In the months leading up to Rights Fest we became more and more conflicted about our participation in the event. After some long consideration, we decided that, this being our city where the museum is being planted, it was important for us to play the show and engage in the conversation. Matt had an opportunity to speak with the crowd at the show, but due to the weather delay, our set was cut a little short and we didn’t get a chance to say everything we had wanted to. Here is a more extended version: My girlfriend and I went for a walk last weekend across the Red River and into St. Boniface. On the old Cathedral grounds we came upon the cemetery where Louis Riel and his family are laid to rest. We spent some time there and after awhile the sun began to set out over the river. As it fell behind the city skyline and the silhouette of the new museum, several long shadows stretched slowly across the graveyard. It was impossible to ignore the poignancy of that image. And now, standing up here today, it is hard not to feel the gravity of the museum being erected here in downtown Winnipeg. We all know there is a humanitarian crisis going on right here, and right now in our city. A large segment of the population do not enjoy the basic human rights of safety and security and we see it all around us every day. We ignore it, you ignore it, I ignore it. Right next to us flows the Red River, and as we speak they continue to pull the bodies of the young, innocent and defenceless from its waters. The Red has come to represent the hundreds, if not thousands of missing aboriginal women across this country - yet somehow our Prime Minister doesn’t deem it worthy of a national inquiry. This is not about “committing sociology” (whatever he means by that!?), this is about protecting those who are most vulnerable and preserving the memory of those who weve failed to protect. So, perhaps the hope could be that seeing this museum everyday on the skyline by the river will serve as a stark reminder that the struggle for human rights is not just a foreign concern from a bygone era, it is local and immediate. We have not had a chance yet to tour the museum so we cannot speak to what has been included and excluded, but hopefully all creeds, religions and ethnic groups will be given fair representation without political influence.
Posted on: Sun, 21 Sep 2014 21:41:39 +0000
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