Response by Dr. Greg Monks (submitted but not printed by the Free Press)

Yesterday's Free Press web page polled the question whether more money should be spent excavating cultural deposits at the Canadian Museum of Human Rights site. When I voted, there were 1117 responses of which 59% said "yes". The majority of taxpaying citizens who responded wish to see more funding for archaeological mitigation of the archaeological deposits that are to be destroyed by CMHR construction. In the United States, the Archaeological and Historic Preservation Act (1960) calls for 1% of a project budget to be allocated to impact assessment in the planning stage of any project in which the federal government is involved. If Canada had federal archaeological heritage protection legislation, which it doesn't, the same 1% requirement would allocate $2.65 million (now $3.10 million) for archaeology in the planning stage. Under the AHPA, any money not used from that amount could be rolled over into mitigation excavations of the sort undertaken at the Forks last summer. Instead, the CMHR has spent one-fifth to one-sixth of the amount that would be required under US law on impact assessment and mitigation combined. The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, which Canada voted against, states in Article 11.1 that indigenous peoples have a right to their heritage, which includes artifacts and archaeological materials. The CMHR, which aims to advance the cause of human rights, should set a far higher standard than the minimum required by the province's Historic Resources Act because, as a national museum, it will display to the world Canada's practice in the field of human rights . Maclean's magazine (March 27, 2007) quotes Izzy Asper as follows: '"Canada has a great role to play in the advancement of human rights," Asper says. "Let's not nickle-and-dime it."' It's a shame Mr. Asper's advice is being ignored.
Greg Monks

Digging up dirt on museum
2008 search for artifacts at The Forks 'a tragedy'                                                                                              Winnipeg Free Press                                                                                                                                            By: Lindsey Wiebe
16/06/2009