PM joins groundbreaking ceremony of historic Canadian Human Rights Museum

Thank you, James, for that kind introduction.

Greetings to Premier Doer, Deputy Mayor Swandel, and to all my colleagues.

Greetings as well to the Friends of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights and members of the Asper family.

Ladies and Gentlemen, as we mark the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it is fitting that we should come together to break ground on the site of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.

Today’s ceremony is a historic moment in the story of human rights in Canada. Together we are building a monument to Canada’s embrace of humanity’s highest ideals.

This monument will, fittingly, be placed here at the Forks, an historic meeting place for Canada’s aboriginal peoples, where I’m told they engaged not only in trade and commerce, but also met to peacefully resolve their differences.

The spectacular building that will arise on this site will be a place where future generations of Canadians and visitors from around the world can learn about the history of human rights in Canada, and be inspired to build on this proud legacy.

Throughout Canada’s history, wave after wave of immigrants fleeing oppression, persecution, and tyranny have found sanctuary, justice, and freedom on our shores.

Together we have built the most peaceful and prosperous country the world has ever known.

Our political culture is anchored in the best traditions of our founding peoples: the British limitations on the power of the rulers, first enshrined in the Magna Carta; the French articulation of individual rights in the Declaration of the Rights of Man; and the consensual, restorative justice traditions practised by our First Peoples.

Canada wove these ideals into the constitutional fabric of our nation, beginning with the British North America Act through the Bill of Rights, the Canadian Human Rights Act, and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. And to this day we continue to refine and expand our rights protections to ensure that all Canadians enjoy freedom of speech, assembly and worship, equality before the law, and fully representative and responsible government.

I’d like to thank the man whose idea it was to pay homage to Canada’s noble human rights tradition, the late Izzy Asper.

This museum, the realization of his extraordinary vision, will serve as the capstone of his legacy. 

As Izzy himself said: "In order to understand why a country’s worth having, you have to know where it came from."

I’d also like to thank the Asper family for their tireless efforts to see Izzy’s dream through to fruition, as well as Premier Doer and Mayor Katz for their generous support
for this worthy endeavour. 

And finally, of course, I’d like to thank all the private citizens who’ve donated – and donated substantially –to this project.

Often moved by deeply personal reasons, thousands of Canadians are contributing to Izzy’s dream. 

They include, among others, Wendy Hayward-Miskiewicz of Winnipeg, whose son James was killed in Afghanistan last summer. Corporal Hayward Arnal, a man described by his commanding officer as "utterly fearless," gave his life defending the values this museum will celebrate, namely freedom, democracy and human rights. 

Let us all work together to protect our families and our future.

It is the responsibility of all of us to keep our land, Canada, glorious and free.

Thank you very much.

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