A Canadian Journey
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Canadian Museum For Human Rights 2011-2012 Annual Report A Canadian Journey P - 1 CMHR Annual Report 2011-2012 © Canadian Museum for Human Rights Photos: CMHR , Dan Harper Design: CMHR Printing: Prolific Group Canadian Museum for Human Rights Interim Head Office: 269 Main Street, 4th Floor Winnipeg, MB R3C 1B3 Tel: (204) 289.2000 TTY: (204) 289.2050 Toll Free: 1 877 877.6037 Museumforhumanrights.ca ISSN 1925-7465 Annual Report (Canadian Museum for Human Rights. Print) Canadian Museum for Human Rights--Periodicals Human rights--Museums--Canada--Periodicals Museums--Canada--Periodicals Museums--Manitoba--Winnipeg--Periodicals Canadian Museum For Human Rights 2011-2012 Annual Report Table of ContentS INtroduction About the Museum 05 Message from our interim Chair 06 Message from our President and CEO 07 Corporate Governance 10 Strategic Direction 2011-2012 12 Program Activity 1: Museum Content and Program 15 Program Activity 2: Permanent Building and Temporary Accommodation 21 Program Activity 3: Stewardship and Corporate Management 23 The Year Ahead 26 Financials Management’s Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) 28 Management Responsibility 33 Auditor’s Report 34 Financial Statements 36 Notes to Financial Statements 40 ABOUT THE MUSEUM The Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CMHR) is The Canadian Museum for Human Rights is the the first museum solely dedicated to the evolution, first national museum to be established in nearly celebration and future of human rights in Canada. a half-century and the first outside the National Our aim is to build not only a national hub for Capital Region. As we build our home at the human rights learning and discovery, but a new era heart of the continent, we are founding a new of global human rights leadership. conversation focused on building a strong future for Canada and a better world. We will engage Canadians and our international guests in an immersive, interactive experience that offers both the inspiration and tools to take a stand for human rights. We will welcome our visitors as partners on a journey to erase barriers and create meaningful, lasting change in the lives of others. P - 5 MESSAGE FROM OUR INTERIM CHAIR Canada’s tenth Prime Minister famously remarked that if other countries had too much history, Canada was a nation with too much geography. Seventy-five years have elapsed since those words were spoken in our House of Commons, yet few Canadians would dispute their relevance even today. We remain a nation relatively small in number, but Design Advisory Council. And the teacher in with a stature that mirrors the space between our Halifax so invested in helping shape the Museum’s borders. The expanse of our geography, as ever, educational programming. And the young First often translates into figurative and literal distance Nations man in Winnipeg whose irrepressible between us. Yet we manage our differences, energy makes him a vital member of the Museum’s however imperfectly, with a collective insistence team of youth advisors. that we be together known by one nationality - Canadian - both in spite of and in light of our I don’t purport to have uncommon mutuality with identification with the often vastly different parts these remarkable individuals, but this is the point. of Canada that comprise our confederation. The Canadian Museum for Human Rights brings Canadians together in common cause, so that That we may find unity among our differences, we may then learn from one another, inspire one whether differences of geography or ethnicity another, and build a future for our country together or language or political persuasion, is the story with a shared vision of a truly inclusive Canada of Canada. That we may find common purpose in where the rights of all are fully realized. those differences - differences that may at first glance seem irreconcilably profound - is the story Is there any other project in recent memory that of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. has brought such a rich diversity of Canadians together for so noble an aim? As a nation, we have distance yet to travel before each of our citizens sees the full expression of The Canadian Museum for Human Rights continues their rights wholly realized. Yet my own experience to traverse its own often formidable challenges, tells me the Canadian Museum for Human Rights is be they economic or related to our exhibits and our nation’s best hope to dissolve those barriers programming. Resolution of those challenges has that still remain. marked much of our focus over the past year. By day, I am Chief Financial Officer of an energy Yet we know our procession will ultimately be company based in Calgary. Yet as a supporter successful and, ultimately, will change history. We of the CMHR, I share common purpose with the know this because Canadians, from every corner of inspiring young PhD student in Montreal who gives this vast country, have committed themselves to of her time to serve on the Museum’s Inclusive making it so. Eric Hughes Interim Chair, Board of Trustees The Board of Trustees extends its deepest inception. Apart from serving as the Museum’s appreciation for the guidance and commitment inaugural Chair, Mr. Thorsteinson is a major donor of the Museum’s founding Chairperson, Arni to the Friends of the CMHR and will continue to Thorsteinson, whose tenure as Chair ended serve the Museum in a fundraising capacity. Eric December 31. One of Canada’s best-recognized Hughes, formerly the Museum’s Vice-Chairperson, investors, Mr. Thorsteinson has been a foremost continues to serve as interim Chair. champion of the Museum since the project’s Canadian Museum For Human Rights 2011-2012 Annual Report MESSAGE FROM OUR PRESIDENT AND CEO As you read this, the stunning exterior of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights stands nearly complete. A sweeping expanse of glass now envelopes the building, true to architect Antoine Predock’s celebrated design. The iconic Tower of Hope has come into form, already a new national symbol of opportunity and possibility. Still, even as this arresting structure comes to life, we can together chart a course for Canada that the question remains ever relevant: Why? Why is a celebrates and protects the rights, freedoms and distinctly Canadian museum dedicated to human opportunities to which every citizen is entitled. rights so critically needed? What gap does it fill? Whose lives might it change? Today, Canadians are building that place. As the striking exterior of the Canadian Museum I contemplate this often as we challenge ourselves for Human Rights takes on its final form, a truly each day to craft a museum that will earn national exercise in giving shape to the Museum Canadians’ trust and garner their pride. For me, experience continues to unfold. the answer rests in an anecdote shared by one of the Museum’s founders: an image of hundreds We applaud the thousands of Canadians who of Canadian high school students on a visit to have now joined us along the way. The Canadian Washington, all of them eagerly lining up for a Museum for Human Rights is an unprecedented glimpse of the Declaration of Independence and undertaking, made possible only by the insight, other exhibits central to the founding of conviction and generosity of thousands of American democracy. Canadian citizens from every walk of life. I applaud those students for their zeal and passion The process of building a national institution to learn all they could about a monumental event. solely dedicated to a subject that touches the very But the anecdote induces us to ponder where heart of who we are -- both as individuals and as in Canada we gather to tell the story of our own a nation -- is not easy. Yet as with any worthwhile democratic evolution. It invites us to ask where journey, the view that instills the most pride comes we come together as Canadians to explore the only as a product of a challenging climb. rights, responsibilities and freedoms, challenges With each new step Canadians have taken and struggles that have shaped our own culture. together, a view that is uniquely Canada’s is now Most importantly, it causes us to query where it within sight. is that we can converge as Canadian citizens to shape future chapters of our own history; where Stuart A. Murray President and Chief Executive Officer The Museum’s President and CEO welcomes recognized cultural organizations across Canada Gilles Hébert to the position of Vice-President, during a career that has spanned 25 years in the Museum Practice. Mr. Hébert will have senior arts. Born in St. Boniface, Manitoba, Hébert is a responsibility for leading the Museum’s exhibit recipient of the Queen’s Jubilee Gold Medal and the team and overseeing educational programming. University of Manitoba’s Faculty of Arts Celebrated Mr. Hébert has held senior positions among Alumni Award. P - 7 PRESIDENT AND CHAIR Year in Review On a bright day the Canadian Museum for Human Rights takes on a remarkable luminance. The Museum’s ribbons of glass catch the sun and reflect the colour of the prairie sky. For the Museum’s trustees, staff and visitors to In the last quarter of 2011, we announced our construction site, this is a new phenomenon. that unexpected challenges, largely driven by a need for additional structural steel, would Just a few short months ago the Museum was have significant implications for our capital still sheathed in steel; the exterior glazing yet to budget. After a detailed review and third-party begin. Now, visitors to the building site marvel at assessment of our strategic plan, we revised our the interplay between the design elements as the total capital budget to $351 million.