Hansard

I thank Stuart McMillan for securing the debate. I admire his tenacity on behalf of his constituency and he has made a good case for a museum of human rights being based there.

The member is right to say that I visited the Canadian Museum for Human Rights on a visit from this Parliament in 2017. That was a profound experience. I had never before come across such a museum. The manner in which the Canadians have approached the issue is incredible. They established the museum in 2008, by amending their Museums Act 1990. The Canadian Museum for Human Rights is seen as a national and international destination centre of learning, where people from all round the world can engage in discussion about and commit to taking action against hate and oppression.

Mr McMillan has laid out the foundations for what a museum in Scotland could be about. I was intrigued by some of the displays that I saw at the museum in Canada. One of its measures to educate younger children is an interactive floor. When someone walks on to it, a single-coloured circle appears underneath their feet. In order to get the pattern moving, people have to engage with one another. It is a simple metaphor to say to the young people that, unlike being on their own, interaction enriches beauty and life.

The museum also has a jury exhibit with real-life cases that have gone through the Canadian courts. We know that Canada has had to deal with the issues that we have been talking about. Indeed, it has also had to deal with the issue of its first nation people, who were treated so badly in the past, and the reparations that have been made.

The two aspects that I took from the museum are education and bearing honest witness to the past and what colonialism has meant for Canada as a country. The education part of that is key. Earlier this year, I was delighted to work with North Lanarkshire councillors Danish Ashraf and Aggie Macgowan, when they presented a motion asking for education to include an honest look at the colonial history of our country, which I believe was the first motion of its type to be passed in a council in Scotland. That happened after the Black Lives Matter movement had taken hold. I was delighted that North Lanarkshire Council agreed the motion.

I pay tribute to two of my young constituents, Aleisha and Lauryn Omeike. Of mixed-race background, they spoke out at that time about what it was like for them growing up in Scotland and the lack of knowledge about why they were here, what the history of their family was and how they integrated into our country. It is so important that we pay tribute to the people who are asking for that engagement. When the programme for government was announced, I was delighted to see the commitment on education.

I am not asking for the museum to be in my constituency, although some others in the chamber might do so. My ask of the minister this evening is for an indication of how people such as the Omeike twins, or the council group in North Lanarkshire, can engage with the Government to ensure that education on Black Lives Matter and colonial history is taken forward, and that their voices are heard during the development of those programmes.