Thanks to Bill Curry, the Globe and Mail is now a contender for this year’s None Dare Call It Boondoggle Award for Coverage of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights:
Thanks to Bill Curry, the Globe and Mail is now a contender for this year’s None Dare Call It Boondoggle Award for Coverage of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights:
Canadians, particularly francophones, think Winnipeg is too cold, boring and far away, so they will probably view exhibits at the new $265-million Canadian Museum for Human Rights in the city online rather than in person, according to government research.
The negative view of the Manitoba capital surfaced in small focus group discussions conducted for the federal Department of Canadian Heritage.
“These [French-speaking] participants suggested that the city suffers from negative stereotypes such as: cold, nothing to do, far away, and not interesting to visit,” according to an internal government report in April. “Very few of these participants would put the museum on their list of things to see given the distance.”
Longtime ITQ readers, of course, are already well acquainted with the report in question, which was the subject of a two-part series last August:
So, uh – why are we building it there again? Oh, right. That.
(Still more) Behind the scenes at the museum
Fun fact: Did you know that, in the 2008-09 Main Estimates for Canadian Heritage, the Canadian Museum of Human Rights is the one and only “key initiative” listed under Preservation of Canadian Heritage? Take that, canoe museums and digitalization of historical archives! (More fun stuff about the estimates here.)
UPDATE: Just so I don’t get accused of not giving credit where credit is due, this is doubleplus awesome news. Now that’s some impressive Preservation of Canadian Heritage! Big grats and thanks to all of the institutions involved.