Evidence of meeting #17 for Canadian Heritage in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was nfb.
A recording is available from Parliament.
9:35 a.m.
Conservative
Paul Calandra Conservative Oak Ridges—Markham, ON
Mr. Caron, I just wanted to ask you a bit more about a platform for having organizations from across the country actually feed into you, or a platform for which they actually go about maintaining their important archival information, more along the lines of all the local museums that have tremendous resources and assets in their very limited—in most cases—basements. I know in my riding it's always in their basements and they attempt to keep it in a secure type of environment.
Is there a way that—or are you doing something to help them on how they actually preserve, or how they can actually feed important information through you?
I know you have a lot that you're supposed to be doing, but is there a way that we can actually involve the little—because there are a lot of little local museums that have tremendous archival information that in some instances probably isn't being protected very well.
9:35 a.m.
Librarian and Archivist, Library and Archives Canada
Well, we're not in the museum business, but all the archival material, as we speak, is being treated the same way across the country. Let me explain.
Through the stakeholders' forum I started two years ago, we're creating working groups across the country to support each other, to avoid duplication, to avoid.... I'm going to give you an example. You may not imagine that it's the case, but it's the case. We have old reader machines, electronic machines, such as the Wang machine. You cannot buy parts anywhere anymore, so you have to go on eBay. We're trying to specialize, each of us, in being able to maintain, for instance, such a machine. We have a network of curators across the country who in fact discuss issues such as how to keep an old book. We offer expertise and support, and we are offered expertise and support, because in some archives they're more specialized in some things.
This network exists. But it's going to take time, because we have a huge backlog. We have acquired a lot of material over the years. Now we're discovering that we also need to make sure that it will be sustainable. This network is working on that aspect of the various collections. Everything will surface at one point, so we're providing that support.
9:35 a.m.
Conservative
Paul Calandra Conservative Oak Ridges—Markham, ON
To both of you, 150 is obviously a lot about celebrating. But it's also about making investments in certain areas to protect our heritage. What types of investments can we make to help you preserve what you already have? I know, obviously, that you have tremendous assets you need to preserve.
You referenced some of the cuts you had in the nineties at the National Film Board. That was obviously another period when there were difficult economic circumstances. Having said that, what types of resources, not only now but from right now through 2017, would you require to actually make sure that your resources are protected and that your collections can actually be used by more people?
9:35 a.m.
Librarian and Archivist, Library and Archives Canada
We're working on two fronts. There are two broad baskets of investments we are currently making. You probably know that we just opened a nitrate film facility in Ottawa. It was an investment of $18 million. Now nitrate film and photographs are taken care of. The solution is there. The investment has been made. So we can turn to the next element.
What we're doing internally is looking at all the analog material. We have newspapers and everything. We're doing a very rigorous assessment of the quality of the materials and what we need to do to preserve them. We're doing it on a very systematic basis. The next investment—in fact, we're working on it and have the dollars—is a storage facility with compact shelving. It's going to be open probably next year. That's for the analog. We're being very rigorous, because it's a finite environment.
The other piece, which is more difficult, is the trusted digital repository. We're very careful. We're working in a network. Alberta, Saskatchewan, and New Brunswick, I think, now are heavily involved with us in trying to find a solution. We're going to also approach the vendors who create the software. We want to make sure that the software will have some archival function in it, because that's the problem, mainly.
We're very cautious. We're prudent. We're also working at the international level. You probably heard that the Americans, in fact, invested three-quarters of a billion dollars in their electronic records system, and it failed. It was too big. We need to go step by step. We're making the proper investments. It's something that will come up.
I like to give this example. If you look at the chemical formula for paper over the years, you will see that it has changed over time, because we didn't find the right one right away. It's the same with electronics. So we are making investments year after year to make sure we find the proper mechanisms for preserving the digital information.
9:40 a.m.
Assistant Commissioner, National Film Board of Canada
When someone says they need more money, the temptation would be to say yes, but we've been very realistic over the last five years in doing our digital shift. We knew we were in difficult times and we did it entirely from an internal reallocation of funds.
We've done our own strategic review for the last four years. We've been reallocating 5% of our budgets, cutting activities, to reinvest in our digital shift. That's something we've been financing by ourselves. We knew it was too big of a demand, and it was unrealistic to go to the government and say we need money to make that shift, so we did it ourselves. We're planning to continue to do it ourselves; we can do it. We have the approach, the process now, to do it ourselves.
However, for the events of 2017, if we want to do something that will be spectacular and will mark the people of this country, as we were marked in 1967—that year I was 11 years old and I remember it as if it was yesterday, all the events and everything—I think we need to devote additional money to have something that will be much more than our ordinary process. That would be great, and we would be ready to team up to make the best use of those special funds.
December 6th, 2011 / 9:40 a.m.
NDP
Tyrone Benskin NDP Jeanne-Le Ber, QC
Good morning, and thank you all for being here.
Our 150th anniversary is a big deal. It's a huge opportunity to really kind of redefine the relationship of Canadians. I may sound like a broken record, but one of the issues I have and one of the things I keep trying to remind people of, or keep at least in the forefront of discussion, is inclusion, and I guess reparation in some sense, as to the actual contribution of certain groups to the building of Canada, not as immigrants coming here and taking up space, but actually the contribution to what Canada has become.
I guess my first question would be to Mr. Joli-Coeur and Mr. Roberts. What kind of outreach is the NFB doing to let Canadians of the various diverse cultures in this country know that there's a forum for them, if they choose, to start telling some of those stories?
9:45 a.m.
Assistant Commissioner, National Film Board of Canada
I'll ask James to complete my answer, but that's something that is essential for us. It's not only part of our outreach, but it's also part of our programming. We devote a lot of money to certain types of programming that deal exactly with that approach, because inclusion and the contribution of new Canadians, the way this country has been built over the last decade, is essential to recognize their fabulous contribution. In terms of production, we devote important amounts of money to those things. And on outreach, I think we can qualify ourselves as leaders in that domain.
James, who is the assistant director of all our distribution, can tell you more.
9:45 a.m.
Assistant Director General, Accessibility and Digital Enterprises, Director of Asset Management, National Film Board of Canada
One of the ways we reach Canadians of every cultural community is in their communities directly. It's either through public screenings of our films, where we meet with community groups and come together around the subject of the film or the screening of the film with the filmmaker, with members of the community involved in the subject of the film, that sort of thing.... It's in accessing our films directly in the classroom on a daily basis. The collection of films itself illustrates the contributions of all the different cultural communities that make up Canada. It's across Canada, literally, from coast to coast and in the furthest isolated regions. We're also reaching up into the north right now, not only with films from our collection that document the historical contribution of different parts of our society, but also with new production programs—for example, in the north, in the Arctic, but also all across the country.
We have a number of different projects that involve Canadians all over the country, from the point of view of a program called Work for All, which looks at the different aspects of the workplace. At this point in time we have other programs related to aboriginal Canadians and their contributions, filmmaking programs for young aboriginal Canadians. We're starting up a new program on the issues of mental health across the country in all the different regions of the country.
Last year, or the year before, we looked at the economic crisis and how it impacted all different Canadians from every cultural sector.
9:45 a.m.
NDP
Tyrone Benskin NDP Jeanne-Le Ber, QC
I appreciate all of that; it's all great. It's sort of focused on new Canadians.
On what I'm speaking to, for example, you talked about the project you did for the War of 1812. I'm just wondering if within that project there's anything that points to Richard Pierpoint and the coloured corps. It was an all-black regiment that fought in the War of 1812. As my colleagues will probably get tired of hearing, there's the contribution of the black Loyalists in the settling of Canada, and the work they've done over the years.
Is there any kind of work like that being done or intended to be done?
9:45 a.m.
Assistant Director General, Accessibility and Digital Enterprises, Director of Asset Management, National Film Board of Canada
In the educational component of what we'll do for 1812, those moments in Canadian history will absolutely be documented or be part of the educational documents and tools we put together. That's absolutely where we go when we get into a project like that.
As far as new production, I'm not aware of something that's happening right now around those issues, but there may well be.
9:45 a.m.
Assistant Commissioner, National Film Board of Canada
A project we did last year, Mighty Jerome, about Harry Jerome the famous athlete, is an example on how we approach those subjects. That's an NFB production.
9:45 a.m.
Assistant Director General, Accessibility and Digital Enterprises, Director of Asset Management, National Film Board of Canada
They're subjects or people who have been forgotten about.
9:45 a.m.
Conservative
Mark Adler Conservative York Centre, ON
Thank you, Chair.
Mr. Joli-Coeur, could you outline the budget of the National Film Board for me?
9:45 a.m.
Assistant Commissioner, National Film Board of Canada
Our budget this year is just a little over $71 million.
9:45 a.m.
Assistant Commissioner, National Film Board of Canada
English production is $22 million and French production is $17 million. Distribution costs are roughly $6 million. Marketing, accessibility, and outreach are $13 million. Digital development is $4 million, and internal services are $9 million. That's roughly our....
9:50 a.m.
Conservative
Mark Adler Conservative York Centre, ON
What are the various revenue streams for the National Film Board?
9:50 a.m.
Assistant Commissioner, National Film Board of Canada
There are two. We have our parliamentary appropriation, which is the major part of our funding—
9:50 a.m.
Assistant Commissioner, National Film Board of Canada
This year it's $66.783 million. The balance comes from self-generated revenues.
9:50 a.m.
Assistant Director General, Accessibility and Digital Enterprises, Director of Asset Management, National Film Board of Canada
There's the sale of DVDs across the country and internationally; the sale of NFB films to television broadcasters internationally; and different partnership projects we do that bring revenue back to the NFB.
