Human Rights Museum cost jumps to $351 million

WINNIPEG – The cost of the controversial Canadian Museum for Human Rights has risen to dizzying new levels.

A museum spokesperson confirmed to Global News Thursday the huge structure rising at The Forks in Winnipeg will cost more than $350 million.

“Our new project budget is $351 million dollars,” Angela Cassie said Thursday afternoon.

The project cost had most recently been pegged at $310 million but officials now say they will need at least another $40 million to complete the first national museum to be established outside Canada’s National Capital Region.

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The federal government, which contributed $100 million toward the building and has promised about $22 million in annual operating costs, won’t pay any more. The federal contribution is “capped”, local Tory MP Stephen Fletcher said Thursday.

The museum is turning to private donors to make up the shortfall.

Officials say they are still aiming for a 2014 opening but aren’t ruling out a date in 2015 or beyond. A decision will be made in the next months, Cassie says.

The project has been plagued by cost over runs, delays and controversies. The original completion date of 2012 was abandoned due to construction delays, and some community groups have criticized how the institution plans to display some rights abuses like the Stalin-era famine which devastated Ukraine.

Winnipeg businessman Arni Thorsteinson recently resigned as chair of the CMHR board.