The CEOs of prominent Canadian Jewish organizations have written a joint letter demanding that the Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CMHR) board of trustees address what they call a "serious failure of governance, curation, and public trust" regarding the new exhibit Palestine Uprooted: Nakba Past and Present. The letter specifically calls for CEO Isha Khan to be held accountable.
Letter details failures and demands accountability
Signed by Simon Wolle, CEO of B'nai Brith Canada, Noah Shack, CEO of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA), and CEOs of Jewish federations across Canada, the letter was sent to CMHR board chair Benjamin Nycum. It urges the board "to rectify the failures in curation and governance and hold Ms. Khan accountable."
The letter accuses Khan of not engaging constructively in developing the exhibit and instead responding "with a troubling lack of transparency, integrity, and meaningful dialogue." It states that the Jewish community attempted to engage the museum to ensure the exhibit met "standards of historical accuracy, scholarly integrity, and meaningful consultation" by offering input from subject-matter experts, but the CMHR relied on "the advice of political activists."
Real-world consequences cited
The CEOs point to "real-world consequences" of the exhibit, claiming it has pitted communities against one another and emboldened audiences to express Jew hatred. They cite a CIJA X post showing the exhibit being used to advocate against the museum's Jewish founder, Izzy Asper, with the message: "Reconciliation is renaming Izzy Asper Street, Free Palestine." The CIJA post also questioned whether the museum's leadership "support a national museum giving a platform to extremists calling for the erasure of Jewish people from public life."
The letter references Prime Minister Mark Carney's June 1 address to the Jewish community in Toronto, where he advocated for Canadians "not to transpose foreign conflicts onto each other" and for public institutions "to ensure that no Canadian community is driven from those institutions by hatred."
Federal minister calls exhibit a failure
The letter also notes the response from Marc Miller, federal minister of Identity and Culture, who in late June called the exhibit "regrettable" and "a failure." According to a National Post report, Miller said: "Not identifying Hamas as a terrorist organization is, I think, a failure. And not clearly stating that, for example, Hamas intended to kill Jews is, I think, an unfortunate error in curation and should be rectified."
Despite these concerns, the CEOs write that Khan simply "encouraged" the Jewish community to trust the museum's process. They allege there was "an intentional effort to keep representatives of the community and experts who could provide a supportive lens to the curation team out of the process. Even the museum's own Board of Trustees was kept at a distance. This lack of oversight was among the factors that led the Museum's only Jewish trustee to resign."
