Canadian Heritage committee  I'll just make a short remark that goes to exchanges with rural communities. Right now what I can see, even as an artist myself, is that one of the main problems we have is isolation. As artists, we rarely see what happens on our doorstep, far less in other regions or in other studios.

Canadian Heritage committee  Good morning. My name is Alexandre Fortin. I am vice-president of the board of directors of Regroupement Pied Carré. We are a non-profit organization that rents out artist studios over four floors in a specific pre-industrial building in Montreal in the Mile End neighbourhood. We have 410 artists and artisans of different kinds, micro businesses, visual artists, dance groups, and various such organizations.