Skip to main content

Human Rights for All

Saturday, June 23rd – Morris to Winnipeg to Morris, Manitoba - Day 162 

Honey nut alternative-brand-Cheerios went over well in the morning. We did a quick clean-up and got in the car to drive to Winnipeg, an hour north. We had a mixture of sightseeing and chores to take care of today. Our laundry pile was getting out of control so a laundromat was a must. I dropped Gen, Jo-Ce and the kids off at a farmers’ market with a splash pad to look around and do some light shopping. I went eight minutes down the road for an oil change. Great Canadian Oil Changes (alternatively known as Valvoline) did a thorough job and only tried to upsell me on three or four things. We were overdue for an oil change; we’ve been rushing around and haven’t made the time. 

Upon returning to the farmer’s market, we ate a lovely lunch of gnocchi and salad. When the kids were finished, they put on their swimsuits and rushed into the splash pad. We allowed them a bit of time to play before drying them off and getting them into the car. 

 Our next destination was the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. I had heard about this museum and was looking forward to visiting. We arrived and got scavenger hunts for the kids. The centre was beautifully designed; from the architecture of the building to the flow through the museum to the exhibits you engage with. The focus was on human rights struggles worldwide with sections specific to Canada. Regardless of where you are, the principle is that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. 


 In one area, there was a floor display you stood on and a bubble surrounds you; move close to others and you join bubbles. This kept the kids occupied for ages while Gen and I could explore the exhibits that each detailed a human rights struggle; the red dresses of missing Indigenous women, Viola Desmond’s struggle against segregation, the role of Chinese building the railroad and subsequent immigration status, the Famous Five that promoted the rights for women to vote, the struggle to allow gay people to marry, labour rights, the underground railroad, and more. There were so many that I couldn’t get around to all of them before the kids started going squirrely. 


 We explored the areas on What are Human Rights?, Indigenous Perspectives, Canadian Journeys, and Promoting Rights in Canada before we took the elevator to the top of the Israel Asper Tower of Hope and got a magnificent look at the forks where the Assiniboine feeds into the Red river. After a few pictures we walked along the beautiful ramps that take you from floor to floor, taking in sections on Rights Today, Expressions, and Inspiring Change. We were then escorted onto an elevator when the museum closed so we missed seeing exhibits on genocide. 


We finally left into the heat and to a nearby park where a bunch of skateboarders were showing off their skills by jumping or grinding down a staircase. They were very good. A group of a dozen skaters did not land every trick, bodies were rolling across the pavement, but the ones they did land were big. We needed to do some laundry and sell Rage Against the Machine tickets so off we went to the laundromat. Gen and I were hoping to be back by July 25th to see a Rage Against the Machine show and were going to rush to do it. Two weeks ago, Gen looked at the tickets and realized the show was on the 23rd. We didn’t have a chance of attending so we put the tickets on Stubhub. The tickets weren’t selling but we figured we could lower the price the day of the show if we needed them to sell. Unfortunately, the ticket sales for this show were deactivated a few hours before the show so we were stuck holding these tickets. Luckily, brother Jeff was available to take in a show. It’s funny since his partner Sandra had been offered free Rage tickets twenty minutes before I offered mine to Jeff. 


 With laundry done, tickets sold, and some 7-11 chicken eaten, we headed to do some light shopping before heading back to the campsite. When we arrived, my friends Corny and Frank, as well as their significant others, were just getting a fire started. We got the kids to bed and joined them. Cornelius was an interesting fellow; he was a Mexican Mennonite, whose education was communicated in low and high German, who moved to Winnipeg after spending time in Tillsonburg picking tobacco. Our group increased to a dozen over the course of the night. Great fun.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Desert Forest

Saturday, May 28th – Joshua Tree National Park - North to Joshua Tree National Park - South, California– Day 107 Our campsite was a large open dirt area with some scrub around the outside. In the dark we had managed to park beside the pile of horse poo and shaving. Horses were allowed in this site. Gen stepped in the middle of a pile.   The Joshua Tree National Park visitor centre was a five-minute drive away. The town of Joshua Tree was packed with college age millennials communing with nature. There was a market with kombucha, organic greens and a few small tortoises. It was all very pleasant but very busy. The laundromat was at the edge of the market, I charged the devices and did the laundry. Gen bought some produce from a guy loading a truck. I even snuck in to buy some watermelon kombucha.   The drive into the park was ten minutes followed by a ten-minute line to show our pass. A quick stop to fill up our water bottles and we were into the park. The amazing thing abo
Post a Comment
Read more

Canyonlands is Another Planet - Pt 3

Thursday, May 12th – Moab, Utah – Day 91  Our day was shortening already, our next hike, the Grand View Overlook was closed due to a search and rescue operation. Apparently, falls and accidents happen quite a bit at National Parks; Gen looked up the top ten most dangerous parks and Canyonlands wasn’t there (it was number 12).  We got a recommendation to hike the White Rim Overlook trail, a 0.9-mile easy hike. The kids were running out of energy. They made it most of the way and then decided to stop to climb a rock. Gen and I continued the short distance to the canyon edge to see the sights. Canyon after canyon after canyon was what we saw. We stopped to sit and marvel at the scenery as the shadows started to lengthen.   On our drive back, we saw the sun set and we stopped at the visitor centre one more time to see the view from just across the road. I couldn’t get enough canyons; I was in love with the park and w
1 comment
Read more

A Desert Forest - Part 4

We finally decided to move to our last destination before the sun set. The Arch Rock Nature trail was next. We reached the parking lot and saw the rocks in the distance, we were debating what we wanted to do. We just started moving and once we did, we found ourselves racing down the trail to the rocks. The kids wanted to play monster and once they started running, everyone else was running as well. We had another poo-mergency with no restroom in sight, the evidence is buried in the desert. There was more climbing on the rocks. We took pictures of the sun setting and took a quick look at the Arch rock before starting back to the car.  Gen was behind the wheel, an hour later we were leaving the park’s south entrance. We stopped at the Ranger station to freshen up in the bathroom and fill our water bottles before heading to our campsite. Luckily, the site was the overflow campsite for the park so was minutes from the outside of the park. We
Post a Comment
Read more