Explore the Museum from home

Powerful exhibits. Inspiring stories. Online.

Join our guides on video tours of the Museum’s galleries and architecture. Check out Museum exhibits and stories about human rights defenders and history. Discover our many special online experiences.

A smiling woman on the alabaster ramps of the Museum. Partially obscured.

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Video tours

Three different video tours let you explore Museum exhibits and architecture.

Amazing architecture

In this five‐minute video, learn about the Museum's architecture while following along the alabaster ramps, peering over the spiral staircase into the Stuart Clark Garden of Contemplation, and looking out of the Israel Asper Tower of Hope. Discover how the architect drew inspiration from the Canadian landscape and human rights.

Video: Amazing architecture

A view from the top

In this 10‐minute video, follow a Museum guide up glowing alabaster ramps to the 7th‐floor Inspiring Change gallery. You'll see a tree that has been covered in crocheted squares of yarn by African and Canadian grandmothers, music‐listening stations and a "Join the Conversation" station where visitors leave their own inspiring messages. Then, travel up the glass elevator to the Israel Asper Tower of Hope observation platform for panoramic views of Winnipeg.

Video: Virtual Museum Tour: A view from the top

A Canadian journey

In this 20‐minute video, you follow a Museum guide through two galleries on the Museum’s second level – Indigenous Perspectives and Canadian Journeys. You’ll see the 360‐degree “basket” theatre adorned with 13 spirit panels inspired by the visions of Indigenous youth, an 800‐year‐old moccasin print and the glowing alabaster rampways. You’ll also join the guide on the “Lights of Inclusion” floor projection, then hear about Canadian human rights defender Viola Desmond at the exhibit devoted to her story. 

Video: Virtual Museum Tour: Stay Home, Stay Safe

Human rights stories

Human rights stories are all around us. The world we live in has been shaped by struggles over injustice and equality, tensions between rights and responsibilities, and the pursuit of hope and freedom.

Discover the meaning of human rights through stories of courage, resilience and hope from Canada and around the world.

A man and a woman, raising their fists in a sign of victory, followed by a large crowd.

Nelson Mandela walking out of Victor Verster Prison with his wife Winnie Mandela on February 11, 1990. Mandela had been imprisoned for 27 years by the apartheid state.

Photo: Graeme Williams

“Who said it?”

Challenge yourself with our "Who said it?" web quiz. Correctly match quotes with the human rights defenders who said them and you could find yourself on our leaderboard! 

A collage of black and white photographs of people including Murray Sinclair, Terry Fox and Gabrielle Roy.

Browse through the exhibitions

Each of the Museum’s exhibitions tells a unique story from the diverse world of human rights. And, like human rights issues, the exhibitions are always changing. 

You can read about many of our current and past exhibitions online, along with key concepts and events behind them.

People look at rows of Museum exhibits. There are large images in a grid overhead.
Photo: CMHR, Ian McCausland

You can also travel gallery by gallery through the Museum using our mobile app tour! You’ll learn about exhibits and architecture through narration, images and video. In some galleries, the voices of curators and program developers are used to explain their work. 

The app includes an audio tour in English, French and sign language. You can also read a text version if you prefer. Audio descriptions are available for all videos.

Three smartphones are posed together, facing the camera. Each phone displays an image from the Museum’s Journey of Inspiration app.

App download links

  • Download on the App Store
  • Get it on Google Play

The Spirit Panel Project

The “Spirit Panels” installation in the Museum’s Indigenous Perspectives gallery presents 13 works of art from coast to coast to coast that reflect the visions and voices of Indigenous youth in Canada.

View these works of art and learn the stories behind them!

A child touches a painted panel with trees and tipis.

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