Canadian Museum for Human Rights

How can something as wholesome as the Canada Food Guide have a dark past?

From 1946 to 1952, government scientists exploited more than 1000 children at Indian residential schools as unwitting subjects of nutrition experiments.

The government knew the schools were failing to properly feed children. But instead of helping the children, they decided to study them instead. Dr. Lionel Pett, the head of the Canadian Council on Nutrition, led the experiments.

For the first two years, they continued to underfeed the children. This ensured they were malnourished. Then, over the next three years, they gave them experimental food supplements.

In some cases, they fed children additives not legal for human consumption. Many of those children developed anemia. The researchers also prohibited children from receiving preventative dental care so they could observe the effects of nutrition on oral health.

These experiments were unethical - plain and simple. Neither the students nor their families ever consented. They likely didn't even know the experiments were taking place.

Indigenous knowledge about food and nutrition was never considered. Forcing the children to only eat colonial food was a way to attack their Indigenous culture.

Dr. Pett went on to help create Canada's Food Rules, using findings from these experiments. These Rules eventually became the Canada Food Guide.

As we approach National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on September 30, it's important we continue to learn the truth about the history of Canada's residential schools.

To learn more about how poor the food was at residential schools, read about the mush hole bowl here: https://witnessblanket.ca/story/mush-hole-bowl

📷 1: La Société historique de Saint-Boniface, Fonds Oblats de Marie-Immaculée Province oblate du Manitoba – Délégation, SHSB 23107

📷 2: United Church of Canada Archives, 1993.049P/885

September 28 is National British Home Child Day.

Starting in 1863, more than 100,000 British children were sent to Canada to escape poor economic conditions and pursue a better life. These children became known as British Home Children.

While some of these children were sent to live on farms with loving families, many others suffered neglect, abuse and loneliness. Even after concerns were raised about Home Children, Canada continued to receive British children until 1949 - a full 86 years after the first children arrived here.

Today, it is estimated that 10 percent of Canadians are descendants of Home Children, though many people may not be aware. In 2010, Canada recognized it as the "Year of the British Home Child" and Canada Post released a commemorative stamp honouring all the children sent to Canada.

📷 : Isaac Erb, public domain, Library and Archives Canada

Wondering how to spend your National Day for Truth and Reconciliation?

We're sharing this handy guide outlining five areas and activities in the Museum where you can learn about Indigenous culture, the history and legacies of the Indian residential school system, and the ongoing impacts of colonialism.

Admission is free all day long!

It’s THE night of the year! Nuit Blanche Winnipeg is tonight 🎊 !

Join us for contemporary art and live entertainment from 6 p.m. to midnight. Find a large-scale art installation by Anna Binta Diallo outside at the Group Entrance, and projected artwork by Ebunoluwa Akinbo and a hands-on watercolour activity by Bria Fernandes inside.

Enjoy all of this listening to a lineup curated by Trinnipeg featuring spoken word with Rey, Mama C and dance as NAMPANDE DJs, Len Bowen and Joyce Ingia.

Find it all happening on Level 1! Museum galleries will be closed for Nuit Blanche.

Let’s illuminate the night ✨

One of our favourite features in our new exhibit At the Knees of Our Ancestors are these stunning postcards featuring original artwork by Sade Alexis (www.sadealexis.com).

Each postcard features Black Canadians who challenged systems built on racism, but whose stories often don’t show up in textbooks or archives.

There are twenty in total, but only six are on display and available for you to take home (free!) at any one time – just another reason to come back and visit again and again!

The last photo in this set is an artwork of Sade themselves, along with their grandmother. Here are a few words from Sade:

“Hello, I am Sade Alexis a Non-Binary Black Woman artist, writer, and educator; I am the descendent of stolen people (enslaved Africans and indentured Indians), brought to stolen lands (Trinidad and Grenada), and of settlers, who have benefitted from the colonization of the land (Turtle Island) and the people. I live and work on stolen land that is known as Tkaronto and was born and raised on stolen Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Watuuth land. I am passionate about decolonial art practices being made accessible to all people regardless of class, race, gender, or ability. I believe that art making plays an integral role in an empowered and full life, and that it is a human right to be able to create art that tells the stories of oppressed people across the globe.”

Thanks so much to this exhibit’s sponsors: Winnipeg Foundation, TD Bank, Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries, Myron & Marion Klysh, and the Canadian Race Relations Foundation.

Nuit Blanche is this Saturday! Experience an unforgettable evening of art and music at the Museum from 6 p.m. to midnight

Explore "Currents" at the Group Entrance, a site-responsive installation conceived by Anna Binta Diallo. It features sculptural figures, shifting coloured light, shadow and original sound. The work explores ancestry as something in motion, a living current carried through landscapes, generations, memory and time.

Inside the Museum, the programming continues with an eclectic lineup of entertainment curated by Trinnipeg featuring Quincy Telus, Len Bowen, and Ingia.

Plus take part in a hands-on watercolour activity by Bria Fernandes and view a large-scale projected art piece by Ebunoluwa Akinbo.

Food and drink available for purchase, so come stay, explore, listen and enjoy!

On this day in 1988, the Government of Canada formally apologized to all Japanese Canadians after decades of pressure to acknowledge the human rights violations committed against them during the Second World War.

Today, the Museum is proud to be hosting "Broken Promises," an exhibition that explores the impact of the internment and dispossession of Japanese Canadians.

In 1942, the government began rounding up thousands of Japanese Canadians and placing them into internment camps.

First, the government seized their fishing boats. Then they removed 23,000 Japanese Canadian men, women, and children from their homes, despite the majority of them being born in Canada. Many families left almost everything behind as they were separated and forced into internment camps. Some even ended up in prisoner-of-war camps.

When the war ended, Japanese Canadians were banned from returning to British Columbia - not that they had much to return to. Canada promised to return the property and assets it had seized, but it broke that promise. To pay for the internment camps, the government sold almost everything. It wasn't until 1949 - seven years later - that Japanese Canadians were able to move freely within Canada.

As part of the apology, the government provided compensation for seized assets. Some of this money was used to create the Canadian Race Relations Foundation, which works to eliminate all forms of racial discrimination in Canada.

Broken Promises runs until October 25, 2026.

Comment: You can also learn more about the internment of Japanese Canadians here: https://humanrights.ca/story/shikata-ga-nai-it-cant-be-helped

Broken Promises was developed by the Nikkei National Museum & Cultural Centre and the Royal British Columbia Museum.

Starting this Friday, come and experience our newest permanent exhibit, "At the Knees of Our Ancestors"

It explores Canada’s participation in the European slave trade, the legacies of racism, colonialism, and slavery, and the overlapping experience of Indigenous and Black people during these years.

Visitors are invited into the setting of a family home where these histories have been told through objects, documents and oral histories, revealing the lives of the first Black individuals and communities who shaped the country’s early social fabric.

At the Knees of Our Ancestors is just the first phase of The Ancestors Project. Other parts of this project will feature new films and collaborations with Black and Indigenous scholars, artists and communities, including modular, travelling installations. Each of these elements will introduce new stories, regional histories and critical perspectives on Black presence and belonging in Canada.

This exhibit would not be possible without the support of our sponsors: Winnipeg Foundation , TD , Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries , Myron & Marion Klysh, and the Canadian Race Relations Fdn / Fondation canadienne des relations raciales

Click here to learn more about the exhibit: https://humanrights.ca/exhibition/knees-our-ancestors