Canadian Museum for Human Rights bans selfie sticks

WINNIPEG – The Canadian Museum for Human Rights is following in the footsteps of many world-renowned museums and banning selfie sticks.

The newly opened $351-million museum has prohibited the popular device and wants visitors to leave them at home.

Museum officials told Global News there are three reasons for the ban: safety, visitor experience and respect.

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If visitors walk around with selfie sticks there is concern someone else walking by could accidentally be injured or hit, museum officials said. They could also damage pieces of the exhibits.

The museum also wants all visitors to have a good experience when they go. If people are taking pictures with a selfie stick, they can get in the way or take away from other visitors’ experiences, they said.

Lastly, the museum feels they are not respectful. There are a number of serious, important and historic events and issues discussed in exhibits and officials said selfie sticks are not appropriate.

While selfie sticks aren’t OK, museum visitors are still welcome to take selfies, a museum spokeswoman said.

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In February, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York barred museum goers from using the devices, fearing they could damage artworks and disrupt fellow visitors.

The Met’s decision followed a string of U.S. institutions outlawing selfie sticks, including the Museum of Modern Art, also in New York, the National Gallery of Art in Washington and the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston.

The National Gallery in central London disallows them as well.

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