Canadians keep telling themselves that multiculturalism is core to the national fabric. Yet they are now deeply divided by culture wars at home, triggered by historical conflicts overseas. The fabric is fraying. To answer questions about today’s cultural divides and global currents, columnist Martin Regg Cohn decided to learn about the country’s past by visiting the Aga Khan Museum. For most of its first decade, its stunning collection of Islamic art was out of the way and out of mind. Its splendid isolation is about to change — once the Eglinton Crosstown starts depositing tourists and Torontonians outside its brilliant Brazilian granite structure, perched on a verdant lawn that rises above the asphalt entanglement that is Toronto’s original suburb. The museum’s worldly director, Ulrike Al-Khamis, had invited Cohn to make the trip to see her world of art. A museum, like multiculturalism, risks becoming more conceptual than personal. The challenge for Al-Khamis is to bring the collection to life by overcoming the traditional curator’s love of dead objects and indifference to live audiences. “Curators are experts in objects, not people,” she confesses. “A museum is about people, it’s not about objects.” All people. A museum must know its audience, and reach out to create new audiences, seeking integration through education and openness.