Canada backs human rights museum

WINNIPEG, MANITOBA — A new museum that is planned to showcase both human-rights champions and atrocities got a boost last week when the Canadian government said it would pay for its operations and make it a national institution.

The Canadian Museum for Human Rights, to be built in Winnipeg, will be the country’s first new national museum in 40 years and the first to be built in a partnership between the private sector and government.

The $237-million proposed glass-and-stone museum, designed by New Mexico-based architect Antoine Predock, resembles an iceberg wrapped in clouds. It will be built in the center of Winnipeg, where the Red and Assiniboine rivers join, a historic meeting place for aboriginal tribes.