ALCCA Highlights New Analysis of CMHR “Nakba” Exhibit
- ALCCA Staff
- Apr 28
- 2 min read
ALCCA would like to bring to our community's attention the recently published paper authored by Dr. Bryan Schwartz, Professor of Law, University of Manitoba, and Rhonda Spivak, Editor, LL.B., Winnipeg Jewish Review, entitled, The Canadian Museum for Human Rights and Its “Nakba” Exhibit - Bias and Animus in Process and Outcome and the Nature and Impact of the New Antisemitism in Canada. Read the paper.
ALCCA’s senior leadership has reviewed this paper and believes that it effectively argues that the Canadian Museum for Human Rights’ (CMHR) proposed exhibit “Palestine Uprooted: Nakba Past and Present” is structurally biased and anti-Israel, and that – because the museum is publicly funded – this bias amounts to a discriminatory failure to provide equitable human-rights education.
The paper convincingly demonstrates that the exhibit’s process was compromised from its infancy by a largely opaque Palestinian Content Advisory Network whose identified members hold extreme anti-Israel views, including support for BDS, “one-state” outcomes that would end Jewish self-determination, and rhetoric comparing Israel to Nazis. The museum excluded or marginalized mainstream Jewish community input, relying instead on fringe anti-Zionist Jewish groups, like Independent Jewish Voices.
The exhibit’s content assigns primary blame for Palestinian displacement to Jewish/Israeli forces while omitting key context (e.g., Jewish acceptance of the 1947 UN Partition Plan, Arab rejectionism, the 1948 invasion by Arab armies, long-running anti-Jewish violence, and Jewish refugee displacement from Arab countries). It also calls attention to the “personal stories” approach as a way to advance a single political narrative while avoiding accountability for historical accuracy and warns the exhibit could fuel antisemitism.
The author of the paper argues that the exhibit should be halted and recommends instead: an independent historical review, transparent public consultation that includes mainstream Jewish organizations, revisions to include parallel Jewish refugee narratives and broader conflict context, and a governance/curatorial audit to align with the Museums Act, Canadian Human Rights Act, the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism, and museum ethics codes.
ALCCA’s calls to action include the following:
Write to CMHR directly: Chief Executive Officer of the CMHR Isha Khan at isha.khan@humanrights.ca and Vice‐President, Education and Public Affairs at riva.harrison@humanrights.ca
Write to the Minister of Heritage Marc Miller by email at Marc.Miller@parl.gc.ca
Watch for an upcoming CIJA action item to complement a previous one from this past fall
Develop your organization’s own grassroots press or social media campaigns to bring this critical issue to the attention of our allies, the government, and the museum leadership.
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