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Stuart Murray greets Gail Asper, President and a Trustee of The Asper Foundation after speaking to guests at the grand opening of the Canadian Museum For Human Rights in Winnipeg, Friday, September 17, 2014. Murray, the president of the Canadian Museum For Human Rights, is leaving his job.John Woods/The Canadian Press

Stuart Murray will not be leading the controversial Canadian Museum for Human Rights in its next incarnation as a fully functioning Crown corporation in Winnipeg. The CMHR board announced Wednesday afternoon that Mr. Murray, 59, will not see an extension or renewal to his current five-year term as president and CEO upon its completion Nov. 1. An interim CEO is to be named "shortly," according to a CMHR spokesperson, while the process of recruiting a permanent successor is initiated.

Mr. Murray, head of the Manitoba Progressive Conservative Party from 2000 to 2006, was named to the CMHR helm by Prime Minister Stephen Harper in the summer of 2009, effectively beginning his duties in November that year. The announcement of Mr. Murray's departure comes less than a month after the official opening ceremony for the $351-million CMHR on Sept. 19. Mr. Harper, a prominent no-show at the opening, announced in 2007 that the CMHR would be the first national museum to be established outside the Ottawa-Gatineau region and that, in addition to providing $21.7-million each year for its operations, the federal government would forward $100-million towards its construction cost. Legislation establishing the CMHR was passed in 2008.

Mr. Murray's stint with the CMHR has been a tumultuous one, marked by escalating costs, postponements, fierce debates over content, hints of political interference and substantial turnovers in staff. It fell to Mr. Murray to confirm late last month that, after five years of construction and installation, the museum still would not be fully operational until Nov. 11. While the museum has been open to the public since Sept. 27, visitors can only tour the site as part of paid, officially organized tours.

In an interview with The Globe and Mail just days before the Sept. 19 ceremony, Mr. Murray did not indicate whether he wanted to continue as president/CEO of the CMHR or whether the Harper Conservatives had indicated he could carry on. A representative for Canadian Heritage, the ministry under which the CMHR operates, would only say at that time that "an announcement will be made in due course."

Historically, the head of a Crown corporation such as the CMHR – originally conceived and established as a charitable foundation by the family of Winnipeg media mogul Israel Asper – would be named by the minister of Canadian Heritage, based on a "recommendation" by its minister-appointed board. However, the 2008 legislation gave the minister the power to appoint both the board and the director/CEO. Wednesday's announcement from Eric Hughes, a close Calgary friend of Mr. Harper whom the PM named CMHR chair in fall of 2011, said "the board has initiated a process of recruiting a successor." In a brief interview from Calgary, Mr. Hughes indicated the selection of the new president/CEO "would be reverting back to the board process. However, as with all governor-in-council sort of positions, it ends up getting approved and going through Ottawa."

Mr. Hughes said "the board and museum have been exceptionally well-served by Stuart Murray. He brought forward a skill set that took it from a hole in the ground to a very impressive national institution and we are exceptionally grateful for what he has done. … I'd say all we're going to do now is find a new CEO who's exceptionally qualified in this new phase as an operating national museum."

Mr. Hughes indicated the CMHR "will have an interim CEO in the next several weeks" but refrained from saying if there's a preferred candidate. "Then," he added, "we'll be looking to do a national campaign to find a permanent CEO." No deadline has been set as yet for having that position filled. "It needs to be just a process that takes as much time as it needs, because you're going to looking for a fairly senior person with a very broad skill set." Mr. Hughes also did not say if the new permanent CEO would be hired for a five-year term or longer or shorter. "That's something that we negotiate."

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