Language Inclusion

There are lots of videos in the museum that are all available in English and French. Now these are the two official languages in Canada so this isn’t too surprising, but it’s still good to see. For individual videos you can pick the language. Some of the videos in the theatres auto-play in English then in French. If it’s not too busy and you’re the only one there you can ask the staff to change the language if it’s easier for you to understand.

I also noticed a few videos had an option for an Indigenous/Inuit language. As someone who only knows English I don’t know which language those may have been. I did reach out to the museum to try to find out, but didn’t get a response. Still I thought that was pretty great to see, and I hope they’ll extend this to more videos in the future.

Accessibility For Those Who Are Blind/Visually Impaired

Signs have braille on them for those who are blind or visually impaired. This is pretty standard practice here in Canada, but it’s worth noting. There’s also a great app for the CMHR (available for iOS or Android) where you can type in a number next to a display to learn more about it. These numbers also have braille on them, so those who who are blind or visually impaired can still learn about the exhibits.

Accessibility For Those Who Are Deaf/Hearing Impaired

Videos in the larger theatres for multiple people to watch are captioned in their original language (English or French). On the individual videos in the museum there is an option for closed caption on videos (in English or French). Or you can choose an option to see a video of a person doing sign language. These are available in American Sign Language (CSL) for English and Langue des Signes Québécois (LSQ) for French. The CMHR app also has the option for sign language or closed captioning.

Accessibility For Those With Limited Mobility

The CMHR uses gentle sloping ramps instead of stairs to get from one floor to another. These ramps are easier to walk up for those with mobility issues. For those who need it there are also elevators (with windows out for some cool views of some of the museum). The only part of the museum where you need to walk up stairs is to get to the viewing platform of the Israel Asper Tower of Hope.

There are also chairs and benches on each floor with those who need a rest. There is also a lot of wide spaces in the exhibits of the museum making it easier for those using wheelchairs, scooters, or walkers to get around.

Accessible & Inclusive Bathrooms

There are bathrooms on each floor of the museum (except the tower), which is great. There are also private accessible bathrooms with changing station on each floor. Plus to make the bathrooms inclusive the signs simply state the facilities inside instead of a gender identity. So one bathroom sign indicates it has toilets and urinals, and the other indicates it has just toilets. This means people get to use the bathroom they feel most comfortable using, which is a great way to be inclusive to the trans and nonbinary community.

More Accessible Features

The museum has a list of all accessible features in the museum on their website that you can see here. They also list their commitment to accessibility and have a form if you notice an accessibility issue in the museum or on their website.

The Information

When I got to the first exhibit the person working on that floor warned me that this museum is massive. There are over 80 hours of video footage in the museum alone. There is a lot of information in this museum, and you won’t be able to read/see/listen to it all. I did go through every floor, I read a lot and watched quite a few videos. I was there for about 4 hours, and I still didn’t get to everything. One great thing about all this information is I know whenever I go back to Winnipeg I can go to the CMHR again and still learn something new. And if you want to learn about some of the exhibits from home you can download the CMHR app for iOs or Android. They also have a section of their website called Explore the Museum from Home, which I highly recommend checking out.

This is the first part of the museum that goes through some of the ideas behind human rights throughout history. I still had so much more of the CMHR ahead of me.

Conclusion

The too long didn’t read (tl;dr) is the Canadian Museum For Human Rights is an incredible that you need to visit. It took me about 10 years from the time I first “visited Winnipeg” and saw the museum still being built to being able to visit the museum myself. I know Winnipeg probably isn’t the place your thinking of when it comes to visiting Canada, but this museum is worth checking out. I told a friend I probably wouldn’t rush back to Winnipeg next year or anything, but I’d visit again in a few years. And on my next trip there I’ll be stopping at the CMHR for another visit.

Things To Know
The Canadian Museum for Human Rights is located at 85 Israel Asper Way, Winnipeg, MB. They are closed Mondays, open 10am to 9pm on Fridays, and 10am to 5pm every other day of the week. Admission if $18 for an adult with lower admission rates for kids 7 to 17, seniors, and post-secondary students. They offer free admission to kids under 7, museum members, Indigenous Peoples, and for new Canadian citizens or permanent residents with a Canoo card. They also have free admissions Fridays from 5pm to 9pm. I was there on a random Tuesday in May and it wasn’t busy. If you’re going to visit on weekend or during school holidays you may want to book online. Give yourself at least 2 hours for this museum, but I’d do more if you can.

While in Winnipeg I stayed at the Radisson Winnipeg Downtown, which was about a 15-minute walk to the CMHR. Since this museum is right by The Forks the closest hotel would be the Inn At The Forks but there are plenty of other hotels you could book here.

Have you been to the Canadian Human Rights Museum?