Canadian Heritage Committee on Feb. 14th, 2022

[Shelley Falconer]

Absolutely.

[Alexandra Badzak]

All right, thank you.

I think we can say safely that without CEWS and the amount that we received from the Canada Council, as well as some provincial funding bodies, we most likely would see significant closures of art galleries and art museums across the country. I could say for myself that those two supports from both the Canada Council and through the CEWS program kept us going when we lost over a million dollars in our revenue-generating unit during this period of time. It was essential, and we need it to continue.

Shelley.

[Shelley Falconer]

I'd just like to add something that relates to a question that was asked earlier about funding, and I hope I get this out in time.

It's a little complicated. Different institutions—it was asked about the Ottawa Art Gallery—have different funding models. Federal, provincial and municipal galleries that receive extensive base funding feel the impact less, for example, than an institution like the Art Gallery of Hamilton or like Jean-François' gallery in Joliette. We are at 17% of base funding, so we have to make up all the rest in those earned revenues and donations.

I would say that for those of us in the position we're in, it means not only structural deficits but perhaps also closures. For the more heavily funded government organizations with base funding, I think they will probably fare better.

Certainly, we're not all created equal. I think that's the main point.

Government-based funding and project-based funding are two very different things. One is applied and one is a given.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Ms. Falconer, maybe you can round that up when you get another question and include it in there. Thank you very much.

We will now go to the second round of five minutes each, beginning with the Conservative Party.

Ms. Thomas, you have five minutes.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Thank you.

My first question goes to Canadian Women and Sport.

Ms. Sandmeyer-Graves, you talked about wanting to go “from relief to recovery and beyond”, and about the importance of sport and how it creates public good. Perhaps you can expand on how it creates public good.

[Allison Sandmeyer-Graves]

I think sport is probably best known for its positive physical benefits and mental health benefits. Sport, of course, if you look at it through a gender perspective, is also a place where girls and women first get to establish their leadership, which, they've shown through research, has translated into greater educational attainment and even greater career attainment. From a newcomer perspective, sport has shown to be a fantastic way for newcomers to settle and integrate into communities. It is, in and of itself, a large cultural experience in our country, and people being able to access it is key.

Sport is also used as a vehicle for development in a lot of respects. We know that it's an attractive pursuit for young people to be involved in, and it becomes a platform for life skills development and career skills development and so many other aspects that can really support them well beyond the field of play. It is an economic driver in many communities, a source of great employment, and more.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Perfect.

As we come back into our pursuits of normality in this country, as we recover from the pandemic and look to what you called “beyond”, would you say that those of us who are in places of leadership have a role to play in terms of the language we use? I know that there is definitely a role to play in terms of legislation, and of course in terms of funding models. I understand that. But so much of the language we use as leaders does in fact impact society. It either normalizes or stigmatizes certain activities.

What is our role to play in bringing sport back to a place of normal engagement?

[Allison Sandmeyer-Graves]

I think it's a really interesting question. As has been described by so many of the witnesses today, there's been a real stop-start. Frankly, across provincial and territorial jurisdictions, there have been very different rules and very different expectations of what it means to engage and how that engagement will be supported in sport as well as in other places.

What we know is that as much as sport has not been available because the organizations weren't providing it, people have also been opting out of sport because they themselves didn't feel comfortable putting themselves into those scenarios. In fact, one of the things we're very concerned about is that there is a high dropout rate of youth from sport during adolescent years—among both girls and boys, but girls certainly at higher rates. There's a generation of kids who now are going through COVID where this is maybe the thing that has forced them out, and they won't come back again. That represents a loss of opportunity for well-being throughout their lives.

So to your question about how we should be thinking as leaders about framing the recovery and coming back, I think we want to be encouraging people to be active. We want to be encouraging people to re-engage and resume their participation. As much as possible, I think, the sport system has done a wonderful job of responding to the restrictions and to adapting and ensuring that things are safe. We now need to inspire confidence in people to return.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

You have one minute left, Ms. Thomas.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Okay.

That's excellent, Ms. Sandmeyer-Graves.

Ms. Sharon Bollenbach from the Special Olympics, I have the same question for you. How do we help athletes come back and fully engage?

[Sharon Bollenbach]

Thank you for asking. I'll just add to what Allison said, because I certainly agree with that.

I think as leaders we can communicate coming back and re-engaging with community. It's something that sport does so well. It creates and builds community. From a Special Olympics perspective, I know that athletes with an intellectual disability feel part of community by being involved in our organization. They gain confidence on the field of play and other skills, as Allison mentioned, that extend far beyond sport.

I think we can be speaking about coming back to community and what that looks like related to sport, that it has physical health benefits and mental health benefits and all of those things that create that kind of unique transformative—we always use that term, but it's true—power of sport.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you, Ms. Bollenbach. You can elaborate during the next question.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

I'll go to Tim Louis for the Liberals.

Tim, you have five minutes.

[Tim Louis, Liberal, Kitchener—Conestoga, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair; and thank you to all the witnesses. This has been very informative and I appreciate it.

I'll start by directing my questions to Ms. Diabo. There was something very impactful you said that I took notes on here, that in indigenous communities there's a different definition of heritage and theirs has existed for millennia.

What we're hoping to do here is learn from this pandemic experience. Regarding the time-limited emergency responses that we provided to first nations, Inuit and Métis, what can we learn from them?

I looked at your website and you had ideas and programs like the tech bundle program, which sounds amazing and is going to help artists get the tools they need to digitally share their work: record and livestream video, record music and put on shows. How can we take ideas like the tech bundle program or micro innovation grants that support that digital creation? How can we use the supports now as a move ahead for it and continue to provide that support?

[Barbara Kaneratonni Diabo]

Thank you.

Regarding the tech bundles, I'm really proud of that baby. We managed to get about 20 tech bundles that will go to various communities across Canada, to indigenous organizations that will allow indigenous artists to use it to be able to transform their work into more virtual forms.

As I mentioned, in many northern communities, even Internet is a challenge. Even that, we have to figure out a little more.

I always come back to it being really not a one-size-fits-all. While our artists do have the same challenges as every other artist that my peers here have mentioned, it's important to have a focus, to make sure that there is perhaps an extra focus on indigenous community and arts, because as we know, we have to build trust through reconciliation. We're on that journey now to build trust with each other.

For example, when I lived in Quebec, I know that when Canada Council for the Arts and the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec started indigenous programs specifically for indigenous artists within their larger programs, more artists would apply.

For example, in a committee such as today, it's really important to have that extra time to continue building the relationship. Talk to us, the Indigenous Performing Arts Alliance. We're national and we know what's going on. Have a meeting with us.

These relationships are the only way we're going to be able to really take the time to move forward together.

[Tim Louis, Liberal, Kitchener—Conestoga, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

You have one minute and 45 seconds.

[Tim Louis, Liberal, Kitchener—Conestoga, ON]

I'm going to have to stop most of the questions I had.

Building trust, building that relationship, is so important. Can you explain the resilience of the indigenous arts ecosystem and how we can strengthen those connections through dialogue through art?

[Barbara Kaneratonni Diabo]

I get that a lot. I give a lot of talks to organizations about how to build relationships, and it really is relationship-building with time. It's not like, “Hey, we have this; come in to our space and talk to us.” No, you're going to go into the communities; you're going to build a relationship. You might take a language class or you might take a beading class.

This is where the trust is being built on a personal level, and not just starting a program and expecting people to come. You have to be able to talk and communicate in a way that is trustful. Go out and learn. Go out and meet some of the organizations and the people involved.

[Tim Louis, Liberal, Kitchener—Conestoga, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you very much.

Tim, you have 30 seconds if you want to go with that.

[Tim Louis, Liberal, Kitchener—Conestoga, ON]

Please, in 30 seconds or less, explain the importance of broadband Internet and how that will help share your message.

[Barbara Kaneratonni Diabo]

Absolutely. There are some places I've been, for example, that don't even have electricity or cell service.

Regarding Internet, how can we be competitive? How can we even start to involve ourselves in this transformation in which so many people are going virtually now, when so many communities can't even have that access? It would be so important to have that access and to be able to bring it and at least have that competitive edge as everyone else does.

Yes, it's very important.

[Tim Louis, Liberal, Kitchener—Conestoga, ON]

Thank you so much.