Kevin Klein: Human rights museum treating Jewish concerns as an afterthought

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Shurat HaDin fired back on June 3, calling Khan’s response “not adequate” and accusing the museum of trying to “run out the clock.” In a follow-up letter, Shurat HaDin president Nitsana Darshan-Leitner told Khan that a promise of future correspondence, “unaccompanied by any undertaking to refrain from opening, launching or promoting the exhibit in the interim, does not address our concerns.”

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She demanded written undertaking from the museum that it not open the exhibit, provide full disclosure of the external review and underlying research, and put in place a genuine consultation process.

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Efforts to reach the federal government about the exhibit have also gone nowhere, sources say. Asper said that comes as no surprise: “At the end of the day, it’s a spineless board. The CEO supports the exhibit, and the minister and the entire government are pandering for Muslim votes, and so they stand for nothing.”

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The controversy has also reached the museum’s founding family directly. Gail Asper, David’s sister, has publicly called for a review of the exhibit before it opens, warning that anything fanning the flames of antisemitism must be “scrupulously considered.”

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This marks what observers say is a first on two counts: the first time a Canadian museum has been threatened with legal action by Shurat HaDin, and the first time a Canadian museum has dedicated an exhibit to the founding of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War from the perspective of Palestinian-Canadians.

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SUBHED: ‘The safest thing isn’t always the right thing’

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With the exhibit’s opening now weeks away, the community voices opposing it are running out of time and options. Some in Winnipeg’s Jewish community are asking hard questions — about Canada, about its institutions and about whether those institutions can still be trusted.

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David Asper said the pattern of silence from politicians and museum leadership is not unique to this issue; it reflects a governing philosophy built on saying nothing and offending no one.

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“The liberal MO is to try to make everybody happy, say everything and stand for nothing,” he said. “You know what the recipe for failure is? That.”

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Zentner echoed that sentiment, framing the issue in terms of the museum’s institutional legitimacy and the country’s commitment, under Carney’s own “Canadian covenant,” not to transpose foreign conflicts onto each other.

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“National institutions must be held accountable,” he said. “At a time of rising antisemitism and extremism, the museum must not be instrumentalized in service of a dangerous political agenda. Its very legitimacy depends on its leadership’s ability to demonstrate rigorous adhesion to the highest standards of professionalism and integrity.”

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For David Asper, the question is not really about one exhibit; it’s about whether Canadian institutions and Canadian leaders still have the backbone to stand for something.

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“The safest thing is to say and do nothing,” he said. “But the safest thing isn’t always the right thing. And that’s what I mean about leadership: if you’re going to be a leader, sometimes people will be unhappy. And if you’re not that leader, you shouldn’t be in the game.”

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In a statement, CMHR spokesperson Amanda Gaudes said the museum stands behind the exhibit and the process that produced it.

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Gaudes acknowledged the exhibit “has provoked a broad response, some positive, some negative,” and confirmed that the museum has “committed to developing additional content on displacement, including Jewish communities, in the future.” Critics say that concession tells the story: Jewish experiences were not part of the exhibit from the start and remain an afterthought.

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Emails to CMHR CEO Isha Khan went unanswered.

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Winnipeg Sun

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Kevin Klein is a former cabinet minister with the Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba and a Winnipeg Sun columnist.

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