way to announce the architectural competition in Vancouver for the CMHR's design. Vowing to continue to develop the museum, his family and The Asper Foundation continued with the project, now spearheaded by Izzy's daughter, Gail Asper. Two weeks later, the symbolic sod-turning ceremony was held at The Forks and the architectural competition announced. The Friends of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights launched the international architectural competition for the design of the CMHR, one of Canada's largest‐ever juried architectural competitions. 100 submissions from 21 countries worldwide were submitted. The judging panel chose the design submitted by Antoine Predock, an architect from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Meanwhile, Ralph Appelbaum, head of Ralph Appelbaum Associates, the world's largest museum design company, was hired to develop the CMHR's exhibits. Legislation, construction, and opening On 20 April 2007, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced the Government of Canada's intention to make the CMHR into a national museum. On 13 March 2008, Bill C-42, An Act to amend the Museums Act and to make consequential amendments to other Acts, received royal assent in Parliament with support from all political parties, creating the Canadian Museum for Human Rights as a national museum.By the middle of 2008, a government-funded opinion research project had been completed by the TNS/The Antima Group. The ensuing report—based primarily on focus group participants—listed the following: topics that the CMHR might cover (not in order of preference); key milestones in human rights achievements, both in Canada and throughout the word; current debates about human rights; and events where Canada showed a betrayal or a commitment to human rights. Before construction could begin, archeologists, in consultation with Elders, conduct an extensive excavation and recovered over 400,000 artifacts in the ancestral lands. The groundbreaking ceremony was held at the site of the CMHR on 19 December 2008, and official construction on the site began in April the following year. (Construction was initially expected to be completed in 2012.) The chair of the board resigned before his term was up, and a new interim chair was appointed. On 3 July 2010, Queen Elizabeth II—having personally selected a stone from Runnymede, the English meadow where the Magna Carta was sealed in 1215—unveiled the Museum's cornerstone, inscribed with a message from the Queen and encased in Manitoba Tyndall stone. The last of the 1,669 custom‐cut pieces of glass was installed in September 2012, and within a few months the base