Canadian Heritage committee  I think we've been able to bring that issue forward and remind Canadians of that. It may not have been one of the five big priorities, but there were other promises made. Our strategy has been to focus on the need for new museum policy. We haven't been really focussing on the cuts, for example.

Canadian Heritage committee  Do you mean in terms of developing a new museum policy? I think you've got a representative sample here and in the hearings that you've already undertaken. We recognize that a lot of work has been done by this committee. You've had representatives here from several railway museums, which are very unique institutions.

Canadian Heritage committee  I really want to reiterate that we've come together with a pretty solid view. If anything, you may want to consider looking at some of the international models that exist. In the United States, for example, there is a program called Save America's Treasures, which is largely a public-private model.

Canadian Heritage committee  We met with the Minister of Canadian Heritage last Monday, October 30. We had a meeting that was scheduled for 30 minutes. It went on for over one hour. It was a very interesting, frank, small, intimate meeting, and we are very encouraged. Of course, the minister did not make a firm commitment.

Canadian Heritage committee  Yes. In fact, in 1984, I think it was, the Applebaum-Hébert report, which was a major task force that looked at funding of the arts in Canada as a whole, recommended in the museum case the establishment of a heritage council similar to the Canada Council. This is where you would focus programs, not just for museums but for libraries, archives, historic places, a variety of different types of programs.

Canadian Heritage committee  In the case of the Canadian Museums Association, the answer is yes, we do receive funding from the department, both sustaining and project money, and we raise a fair amount of money independently. We've had no indication of cuts. In fact, on how the $2.4 million cuts are going to be applied, we really are as much in the dark as you are.

Canadian Heritage committee  We have no indication either way.

Canadian Heritage committee  As I said, I've been the executive director for a little while, and the issue of funding really started in the early 1980s when the cuts started happening. At that point, we had regional conservation centres, and they were closed. We had regional national museums--for example, the museum in Saint-Constant was recognized as a specialized entity because of the quality of the collection.

Canadian Heritage committee  If I may, first of all, we don't really have those figures. When we heard evidence presented at this committee that the museum assistance program was underspent, we were surprised and shocked. We can assure you that many more museums are applying for funding than is available. We can assure you that those museums are very sophisticated in how they make applications.

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Je voudrais dire un gros merci à vous, monsieur le président, and to all of the members of the committee. I'm not going to read our brief to you. You have a copy of it. Instead I'd rather just focus on a couple of points and some of the recommendations. The brief that we've submitted I think is quite comprehensive.

Finance committee  We anticipate that there will be staff layoffs, that there will be closures, that there will be fewer exhibitions, and I think most importantly that our heritage will be simply neglected and will continue to crumble and disappear.

Finance committee  It's approximately $30 million per year, in total. That would include the museums assistance program, which is the one we've been largely referring to. It's the principal funding program. There are a variety of smaller programs. For example, there are programs on youth employment, there are technology programs--there's something called the Virtual Museum.

Finance committee  It's the main program. This is the program that has been designed for museums to serve museums for being museums, as opposed to museums applying to other programs, which of course they do--you know, literacy development and other areas of that nature.

Finance committee  Yes. It never provided operating support, much to our chagrin, but it did provide valuable project support. I have a list here of grants that were made in the past year. I haven't actually calculated all of this, but on average, these are grants of $30,000, $40,000, to places such as the Nova Scotia Museum, various first nations groups in Nunavut, the Art Gallery of Hamilton, the Red Lake District Museum and Archives, Musée d'art de Joliette, and so on.

Finance committee  We work very closely with all political parties.