Portraying the dark side of modern history; The Refuge Canada Exhibit

BY STEPHEN WEIR

“The simple truth is this,” said Sam Cronk as he walked Toronto Caribbean Newspaper through a somber new exhibition at PAMA. “No one wants to be a refugee. It is not something you strive to be.  But yet for so many, it just suddenly happens. And, I guess it could happen to any of us.”

Mr. Cronk is the Senior Curator of History at the Peel Art Gallery, Museum and Archives (PAMA) in downtown Brampton. Earlier this month, he worked with a Halifax museum to open Refuge Canada, a traveling exhibition in PAMA’s main space gallery. This multimedia exhibition (supported by the TD Bank) is showing at museums and galleries across Canada – PAMA is the only stop in Ontario.

“It is hard to believe that the world refugee crisis has impacted Peel,” he continued. “it is estimated that 75,000 refugees have settled in Peel County alone. We aren’t talking about new immigrants to the community – these are people who probably never heard about Brampton until suddenly they are here.”

Through images, soundscapes, first-person accounts, and artifacts the Refuge Canada exhibition brings awareness of the global crisis to Canadians. Moving through major waves of arrivals from the Second World War era to the present day, Refuge Canada does not shy away from portraying the dark side of modern history.

Hopeful stories of optimism and success are balanced by moving accounts of shattered lives, fear, and examples of Canada’s mixed record in welcoming refugees. The show takes visitors through five themes: Life Before, Fear, Displacement, Refuge, and Life in Canada, with hands-on opportunities to get a real feel to the refugee experience.

Nimble Gallery goers can crawl inside a UN supplied family refugee tent, look out a plane window as the shores of Canada approach and listen to refugees tell their stories throughout the exhibit. Refuge Canada challenges and inspires as it brings visitors on a journey from darkness to hope, always calling into question preconceptions about what it means to be a refugee.

The gallery is warning visitors that the very subject matter of the show may be disturbing. “It is the job of a Museum to be a safe space for discussion and to present material that provokes meaningful conversations for all Canadians,” said Mr. Cronk. “We hope that by presenting these stories of strife, loss, and triumph that we can learn about our history and collective contemporary realities in Peel, Canada and globally.”

Refuge Canada runs at PAMA until September 8th. As part of the exhibition, the museum is holding a talk and book signing with award-winning author and Holocaust survivor, Max Eisen: Thursday, Sept. 5^th, at 7 pm. Refuge Canada was created by the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21. It is located in the National Historic Site at the Halifax Seaport where nearly one million immigrants landed in Canada from 1928 to 1971