A Canadian historian believes she is being censored by the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg.

Veronica Strong-Boag said she was asked to write a blog post on International Women's Day and her personal experiences for the museum’s website, but it was later taken down.

“I guess it was up for a couple of hours,” said Strong-Boag. “I was told it was brought down because communications at the museum had some problems with what it contained.”

What they would like is some examples of the government’s anti-women’s views and efforts so I supplied a number of footnotes and examples, but then never heard from them again. - Veronica Strong-Boag

Strong-Boag said she never spoke to the communications department at the museum directly, but another party told her the museum required more information before they were willing to publish the piece.

“I was told they were unhappy with it," said Strong-Boag.

In one portion of the blog post, Strong-Boag wrote, "In 2014 Canada’s Conservative government left its anti-woman record unmentioned as it dedicated IWD week to the ‘valuable contribution of women entrepreneurs.’"

Strong-Boag said, "What they would like is some examples of the government’s anti-women’s views and efforts so I supplied a number of footnotes and examples, but then never heard from them again basically and it wasn’t reposted.”

'I'm very disappointed'

Strong-Boag instead turned to the website ActiveHistory.ca to post the article.

“Clearly the blog, which became a short article for active history, it was time sensitive. It was written for 2014 particularly,” said Strong-Boag. “I wasn’t about to wait around until you know they decided or confirmed that they either weren’t going to publish it or that they were going to edit it. Because I wasn’t prepared to have it edited either.”

The version posted on ActiveHistory.ca provided context in the line with examples of what Strong-Boag considered anti-women's views, citing the withdrawal of plans for a national child care program and the denial of international funding for abortion as well as cuts to public services that employ and serve women.

“I am personally very concerned with the way this government treats women, and indeed, the more disadvantaged generally,” she said. “I'm very disappointed ... I think Canadians have every reason to expect a much better approach by a museum that is funded on our dollars to a significant degree.”

A spokesperson for the museum said guest blogs are not to be used as a political platform.

Email response to Strong-Boag from CMHR