How Embarrassing - CMHR Under Fire for Censorship - WFP - 10Mar2014

From: Stefan Lemieszewski ([email protected])
Date: Mon Mar 10 2014 - 22:27:50 EST


http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/Human-rights-museum-under-fire-for--249306751.html
WFP
10Mar2014
Human-rights museum under fire for alleged censorship
By: Bartley Kives

The Canadian Museum for Human Rights is weathering a censorship allegation after deleting a blog post it commissioned from a Tyrell medal-winning Canadian historian.

To coincide with International Women’s Day, the Winnipeg-based museum asked Veronica Strong-Boag, a historian specializing in the history of women and children in Canada, to pen a blog post in her area of expertise.

The post appeared on March 4, but was removed hours later after museum staff deemed a passage criticizing the federal Conservative government unacceptable.

The passage in question described the Conservatives as having an "anti-woman record." She said museum staff first asked her to back up that claim, but ultimately rejected a footnoted posting as a partisan statement.

In a letter to Strong-Boag, museum communications director Angela Cassie apologized for failing to explain what was expected from blog-post authors.

"We will more clearly ask that guest blogs consist of anecdotal accounts of first-person experiences that illuminate human rights themes," Cassie wrote. "We also make efforts to ensure that guest blogs not be used as, or be perceived as, a platform for political positions or partisan statements."

In a response letter, Strong-Boag called Cassie’s statement "naive and pedagogically unsound" for a museum "supposedly dedicated" to promoting human rights.

[ . . . ]

Strong-Boag is a visiting scholar at Trent University, a professor emerita at University of British Columbia, a former president of the Canadian Historical Association and the 2012 winner of the Tyrell medal for outstanding work in Canadian history.

[ . . . ]

====================



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Tue Apr 01 2014 - 00:58:00 EST