For millennia, this site at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers was a trading post for Canada's First Nations, a status only enhanced by the arrival of French fur traders and the British Hudson's Bay Company in the 18th century.

At its core is the idea that all human beings have the right to freedom, equality and respect in their lives and in their government. Most permanent exhibits put you in the shoes of those discriminated against and the people who have made it their mission to help.

I think it fair to share some of my discoveries over the past months, and those I think worth exploring during the chilly weeks of winter, when the color of the world is really in the imagination, or in a warm-walled escape to another bliss.