Tous les êtres humains naissent libres et egaux en dignité et en droits reads the inscription on the thirty-foot high, polished red granite monument. “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” This was the wording on the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, and the words were given form, if not a center, by a Canadian charitable organization. They were inspired by the struggle for solidarity in Poland in the mid 1980s, and wanted to create an affirmation of fundamental human rights.

On this day, September 30, in 1990, the Canadian Tribute to Human Rights was unveiled by the man who arguably more than anyone else personified the struggle for those rights, the Dalai Lama, who was the first to pass through its arch.

The monument, the first of its kind to be dedicated solely to human freedom, dignity and social justice, served as a symbol for many events dedicated to human rights. In 1998 Nelson Mandela unveiled a plaque addition to it honoring a longstanding Canadian member of the United Nations, who helped draft the Declaration of Human rights and committed himself to to the goal of promoting them thereafter.