The exhibit 'Refuge Canada' at the Chilliwack Museum & Archives takes visitors on a journey to hope with their hearts in their throats.
"No one wants to be a refugee," the first panel announces, quoting a refugee from Sudan. "Anyone could become a refugee."
The travelling exhibit features powerful soundscapes, moving first-person accounts, and artifacts that help contextualize Canada's place in the global refugee crisis.
“Canada has had a mixed record in welcoming refugees, reacting generously to some while overlooking others," said Dan Conline, curator of the Canadian Museum of Immigration.
'Refuge Canada,' is on loan to the Chilliwack Museum until Sept. 30. It was created by the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 in Halifax, and all of the content in the bilingual exhibit is reproduced in both English and French.
The exhibit helps bring to light the challenges of the displaced, but also shares stories of success and contributions made every day to Canadian society by newcomers.
Some of the material is hard to view so there's a warning at the outset about "graphic images of violence" in some parts of the exhibit.
Visitors experience what it might be like inside a UNHCR tent, or getting onto an inflatable boat like those used by refugees fleeing Turkey to Greece, or gazing out as the shores of Canada come into focus from a plane window for the first time.
Museum hours: Monday-Wednesday, Friday from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Thursday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Regular admission applies.
The Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 is a national museum located inside a national historic site at the Halifax port where nearly one million immigrants landed in Canada from 1928 to 1971.
