Harper will not attend opening of CMHR

By: Mia Rabson Posted: 11:30 AM CDT Thursday, Sep. 18, 2014

OTTAWA – Prime Minister Stephen Harper will not be at the official opening of the long-awaited Canadian Museum for Human Rights Friday.

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OTTAWA – Prime Minister Stephen Harper will not be at the official opening of the long-awaited Canadian Museum for Human Rights Friday.

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This article was published 18/09/2014 (4031 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA – Prime Minister Stephen Harper will not be at the official opening of the long-awaited Canadian Museum for Human Rights Friday.

Harper’s spokesman told the Free Press today “the prime minister’s schedule won’t permit him to attend.”

The Prime Minister’s Office last week said the possibility was still there Harper might be able to make it but that has now changed.

Melissa Tait / Winnipeg Free Press
The Canadian Museum for Human Rights — Melissa Tait / Winnipeg Free Press The Canadian Museum for Human Rights

Manitoba NDP MP Pat Martin said he is disappointed Harper won’t be there but not because Martin perceives Harper’s absence as a slight.

“He really does deserve credit for sponsoring the first National museum in the country outside the capital region and the operating funding that flows from that. The museum couldn’t have succeeded without that and we really have to give credit where credit is due.”

In 2007, Harper travelled to Winnipeg to announce the federal government would step in to save the project by providing annual federal operating funds and making it the first national museum outside of the National Capital Region.

Technically, Pier 21 in Halifax was the first national museum to be open outside the national capital region, as it became a national museum in 2011. However the Canadian Museum for Human Rights was created on paper first.

The distinction between the two has caused some friendly banter between politicians in Manitoba and Nova Scotia.

There was some excitement in Winnipeg that perhaps Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko might make the trip to Winnipeg for the museum’s opening since the Ukrainian genocide known as the Holodomor, is among the exhibits. Poroshenko was in Ottawa Wednesday where he addressed Parliament but he has now gone on to New York.