Canadian Heritage Committee on Feb. 12th, 2026

[The Chair, Liberal, Lisa Hepfner]

I call this meeting to order.

We are gathered here for the 24th meeting of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage.

Before we begin, I ask all participants to please read the guidelines written on the updated cards on your table in front of you. These are measures in place to prevent audio incidents and protect the health and safety of all participants, including our interpreters. You will notice a QR code, which links to a video should you need more information.

Please wait until I recognize you by name before you speak. All comments should be addressed through the chair.

Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2) and the motion adopted by the committee on Monday, November 17, 2025, the committee is meeting to study the subject matter of supplementary estimates (B), 2025-26. We have vote 1b under the Canadian Museum for Human Rights; vote 1b under the Canadian Museum of History; vote 1b under the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21; votes 1b and 5b under the Canadian Museum of Nature; vote 1b under the Department of Canadian Heritage; vote 1b under the National Film Board; vote 1b under the National Gallery of Canada; vote 1b under the National Museum of Science and Technology; vote 1b under Telefilm Canada; and vote 1b under The National Battlefields Commission.

Appearing with us this morning, we have the Honourable Marc Miller, Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture and Minister responsible for Official Languages.

Minister, you're here with us until 9:15, I understand. I will give you five minutes for opening remarks, and then I'll open the floor to members for questions.

It's over to you.

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture and Minister responsible for Official Languages]

Thank you, Madam Chair and committee members.

I want to acknowledge that we are here today on the traditional territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe people.

I'm really happy to be appearing before you.

As Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture and Minister responsible for Official Languages, it is my job, above all else, to protect and promote who we are as Canadians.

We face a rapidly changing world—a world that has presented and will continue to present many new and difficult challenges. As we've repeatedly seen, what we need fundamentally to address those challenges is unity.

It requires us to stand together as Canadians to protect our cultural sovereignty and our ability to tell our own stories, celebrate our languages, importantly, and pass on a vibrant culture and heritage to the future generations. It's why our government is taking action to deliver investments where they're needed most.

Investing in the arts and culture is a smart economic policy. Canada's arts and culture sector contributes over $130 billion to our economy, including $65 billion directly. It supports, directly or indirectly, more than one million jobs. Every federal dollar invested generates up to $29 in economic activity.

However, the value of arts and culture is much more than economic. In a world increasingly shaped by misinformation, these investments seek to protect the democratic values we hold dear. They seek to ensure that Canadians have access to reliable sources of information and are reflected in the stories they see, hear and read. While Canada is a vast and diverse country, arts and culture has the unique power to bring us together. The hundreds of local media organizations, festivals and cultural programs we support every year help connect our communities.

I'm pleased to note that three-quarters of Canadians believe that attending such arts and culture events deepens their connection to our country.

As part of the 2025-26 supplementary estimates (B), Canadian Heritage received an additional $120.7 million in funding. The majority of this funding will go towards grants and contributions, enabling us to strengthen Canadian cultural institutions and sustain Canada's exceptional cultural scene, while also supporting both elite and grassroots sports.

This includes more funding for the Canada media fund to better support Canadian creators and producers. It also provides funding for an extension of the special measures for journalism component of the Canadian periodical fund to support journalism and access to local news. This will ensure that Canadians have access to local and timely information from diverse sources, reflecting their community needs and interests.

The sport support program will receive additional funding as well to advance diversity and gender equality within the Canadian sport system. We're also investing more through Sport Integrity Canada, ensuring that athletes and coaches across the country can train and compete in safe and inclusive environments.

In addition, we're funding arts and heritage activities that matter deeply to local communities, such as new exhibits for the Montreal Holocaust Museum, upgrades to cultural infrastructure like Richmond's Gateway Theatre in B.C., and the fallen firefighters memorial project in Whitby.

A number of Canadian Heritage portfolio organizations received increased funding totalling $29.9 million through the supplementary estimates. This funding will support our national museums, as well as the operational requirements of key cultural institutions, including the National Battlefields Commission, the National Film Board and Telefilm Canada.

Finally, we are very pleased to renew the Canada Strong pass for summer 2026. This is a signature commitment of our government, helping families choose and discover Canada, while reducing costs for families. This initiative was a great success last summer, in particular during the holiday season, attracting two million visits in participating museums. That includes half a million—500,000—children who enjoyed free admission and 115,000 youth who benefited from discounted rates.

In moments of change, what defines us matters more than ever. Canada's strength will come from our ability to tell our own stories with openness, honesty and confidence. By investing in our culture and choosing unity, we ensure that the story continues to be written by Canadians for Canadians and shared proudly with the world.

Thank you for your attention.

I look forward to answering your questions.

[The Chair, Liberal, Lisa Hepfner]

Thank you.

I failed to introduce our witnesses from the department this morning. We have Francis Bilodeau, deputy minister; Andrew Brown, associate deputy minister; Véronique Côté, chief financial officer; Blair McMurren, assistant deputy minister, cultural affairs; and Joëlle Montminy, senior assistant deputy minister, cultural affairs.

Welcome to all of you. I understand you're with us for the full two hours, and we appreciate your attendance.

I'll now turn the floor over to Mrs. Thomas for six minutes, please.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Thank you.

Thank you, Minister.

My first question for you is about your recent statement, after becoming minister, that part of the responsibility of CBC is to foster what you called “social cohesion”. Can you explain for the committee what you meant by social cohesion? The reason I ask is that experienced journalists have stated that these words or this term is often used by the People's Republic of China to mean state control and zero tolerance for challenges. That seems counter to the values that we hold here in Canada, and so I'm curious as to what you meant by social cohesion.

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

I think that, in the age of intense disinformation that we're all living through, there is less social cohesion as falsities are propagated through media sources, both legitimate and illegitimate. Integral to a healthy democracy.... Indeed, the fourth pillar of our democracy is a healthy media ecosystem that exercises, rightly, its freedom of expression. Again, integral to that is a state-financed—not state-controlled—public media. That is CBC/Radio-Canada. Indeed, the CBC's mandate is ferociously independent, and we should all defend that, whether they are saying good or bad things about us.

When there is a lack of support for a public broadcaster, I think that contributes to the spread of disinformation, and social cohesion is therefore affected. It's not about any sort of command and control of the media system that you may see in other countries, but indeed it is part of, and integral to, a healthy democracy.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

What is social cohesion?

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

Social cohesion is the ability of people to trust their institutions, to not feel like society is falling apart, but that we are all living together and able to exercise the rights, in the case of Canada, that define us—freedom, as enshrined in the Charter of Rights.

I could go on beyond the time allotted for you to discuss this, Ms. Thomas, but I think we both agree as to what it is.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

I think the committee needed to hear from your mouth what it was. One of the things that you said in your statement was that it's a trust in institutions, and that Canadians should be able to place their trust in the media. In particular, you mentioned the public broadcaster, the CBC.

Interestingly enough, just a couple of weeks ago, there was a media summit that was hosted in Vancouver. At that summit, from the stage just before the Prime Minister took it, the president of the Canadian Media Producers Association said, “Prime Minister, know that every person in this room and the 180,000 people who work in this industry have your back, just as we know that you have ours”.

Minister, this is from a media organization in a room full of media folks, saying directly to the Prime Minister, “[we] have your back, just as we know that you have ours”. Minister, that's not the role of the media. The role of the media is not to have the back of the Prime Minister and to be able to tell the story that the government wants told. The role of the media is to be truthful in storytelling, to report the news as Canadians deserve to have it told. When a statement like this is made, it chips away at the credibility of media, and it actually distorts the trust of Canadians, which you just spoke about as being important.

What do you make of that?

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

What I make of your statement, Ms. Thomas, is that you're deeply incorrect in the premise. First of all, the event itself took place in Ottawa. It was not members.... It wasn't CTV or CBC. It was producers of shows, and those two executives....

Let's correct the record, because it's deeply flawed.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

With all due respect, let's correct the record. It was news as well. In fact, the head of the CBC was one of the key speakers at this event.

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

What was said at the event, Ms. Thomas, by producers of shows like Heated Rivalry, which was discussed at length, was that in the trade negotiations, these people who are defending Canadian content had the Prime Minister's back.

It wasn't CBC or independent journalists who were saying this. That is false.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Their job, with all due respect, Minister, is to report on those trade negotiations. If you're reporting on those trade negotiations, you just simply report the facts. You don't have the Prime Minister's back.

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

The job of these people is to make shows—

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

That's an illegitimate use of media.

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

—like with puppets. These are producers. They make shows. It wasn't journalism.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Minister, you're misleading the committee. It was not just producers. That was part of it, but—

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

The two speakers were the head of an organization that talks about media producing—producers in a heated negotiation with the U.S.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

These are folks who are receiving government dollars, who are producing material that is making it out to the Canadian public. They are telling stories, and they are telling the Prime Minister, “[We] have your back, just as...you have ours.”

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

They were telling the Prime Minister, in the context of being under threat from U.S. content coming into Canada, that they want to protect the pillar of our cultural identity, which is Canadian content. That's all they were saying.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

They tell stories.

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

I think you're wrong, and I think you know it.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Their job is to tell stories, so how are they going to tell stories to protect the Prime Minister's back?

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

They want support, financially, to be able to tell stories about Canadian identity—whether it's good or bad about the Prime Minister.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

However, they're saying they also have the Prime Minister's back, so how are they going to have his back?

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

I think you're making this up. I really think this is something.... You're looking for something where there is not an issue.