After years of advocacy from the Palestinian Canadian community in Winnipeg and across the country, the Canadian Museum for Human Rights will finally launch an exhibition on the Nakba, titled Palestine Uprooted: Nakba Past and Present. The Nakba, or the Catastrophe, marks the forced expulsion of more than 750,000 Palestinians from their ancestral homeland during the creation of the state of Israel.
Recognition of the Nakba, from school curricula to Parliament, has been a demand of the Palestine solidarity movement for years in Canada. Now, an official Canadian museum is a few days away from launching its first exhibition on the subject, linking the events of 1948 to the continued forced dispossession today. This is a major step forward for acknowledging Palestinian histories and experiences.
Unfortunately, the Israeli lobby has been relentlessly attacking the exhibit in an attempt to silence Palestinian voices. They have been exerting major pressure on Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture Marc Miller to have the exhibition cancelled or postponed. Miller has so far declined to interfere with the Museum’s programming, and it is important that we urge him to stand firm.
Encourage Minister Miller and the CMHR to encourage him to stand firm in support of the Nakba exhibit, defend museum independence, and reject efforts to silence Palestinian histories.
Click here to learn more about the Nakba exhibit on the CMHR website, and how you can visit the exhibit in person after it opens on June 27.