Canadian Heritage Committee on Feb. 14th, 2022

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

No, Lisa. You don't have any seconds left. Thank you so much. I'm sorry.

Now we get to the next person, who is from the Bloc Québécois.

We have Monsieur Martin Champoux for six minutes.

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

First of all, I would like to thank all the witnesses for coming today. Again, it's always very informative and interesting to hear them. We appreciate that.

My first question is for Ms. Morse from the Conseil québécois du théâtre.

Ms. Morse, since we undertook this study, in recent weeks, there has been a lot of talk about recovery in the cultural sector. Last week, we heard Ms. Prégent, the president of the Union des artistes. She talked about the seduction campaign that must be undertaken to win back audiences.

Of course, the typical theatre audience is a very loyal audience—at least that's what I assume. Theatregoers are generally very passionate people. Do you feel that once the health measures are relaxed, it will be a big challenge to win back the hearts and loyalty of the theatre-going public?

[Rachel Morse]

As for winning back the hearts of theatregoers, I don't know. I think their hearts remain loyal, as you said.

Earlier, colleagues spoke about the concern for our older audience members. The COVID‑19 prevention measures created fear among older people. They were told that the virus was more dangerous for them than for other age groups, and they were asked to stay at home. We will certainly have to do a lot of work to restore the confidence of these audience members.

Our premises are obviously adapted and we respect the measures of the CNESST and the various authorities. Nevertheless, this trust must be regained, of course.

Many cultural spectators are also cultural workers. At the moment, they are plunged into an inevitable precariousness. Let's just say that our sector is not very competitive in terms of wages. The further along we got into the pandemic, the more difficult it has been to keep employees and artists in the sector and to offer them the best possible support, especially with the fifth wave that we have just gone through. Because it's hard to support them, they won't go to shows either because they're exhausted and can't necessarily afford it.

Indeed, it will be a big job.

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Ms. Morse, I think it's wonderful that you managed to segue from the first question into the second. It seems as if we have been rehearsing a text together.

You talk about the precariousness of cultural workers, whether they're actors, stage technicians, or else. When we met a few months ago, we talked about reviewing the federal Status of the Artist Act. We also talked about reviewing the employment insurance program to find a way to make workers in the cultural sector eligible. As we say in France, these workers are often called the “intermittents du spectacle”—the contract workers of the entertainment industry.

Can you explain to us what the benefits of such a safety net would be for these self-employed workers and the cultural industry?

[Rachel Morse]

Of course. It allows for some continuity in the work. It would be a monumental challenge for any profession to live the way artists do, from one contract to the next and from one stage to the next. The creative process is extremely difficult. We are very grateful for the support that has been provided.

For example, increasing operations subsidies is a fundamental help to organizations that are funded in this way, obviously, but people who don't have access to operations subsidies fall through the cracks and can't seem to get out of that situation. I was talking about the new generation and diversity earlier. It is artists from these groups who find it difficult to access funding and support.

I'm moving from one topic to another, but we're going to do a big promotional campaign to build trust with audiences and so on, but the situation for workers remains the same. The Canada Performing Arts Workers Resilience Fund has been announced, and that's great news, but again, it's through the institutions and the representative organizations. So how do we support these artists with a social net? That's a huge question.

The revision of the Status of the Artist Act is obviously a solution, and the reform of employment insurance helps tremendously, but we need to create programs that will support individual artists. That is when we can best support artists.

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Are you under the impression that the disengagement that we see from many cultural workers is somewhat due to the fact that artists are tired of having to literally beg every time there is a dip in the market?

[Rachel Morse]

Yes, exactly, and this exhaustion becomes all the more severe when you don't have the means to get out of it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Excuse me.

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Yes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Clerk, there is feedback that is making it difficult. It sounds like we are either listening to the interpreter or there is something in Ms. Morse's room where there is feedback, but I am hearing someone else speaking rapidly.

[Rachel Morse]

Okay.

This exhaustion is compounded by the fact that conditions have never been optimal. Now we are asking for more competitive salaries and a new injection of funds, especially for individual artists, in a new scholarship program for artists, and not in operating assistance programs.

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

This was one of the recommendations that came out of the previous study we did on the same subject. It is a matter of ensuring that the financial assistance provided by governments makes it to the end of the chain, to the artists and workers, who are often the ones who do not have access to this funding.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you, Martin.

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

That answers my question quite well. We will have the opportunity, Ms. Morse, in the next few weeks, to come back to a study on the status of the artist. We will talk again then.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you, Martin.

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

I think it is when Ms. Morse is speaking that I'm getting somebody speaking very rapidly.

Could the technicians look at her in the interim to see if there's something going on in her room? It may be the feedback from her hearing or whatever, but I can definitely hear it. It's very clear and it only happens when she is speaking.

Thank you very much, Martin.

I'll move forward now to the New Democratic Party.

Mr. Peter Julian, you have six minutes.

[Peter Julian, NDP, New Westminster—Burnaby, BC]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

Thanks so much to our witnesses. We know that these are difficult times during the pandemic. We thank you for your service and hope that you and your families and loved ones are staying safe and healthy during this pandemic.

I want to start by asking Ms. Sandmeyer-Graves to what extent does there continue to be discrimination against funding in women's sports? What is the per capita funding for women's sports in Canada today compared with men's sports?

[Allison Sandmeyer-Graves]

That is an excellent question, and I appreciate it very much.

Frankly, it's a difficult thing to assess. Sport is a very big, diverse sector, with everybody working autonomously, so we don't always get those numbers rounded up. What we do know—some proxies, if you will—is that when we look, for instance, at sponsorship of women athletes and women's sports compared with male athletes, women are receiving, approximately only 4% of sponsorship dollars. That reflects a major infusion of private dollars into the system—

[Peter Julian, NDP, New Westminster—Burnaby, BC]

Sorry, so that's 4% for women and 96% for men's sports?

[Allison Sandmeyer-Graves]

Yes, it's a very substantial gap when it comes to private sector funding of sports. Within government, there have certainly been efforts to increase the amount of financing or resources flowing to women's sport. Those decisions ultimately happen within every organization. For instance, the federal government in 2018, as part of Budget 2018, announced $30 million in support for gender equity with a goal of achieving gender equality at all levels of sport by 2035. Our view is that this was an excellent start, but it's certainly not enough to correct the historical imbalances in investment and support throughout the sport system. We are currently advocating for follow-on funding to support continued efforts towards gender equity in the sport system.

[Peter Julian, NDP, New Westminster—Burnaby, BC]

Thank you for those figures. It's stunning to me that in 2022 we're still talking about women's sports getting 4% of the sponsorship dollars. That stuns me. After all the successes of women's team sports and our women athletes, that's very surprising, so thank you for that.

I have a lot of questions, so I'll move on to Ms. Bollenbach about the Special Olympics. I'm a strong supporter and sponsor of local Special Olympians.

You talked about the contingency budget where you don't receive the money that is absolutely essential to your operations, and you talked about cancelling some programs. I'd be interested in knowing to what extent that will have an impact on Special Olympians.

[Sharon Bollenbach]

What we tried to do, so that there wouldn't any programs completely 100% cut, for lack of a better term, is that we sort of shaved some off the top of a number of different programs in that $1.8 million. We are still getting funded by Sport Canada. That $1.8 million was incremental funding awarded to us four years ago. It has increased each year, and this particular year we're at $3.8 million. Starting in April, that incremental funding will go down to $2 million. That's where we get to that gap of $1.8 million.

What we'd be looking at doing is taking a little bit off of a number of programs that we do, so I spoke to the direct grassroots delivery of programs. A little bit would come off of volunteers and volunteer development, and a bit off competition. There are a number of areas that would be impacted, and we would just have to sort of pull back on some of those funds going out to our provincial territorial chapters where that money really hits at the grassroots community level.

[Peter Julian, NDP, New Westminster—Burnaby, BC]

Thank you very much for that.

As I have many questions, I'll move on to Ms. Badzak and Ms. Falconer.

When we talk about our arts museum sector, what are the impacts of not receiving the supports that are so vital across the country? Do you anticipate potential closures of some of our arts museums? What do you see as the consequences?

[Alexandra Badzak]

Shall I start, Shelley—