Harper’s visit brings museum closer to reality

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This article was published 17/12/2008 (6456 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

PRIME Minister Stephen Harper is expected in Winnipeg on Friday to break ground on a huge new attraction that will lure visitors to Winnipeg — and no, the attraction is not IKEA.

Harper will hold a ceremonial shovel and officially start construction on the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.

Although tourism officials were excited Tuesday about the possibility of furniture giant IKEA drawing customers from hundreds of kilometres around to a proposed store on Kenaston Boulevard, they note the human rights museum at The Forks will have a drawing power all its own.

And they’re excited that the two attractions will combine to be an effective one-two punch to increase Winnipeg’s popularity as a destination.

"We’re excited because it shows confidence in our economy. It’s an economic driver," Destination Winnipeg spokeswoman Lori Walder said about the combination of IKEA and the human rights museum. "We know there’s a market for it here. We know there is a captive audience here just waiting."

The museum projects at least 250,000 visitors each year.

A statement from the museum’s board of trustees, chaired by businessman Arni Thorsteinson, said the museum’s goal is to have the same economic impact in Winnipeg as the 11-year-old Guggenheim Museum — which features works of Spanish and international artists — has had on Bilbao, Spain.

Walder predicts the human rights museum will bring Winnipeg into the international spotlight. The museum has been working closely with Destination Winnipeg and Tourism Manitoba to draw in large crowds.

"It would provide Winnipeg with a signature product, which we’ve never had," Walder said. "People will come. This will be a unique product, the only museum dedicated to human rights in the world."

Walder said the museum will draw in an international crowd and the IKEA store will draw in tourists from northern Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Ontario.

"These are just more feathers in the cap that say that there is a confidence about Winnipeg," Walder said. "It’s time that not only Winnipeggers realize this, but everyone outside of the city is starting to realize it too."

"We know there is a captive audience here just waiting," Walder said. "We know they aren’t going to come here, go to IKEA and just leave."

A source close to the museum project said there are plans underway for the prime minister and other dignitaries, including Premier Gary Doer, to attend the official sod-turning at the site of the $265-million human rights museum Friday.

A provincial spokesman said there is an event being planned but would give no other details, including whether or not Harper will be there.

The late Israel Asper first raised the idea of a human rights museum in Winnipeg more than five years ago, shortly before he died. His daughter, Gail Asper, has since picked up the torch.

The federal government will fund the estimated $22-million annual operating costs, and earlier this year passed legislation creating the museum, making it the first national cultural institution to be built outside of the Ottawa region. It is also the first national museum in Canada to be built in more than four decades.

Ottawa is also contributing $100 million in capital costs. Manitoba is in for $40 million in capital, and the City of Winnipeg has approved a $20-million contribution in cash and an in-kind donation in the form of land, infrastructure and forgiveness of property taxes.

Harper travelled to Winnipeg in April 2007 to announce his government’s willingness to fund the operating costs and make it a national museum.

The Friends of the Museum have raised $102 million of the $105 million in private donations needed to get the museum built.

The Friends are in the midst of approving final construction contracts and hiring an executive director. About half of the $265-million price tag is for the building itself. The rest is intended to develop the museum’s exhibits and multimedia presentations.

Construction is supposed to begin in February and it is hoped the doors will be open by 2012.

The Harper government had hoped to also fund a new national portrait gallery, possibly outside of Ottawa, but cancelled plans for that project in October, citing the economic downturn and a lack of acceptable bids for the project.

meghan hurley@freepress.mb.ca mia.rabson@freepress.mb.ca