Canadians Polled Reject Exclusive Treatment of Holocaust at CMHR

March 23, 2011 - Plans for a gallery dedicated exclusively to the Holocaust are not supported by the majority of Canadians, according to a recent national poll conducted by NANOS Research. Regardless of age, gender, region or political affiliation, most Canadians prefer that the tax-payer funded Canadian Museum For Human Rights treat all genocides together in a thematic, comparative and inclusive exhibit zone.

Canadians for Genocide Education, which commissioned the poll, is a coalition of some 50 associations representing 27 different ethno-cultural communities. CGE’s member associations are dedicated to inclusivity and equity in genocide education and commemoration.

CGE Chair, James Kafieh said: “The Jewish Holocaust, the Shoah, must be presented fully and properly. However, it should be dealt with along side all other cases of genocide. By creating a permanent gallery dedicated to one genocide, the CMHR is suggesting that there exists a hierarchy of human suffering. Any museum that suggests that the suffering of some people is more important than the suffering of others will teach Canadians much more about racism than human rights.”

Mr. Kafieh added, “CGE calls on the Government of Canada to replace members of the Museum’s Board of Trustees to better reflect Canadian society and to ensure that all 12 of the museum’s planned galleries are inclusive and equitable in their treatment of human rights issues.

In a press release by the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association, chairman Roman Zakaluzny stated: “Preferential, prominent and permanent recognition for one or two groups in a national museum funded from the public purse is unacceptable to Canadians. It’s time for the CMHR’s board of trustees to take note – the people of Canada don’t want their tax dollars funding partiality.”

Lubomyr Luciuk, UCCLA research director, said in The Globe and Mail on March 23: the [poll] results “underscore what we’ve said from the start, that most Canadians ... believe that a national museum of this sort should be thematic, comparative and inclusive and it should not elevate the suffering of one community over another. However horrible those experiences were, they’re part and parcel of a continuum that needs to be addressed fairly and equitably.”  

NANOS random telephone survey of 1,216 Canadians conducted from March 12 to 15, 2011. An aggregate total of 60.3% wanted “one exhibit which covers all genocides equally.” The margin of accuracy for a sample of 1,216 Canadians is plus/minus 2.8%, 19 times out of 20. “Our next question is about the Canadian Museum For Human Rights, a national museum funded by Canadian taxpayers. Would you prefer that there be one gallery that covers all genocides equally or that there be one gallery that highlights a particular genocide permanently while all the others are grouped together in a separate exhibit?” An aggregate of 15.3% were unsure while 24.4% wanted one gallery that highlighted a particular genocide.