Official Languages Committee on Nov. 22nd, 2012

[Tyrone Benskin, NDP, Jeanne-Le Ber, QC]

I've been a very strong proponent, probably ad nauseam, of the idea that linguistic duality goes far beyond language. Language is a representation of a culture. Most of the issues that linguistic minority communities are facing are from a fear of losing their culture. The expression of that culture is through language.

I'm just wondering, from both parties, in regard to preserving, recognizing, and promoting that culture in terms of the ONF, and in regard to the creation and perpetuation of that minority language culture specifically in Quebec but also outside Quebec, represented by the FCCF, what are your feelings on that?

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Very briefly.

[Guy Rodgers]

It's a hard question to answer very briefly, but to summarize it, there's a debate going on in Quebec and in Montreal about the survival of French on the island of Montreal. There are two ways of interpreting this situation. One is that the problem is there are too many people who don't have French as their mother tongue or the language used at home. This is an extremely divisive counterproductive argument.

If you look at someone like Jim Corcoran, who cares what language he speaks at home? He sings in French, and he works in French. The argument should be about public language, the shared language. We can all learn French. For social peace in linguistic duality in Quebec, emphasize French as a shared language and forget about the language people speak in the privacy of their bedrooms. I think Pierre Trudeau had something to say about that a few years ago.

Once that argument is clear, then a way forward is possible, but we're not quite through that debate yet.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Thank you.

Monsieur Gourde.

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Lotbinière—Chutes-de-la-Chaudière, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I will be sharing my time with Ms. Bateman to give other committee members a chance to ask questions.

I want to thank our witnesses for being with us today. My first question is for the National Film Board officials.

I believe the NFB could play a major and decisive role in the 150th anniversary celebrations with its documentaries and films.

How will you go about promoting or showcasing the country's linguistic duality and its origins?

[Claude Joli-Coeur]

The NFB uses its distribution tools to ensure it has a presence across all levels of society; not only do we use the Internet and television, but we also have community-based screenings and relationships with schools. One of our offerings, Campus, which I referred to earlier, is truly a tool that can make our collection accessible to all Canadian students.

This web of distribution tools is the key to our success in terms of connecting with as many Canadians as possible.

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Lotbinière—Chutes-de-la-Chaudière, QC]

Will the content of your films and documentaries reflect our history, the English-French duality and vice versa, our provinces and territories?

Will you use the anniversary celebrations to showcase our history?

[Claude Joli-Coeur]

It is important to know that the NFB has production centres across the country. We have locations in St. John, Halifax, Moncton, Montreal, Toronto, Edmonton, Saskatoon and Vancouver. We have producers all over the country. The films we produce around the country reflect the collective Canadian reality.

In short, the subject matter dealt with is really the key to making that happen. We won't set out specifically to make a film about history. What we do is focus on a variety of subjects in certain communities, enabling us to build that historical corpus. That is the beauty of our collection of 13,000 films. It gives us the ability to compile works by event. We have a tremendous number of productions with a historical dimension that allow us to achieve that objective. The key is through the variety of our production content.

Every year, we produce a hundred or so works on a range of subjects affecting Canadians, subjects not normally dealt with by the private sector.

One approach taken by the NFB, as a public producer, is to really target works that the private sector could not create. That means more challenging works with less commercial appeal that matter to Canadians nevertheless.

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Lotbinière—Chutes-de-la-Chaudière, QC]

Thank you.

I will now turn it over to my colleague.

[Joyce Bateman, Conservative, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

Thank you, Mr. Gourde.

Thank you to our witnesses.

Thank you all very much for being here.

Mr. Joli-Coeur, you said in your presentation that supporting linguistic duality and official language minority communities was a priority. You mentioned the Rendez-vous de la francophonie event.

Your colleague, Mr. Rodgers, talked about a specific project involving English-speaking artists in Quebec, a project I am very interested in.

How would Mr. Rodgers go about making a request to the NFB?

[Claude Joli-Coeur]

This year, as part of our bilateral meetings with minority group organizations, we met with Quebec's English-Language Arts Network, and we started examining ways we could work together.

The real way to get the ball rolling is to contact our producers. We have two English-language production centres in Montreal, with producers who focus solely on English-language content. Collaborating with them is the way to make those projects happen.

Those are things we discussed in general terms and could examine in greater detail. We have English-language producers in Montreal who could work on specific projects like that.

[Joyce Bateman, Conservative, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

Because it is a Canadian story.

[Claude Joli-Coeur]

Precisely.

[Joyce Bateman, Conservative, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

Usually, it's the opposite, so I find it fascinating.

Do I have time left?

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

A minute.

[Joyce Bateman, Conservative, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

I have a minute left.

The NFB's mandate covers the entire country. Do you have plans to take part in festivals, for example?

We have the Gimli Film Festival.

Are you planning to have a presence at such festivals?

[Claude Joli-Coeur]

The director of Gimli Film Festival is now on our board of trustees.

[Joyce Bateman, Conservative, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

How terrific. This is Canada.

[Claude Joli-Coeur]

Absolutely.

Our films are currently seen at a wide variety of festivals. As an example, last week was the FICFA, the festival in Moncton of the francophonie. We had 10 films there. That's something we do widely across the country.

[Joyce Bateman, Conservative, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

As for the upcoming celebrations—

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Thank you, Ms. Bateman. Your time is up.

[Claude Joli-Coeur]

Yes is what the answer would be.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Thank you.

We won't have enough time to continue the meeting after the vote, so we are going to end there.

Thank you to our witnesses for their remarks.

Meeting adjourned.