[Editor's note: The following is a statement released by  the Ukranian Canadian Congress  on February 8, 2011 ]

The Ukrainian Canadian Congress is dismayed at the rhetoric being put forth by the Canadian Museum for Human Rights that content and layout of the Museum is not yet set and that they are still listening to stakeholders.  UCC has obtained tendering documents from the Government of Canada’s MERX system which demonstrate that the Canadian Museum for Human Rights has no intention of including permanent or prominent displays of the Holodomor or of Canada’s First National Internment Operations.  They provide further evidence that the Museum’s content is set in stone and that it will proceed on the basis of the discredited Content Advisory Committee Report.

The tender document, entitled Request for Proposal Media & Technology Solicitation No: CMHR2011 02 Solicitation Date: January 10, 2011 Bid Closing: February 18, 2011, 15:00hrs, indicates that the Museum is contracting for the displays and exhibits on the basis of the Final report of the Content Advisory Committee, and that there will be no permanent Galleries or Zones for the Ukrainian Holodomor or Canada’s First National Internment Operations.

“In addition to cementing the content of the museum in accordance with this flawed report, the museum will be making substantial financial commitments that are based on this unfair and irresponsible approach,” stated Ukrainian Canadian Congress President Paul Grod.  “As matters now stand, issues identified by tax-paying Canadians as being important to them are being consigned to subordinate places within this museum, or are not being presented at all.  In the face of the public outcry over the contents of the museum it is irresponsible for the Trustees and management to commit further tax dollars to a museum that is unbalanced.”

The tender documents indicate that there will only be a single photo of the Holodomor in its electronic displays.  A clarification issued to bidders illustrates that no floor space is being allocated to the Holodomor or to Canada’s First National Internment Operations, in stark comparison to other permanent galleries.

“They say that a picture is worth a thousand words,  but in this case, the museum would like Canadians to believe that a single photo adequately represents the suffering of millions of victims and survivors of the Holodomor, some of whom are still living in Canada” stated Grod.

As a result, the Ukrainian Canadian Congress has asked the Government of Canada to:

1. Reconstitute the Museum’s Board of Trustees;
2. Conduct an independent review of the design, layout and content of the Museum in a public and transparent manner to ensure that the museum’s content and design is decided upon and displayed in a fair and equitable manner;
3. Suspend any further funding for the Museum until issues surrounding the governance and content of the Museum are reviewed, and furthermore require the suspension of any procurement that is predicated on a design, layout and content until an independent review is concluded.

Backgrounder on CMHR Tendering Documents

The CMHR has continued to issue several tendering documents which further cement the content of the Museum of Human rights on the basis of the faulty and discredited Final report of its Content Advisory Committee.

The tender document, entitled Request for Proposal Media & Technology Solicitation No: CMHR2011 02 Solicitation Date: January 10, 2011 Bid Closing: February 18, 2011, 15:00hrs, indicates that not only is the Museum contracting for the displays and exhibits on the basis of the Final report of the Content Advisory Committee, but that there will be no permanent Galleries or Zones for the Holodomor, the Ukrainian Great Famine of 1932-33,  or Canada’s First National Internment Operations.

The tender documents further indicate that there will only be a single photo of the Holodomor in its electronic displays. Contrary to assurances made publicly by Museum management and board members, the tender document states that in the mass atrocities exhibit where the Museum plans to display the Holodomor: “Upon entering the space visitors will see the interactive table, filled with a number of individual case studies, each possibly represented by an individual photograph, title and date.”

A clarification issued to bidders on February 3, 2011, entitled “floor plans addendum 1 and 2: CMHR Media and Technology RFP“, provides further evidence that no floor space is being allocated to the Holodomor or to Canada’s First National Internment Operations.  The document shows that the approximately 100 atrocities to be included in the Mass Atrocities zone will be displayed on 8 oversized IPad-type display tables.  This is in stark comparison to other permanent galleries.

http://www.ucc.ca/2011/02/08/ucc-states-cmhr-disingenuous/