Israel Harold "Izzy" Asper OC OM QC (August 11, 1932 – October 7, 2003) was a Canadian tax lawyer and media magnate.
[2] He was also the leader of the Manitoba Liberal Party from 1970 to 1975[3] and is credited with the idea and vision to establish the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.
[4][10] He was buried in the Shaarey Zedek Cemetery in Winnipeg in the presence of 1,500 mourners, including Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and leading politicians.
[9][13] Asper was noted for his fierce loyalty to Manitoba and western Canada, refusing enticements to move east to Toronto.
And so you get taught that you owe and you have an undischarged debt to this country… He was also a noted philanthropist, making major donations to the areas of culture, arts, and education; to expand on these endeavours, the Asper Foundation was established in 1983 in Winnipeg.
Controversially, Asper's newspaper chain fired Ottawa Citizen publisher Russell Mills after he wrote an article that was critical of Chrétien.
[12] In 2003, Asper established a private charitable organization to build the CMHR, called the Friends of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.
[1] On April 17, the 21st anniversary of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, an event was held at The Forks in Winnipeg where Asper first publicly announced his intent to create the CMHR.
The announcement included considerable funding commitments from the governments of Canada, Manitoba, and Winnipeg, as well as land donated by the Forks Renewal Corporation.
Prime Minister Jean Chrétien committed the first $30 million towards the capital cost, and private fundraising was soon overseen by the Friends of the CMHR.
[26] The Foundation was established in 1983 by Israel and Babs Asper, created from the wealth they had generated via CanWest, to build upon theirs and their family’s philanthropic endeavours.