War museum should change display that riled vets: senators

Veterans who claima displayat the Canadian War Museummakes them look like war criminals have misinterpreted it, but thepanel should be changed anyway, says a Senate subcommittee on veterans affairs.

The panel on the Allied bombing raids in Germany during the Second World War titled "Strategic Bombing: An Enduring Controversy"questions the morality and value of the raids, which it says killed 600,000 Germans and left millions homelesswhile providing the Allies with little strategic advantage.

The subcommittee headed by Senator Joseph Day consulted four historians, read letters from veterans and history buffs, andruled thatthe panel had been misinterpreted and is the subject of "clear misunderstanding."

However, Day said,the museum has a public responsibility to change the display.

"We're asking them to recognize that the panel that they have put out has been interpreted in a manner unintended by them," Day said. "And once they recognize that, I'm sure they'll want to change it."

He added that the subcommittee is not "into rewriting history" but wants the display changed this summer.

"Tell the story and tell the facts, but tell it in a way that you're not offending, unintentionally, a large segment of the Canadian public," he said.

Museum will review subcommittee findings

Museum officialswill review the subcommittee's findings, said Joe Geurts, the war museum's director and CEO, but he said he still thinks the exhibit is"accurate, sensitive, and presents the piece of history in its proper light.

"I appreciate that there have been veterans who perceive it as being offensive," Geurts said, but he added that he does not believe visitors take from the panel the impressions that have led to the veterans' complaints.

"We recognize their concerns, and this Senate report, as I understand, further reflects those concerns, so we will consider those and act accordingly," Geurts added.

Victor Rabinovitch, who oversees both the war museum and the Canadian Museum of Civilization, saidaltering the exhibitcould draw new critics.

"I think people would say there's fallout if you do change the panel, as well,"he said. "There's many points of view, and you do your best to reflect and to represent and to tell a full and complete story."

The subcommittee studied the panel at the request of the Royal Canadian Legion in March, when the legion also renewed calls for a public boycott of the museum.

'We're sorry we had to go this far'

Legion spokesman Bob Butt said he is pleased with the subcommittee's findings.

"We've made our stand for our veterans, and we're sorry we had to go this far to make the point, but that's what we had to do and so we've done it," he said.

He said he did not expect any lasting friction between the legion and the museum.

It is not the first timeveterans have spoken out against the museum's displays.

When it opened in 2005, Cliff Chadderton,chair of the National Council of Veteran Associations,publicly announced that he would boycott the ceremony over two paintings that depicted members of the Canadian Airborne Regiment torturing teenager Shidane Arone inside a Canadian compound in Somalia in 1993.