Heritage minister says Palestinian exhibit at rights museum ‘should be rectified’

by Dylan Robertson, Canadian Press 

OTTAWA — Heritage Minister Marc Miller said Monday the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg has erred in how it curated an exhibit about displaced Palestinians.

In an interview with The Canadian Press on Monday June 29 Miller said the museum should change how it portrays the current conflict between Israel and Palestinians and update the museum’s oversight.

“It isn’t up to me to speak to, or insert myself in, the curation of any particular exhibit. But manifestly, you cannot deny the fact that this is an exhibit that is born in controversy — and perhaps some of it could have been avoided,” Miller said.

The museum says it will provide a comment but has not yet done so.

In an interview June 29, Miller said he visited the Winnipeg museum on June 25 and was troubled by how the exhibit portrayed the conflict that started in October 2023.

On Oct. 7, 2023, Palestinian militants from Hamas — which Canada has listed as a terrorist entity for more than two decades — and its partners killed 1,200 civilians and soldiers in Israel. That attack prompted Israel to bombard the Gaza Strip in a relentless war that has killed roughly 73,000 people in the territory, according to data sourced in part from Gaza’s Hamas-controlled health ministry.

Miller said there are flaws in the museum exhibit that should be addressed.

“There are some words in there that are regrettable. Not identifying Hamas as a terrorist organization is, I think, a failure. And not clearly stating that, for example, Hamas intended to kill Jews is, I think, an unfortunate error in curation and should be rectified,” Miller said.

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