The Forks and the Canadian Museum for Human Rights
The Forks National Historic Site / Canadian Museum For Human Rights (National Museum) · Winnipeg, Manitoba
The Forks is the meeting of the Red and Assiniboine rivers in downtown Winnipeg, a gathering place for Indigenous peoples for thousands of years and later a fur trade, rail and market site. Today it is a national historic site with riverside paths, plazas, The Forks Market and, beside it, the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, which opened in 2014 as the first national museum built outside the Ottawa area. Its galleries climb on glowing ramps to the Tower of Hope and cover Indigenous rights, the Holocaust, other genocides and human rights struggles in Canada. Some of it is painful, including residential schools, and it is told seriously. The museum is ticketed with timed entry in many periods, so confirm current rules. Allow about three hours for the museum and two more for the grounds. In winter the frozen rivers carry a skating trail when the ice is safe, and Winnipeg cold can be severe. It suits adults and older children who want substance, not a quick photo.
85 Israel Asper Way, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3C 0L5, Canada
The Forks grounds are open year round and free to walk. The Canadian Museum for Human Rights is open most days of the year, but its days and hours change with the season, and it may close one day a week and on some holidays, so confirm opening days before you drive. Entry is often by timed ticket; arriving close to your slot and allowing the last admission time to pass is a common way to lose half a visit. The Forks Market keeps its own shop and food hall hours, usually daytime into the early evening, and these shorten in winter. The river skating trail opens only when the ice is judged safe, commonly in the coldest part of winter, and closes without notice in a thaw. Confirm everything with the museum and The Forks before you plan.
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