All Stories: Ready to explore?

Human rights stories are all around us. We explore contemporary and historic human rights stories, from Canada and around the world.

Results format

Filters

Stories listing

Exploring women’s rights and gender equality

By Chloe Rew

" " Partially obscured.

Four freedoms: The power of objects

By Jeremy Maron

A book on display. The cover reads: The Pocket Poets Series. Howl and Other Poems. Allen Ginsberg. Introduction by William Carlos Williams. Number Four. Partially obscured.

The Chinese head tax and the Chinese Exclusion Act

By Matthew McRae

Four men sitting on a couch looking at the Camera. Partially obscured.

Japanese Canadian internment and the struggle for redress

By Matthew McRae

A black and white image of a woman and two children standing behind a pile of luggage and blankets and looking at the camera. Partially obscured.

The story of the Komagata Maru

By Matthew McRae

A young woman sits on a ledge in a large circular hall. She is smiling at the camera and wearing jeans, a dark blouse and a red jacket Partially obscured.

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

By Armando Perla

A close up of the Canadian Charte of Rights and Freedoms Partially obscured.

The story of Africville

By Matthew McRae

A group of wooden houses next to a large body of water with red flowers in the foreground. Partially obscured.

Approaching the human rights stories of Indigenous peoples

By Karine Duhamel

A closeup of a carved wooden box, showing the carved face of a person against a white background. Partially obscured.

The nuts and bolts of reconciliation

By Karine Duhamel

A closeup of a carved wooden box, showing a painted image of a red hand over a carved mouth. Partially obscured.

Why reconciliation? Why now?

By Karine Duhamel

Carved wooden faces Partially obscured.

A Yiddish poem from the Holocaust

A yellowed paper with a handwritten text in Yiddish. The piece of paper is flat but was folded previously as old fold marks are obvious. Partially obscured.

Black sleeping car porters

By Travis Tomchuk

A black and white photo of four men in train porter uniforms. All of the men are smiling, and the two men in the middle appear to be shaking hands. Partially obscured.

Reconciliation: A movement of hope or a movement of guilt?

By Karine Duhamel

Carved wooden face Partially obscured.

Exploring women’s rights and gender equality

By Chloe Rew

If I were alive in Canada before 1929, I would not have been considered a person. “Persons” under the British North America Act referred only to men.

" "

Four freedoms: The power of objects

By Jeremy Maron

In his January 1941 State of the Union address, American President Franklin D. Roosevelt articulated four fundamental freedoms that everyone in the world ought to be able to enjoy – freedom of speech, freedom of belief, freedom from fear and freedom from want.

A book on display. The cover reads: The Pocket Poets Series. Howl and Other Poems. Allen Ginsberg. Introduction by William Carlos Williams. Number Four.

The Chinese head tax and the Chinese Exclusion Act

By Matthew McRae

When he was a little boy growing up in Vancouver, Dr. Henry Yu didn’t understand why his grandfather frequently took him on long walks to visit Chinatown.

Four men sitting on a couch looking at the Camera.

Japanese Canadian internment and the struggle for redress

By Matthew McRae

Before the outbreak of the Second World War, Lena Hayakawa lived what she describes as a very idyllic life.

A black and white image of a woman and two children standing behind a pile of luggage and blankets and looking at the camera.

The story of the Komagata Maru

By Matthew McRae

When Nimrat Randhawa and her family immigrated to Canada in the summer of 2003, they arrived completely in the dark – literally.

A young woman sits on a ledge in a large circular hall. She is smiling at the camera and wearing jeans, a dark blouse and a red jacket

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

By Armando Perla

The cornerstone of human rights protection in Canada is the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Charter forms part of Canada’s Constitution and came into being on April 17, 1982.

A close up of the Canadian Charte of Rights and Freedoms

The story of Africville

By Matthew McRae

If you’ve never heard of Africville, you’re not alone. This small Black community was demolished by the City of Halifax in the 1960s. Its residents have been fighting for justice ever since.

A group of wooden houses next to a large body of water with red flowers in the foreground.

Approaching the human rights stories of Indigenous peoples

By Karine Duhamel

This article focuses on the creation and development of exhibition content exploring the human rights stories of Indigenous people in this country. To tell these stories, the Museum engaged with communities and individuals in a process of truth‐telling.

A closeup of a carved wooden box, showing the carved face of a person against a white background.

The nuts and bolts of reconciliation

By Karine Duhamel

As a child, I often visited museums. I was lucky to be able to travel with my family, and to visit interpretive spaces across the country.

A closeup of a carved wooden box, showing a painted image of a red hand over a carved mouth.

Why reconciliation? Why now?

By Karine Duhamel

Since the publication of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s final report in 2015, more and more Canadians seem focused on the idea of reconciliation.

Carved wooden faces

A Yiddish poem from the Holocaust

A single poem reminds us that even in the midst of atrocity, human dignity persists.

A yellowed paper with a handwritten text in Yiddish. The piece of paper is flat but was folded previously as old fold marks are obvious.

Black sleeping car porters

By Travis Tomchuk

Black men employed as sleeping car porters in Canada from the late nineteenth century until the mid‐1950s experienced racial discrimination and exploitation on the job.

A black and white photo of four men in train porter uniforms. All of the men are smiling, and the two men in the middle appear to be shaking hands.

Reconciliation: A movement of hope or a movement of guilt?

By Karine Duhamel

In Why reconciliation? Why now? I talked about the idea of reconciliation as an invitation to a new and shared future and as a pathway towards a good life, both for Indigenous people and for other Canadians.

Carved wooden face