In pane view Keeping the glass clean at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights By: Ruth Bonneville Posted: 12:45 PM CDT Friday, Oct. 18, 2024 Last Modified: 4:57 PM CDT Friday, Oct. 18, 2024 Updates

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This article was published 18/10/2024 (358 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s an autumn rite of passage for many — cleaning windows before the snow and cold arrive. That job is carried out on a much larger scale at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.

Last week and this week, workers with Bresara Window Cleaning tackled the museum’s massive glass facade, called The Cloud, which is made of 1,335 custom-cut pieces.

The museum regularly schedules a cleaning in the fall. The Israel Asper Tower of Hope, the museum’s glass spire, is cleaned in both May and September.

Because of the unique angles of the museum’s design, the job can only be done with the use of a crane and bucket, which is required to extend nearly 40 metres in the air.

Window washers Jayden Vidal-Bircham and Carson Therrien have been plying the trade for several years and have worked on some of Winnipeg’s tallest buildings, including 300 Main Street, which is 42 storeys high, 201 Portage (formerly TD Centre) and the Richardson Building.

When asked if they ever experience fear while doing their high-rise work they both responded by saying, “not really.”

“I enjoy it. I’m coming to hang out for eight hours and then I go home. It doesn’t even feel like work,” Therrien says.

Adds Vidal-Bircham: “Personally in my opinion, I feel safer high up on the side of a building than I do standing 10 feet on a ladder. You’re tied off on the side of a building, if anything goes wrong you’re gonna get caught; but if you fall off a ladder there’s nothing there to catch you.”

Meanwhile, the museum will be hosting a gala on Nov. 6 to mark its 10th anniversary.