News release details

Submitted January 10, 2012 but not printed.

Re: Heading off course, January 7, 2012

Re: Stop the hide and seek, January 8, 2012

I am writing in response to recent Winnipeg Sun articles "Heading off Course (January 7, 2012) and "Stop the hide and seek" (January 8, 2012).

As previously reported by the CMHR, the overall project budget excluded the costs associated with the completion of the theatre and temporary gallery spaces. I have included a link from our 2011–2012 to 2015–2016 Corporate Plan Summary, released in September 2011, for your referencehttp://humanrightsmuseum.ca/about-museum/corporate-governance/corporate-reports/corporate-plans.

It states: "Preliminary estimates for the project based on a 2006 schematic building design were $265 million. In 2008, at the end of the design development phase, when there was sufficient detail to obtain accurate costing, the cost of the building and exhibitions, including adjustments required to qualify the building for a LEED silver designation and to reduce long‐term operating costs, excluding completing the theatre and temporary gallery space [emphasis added], was determined to be $310 million."

The information was also reported in other media outlets as early as December 22, 2011 and was shared with the Winnipeg Free Press on December 23, 2011. The Museum shared this information, along with information about the 13% increase in our capital costs, in order to be transparent and accountable to the public and our government partners. Assertions by the Winnipeg Sun that the publication was the first to report on this matter are simply untrue.

Regards,

Angela Cassie, Canadian Museum for Human Rights