Canadian Museum for Human Rights releases admission costs

The Canadian Museum for Human Rights has set out its admission rates as it prepares to open its doors this fall.

• TIMELINE: Canadian Museum for Human Rights

The CMHR, much talked about over the years, opens Sept. 20 at The Forks.It is the first national museum to be established in Canada since 1967 and the first ever outside the Ottawa region.

It is also the first museum in the world "solely dedicated to the evolution, celebration and future of human rights," according to aCMHRstatement, which estimated 250,000 people are expected to visit each year.

Admission rates are:

• Adults$15
• Youth (age seven to 17) $8
• Students and seniors $12
• Under the age of seven free
• Family (maximum six people)$42
• Family membership $95

Other membership price ranges are available for adults ($50), students and seniors ($35), senior couple ($60), adult couple ($90).

"We've developed a rate structure that delivers high value for all visitors to this unique, world-class museum.Our prices are designed to be comparable to other national museums and aligned with local attractions," said JacquesLavergne, one of theCMHR'sdirectors.

"For the cost of a night at the movies or pizza for the family, visitors can experience a journey of inspiration unlike anything they've seen before, inside one of the most stunning buildings in Canada."

Long road to now

The museum has been in the works since 2003, whenWinnipeg businessman and media mogulIzzyAsper first announced plans to create it.

The opening date wascontinually pushed back, often due to spiralling construction costs forcing additional fundraising. In the end, more than 7,000 donors stepped up and the final construction tally was$351million.

The federal government essentially took over the project in 2007 and has committed to cover $21.7 million in annual operating costs.

Even though it has yet to open, the CMHR has won a handful of awards for design and engineering.

It took 3,540 people three years to buildthe 12-storey, 260,123-square-foot building.