Bill C-7 (Historical)

Canadian Museum of History Act

An Act to amend the Museums Act in order to establish the Canadian Museum of History and to make consequential amendments to other Acts

This enactment amends the Museums Act to establish a corporation called the Canadian Museum of History that replaces the Canadian Museum of Civilization. It also sets out the purpose, capacity and powers of the Canadian Museum of History and makes consequential amendments to other Acts.

Third reading

[Mathieu Ravignat, NDP, Pontiac, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I fail to see the relevance to this particular debate of the member's comments. I would encourage him to be a bit more focused.

[The Deputy Speaker, Joe Comartin]

The issue of relevance, of course, is debated in the House on a regular basis. It has had a very wide interpretation. I think the member is still within the range, although I would caution the member that he is close to exceeding his time, in terms of responding, so could he wrap up the answer quickly, please.

[Terence Young, Conservative, Oakville, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I come from Oakville. Recently, the Government of Canada made an investment in the plant in Oakville, in a partnership with Ford of Canada and with Unifor, which is a very progressive private sector union. It is a terrific agreement that will reassure 3,000 jobs in Oakville for 10 years. That is a union that represents its members

[Ted Hsu, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Mr. Speaker, as I was growing up here in Canada, my parents tried to teach me a bit of history from my Chinese heritage. One of the things I learned is that in certain centuries in the past, China spent too much time looking inwards and not looking outwards, and really missed an opportunity to understand where its place was in the world and where its place should be in the world. That was not good, and we have centuries of Chinese history to prove that.

My question for the member is actually an economic question. We are talking about spending $25 million here. There is some question as to whether this changing of the focus of the museum and the opportunity costs represented by spending that $25 million is really worth it. Is it really worth it to spend $25 million on something that, in my experience, in Chinese history, did not work out so well; that is, focusing inwards and not looking outwards to the rest of the world?

[Terence Young, Conservative, Oakville, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I do not know if the member was in the House when I was speaking. It is very clear that the mandate of the museum is to have a focus on Canadian history and a Canadian view of history, but the international exhibitions will still go on. No one is going to ignore those. Those will still happen. I just made mention earlier of looking at the Greeks and Greek history in 2015.

Is it worth $25 million for Canadians to learn a Canadian perspective of history in their national capital, at a one-time charge? Yes, it most certainly is.

[James Bezan, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my friend from Oakville for his great presentation today.

Just last month, I met with the Association of Manitoba Museums. It told me that it is excited about having the Canadian museum of history and the sharing artifacts that is now going to be available to museums across Canada, especially in rural Manitoba and rural areas. It is very important to have the museum.

I would like to ask the member if he would mind talking about how this is also important to his area of Ontario.

[Terence Young, Conservative, Oakville, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it will be important for Oakville. We have several small museums in Oakville. What happens is that the membership starts to go down when people who live in the community and visitors have seen their displays and what they are showing.

However, part of the bill would be to provide insurance indemnity so that the valuable treasures that exist in the Canadian museum of history would be able to travel and be insured against a loss, and be spread right across Canada to 2,500 different institutions. We could literally stay in our communities and see a different display perhaps every two or three months or at different times of the year and not have to travel to Ottawa. All Canadians could access these treasures.

[Patrick Brown, Conservative, Barrie, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I too would applaud the member for Oakville for his excellent speech supporting this bill. However, what I think might be indicative of the NDP's confusion on issues is the mistake of the member for Oakville being a teenager. I would politely disagree with that, despite being a big fan of his.

I am pleased to speak in support of Bill C-7, which would create the Canadian museum of history. Bill C-7 is very short. It is very clear and specific. It makes a set of targeted amendments to the Museums Act to allow the Canadian Museum of Civilization to transform into the Canadian museum of history.

The creation of the Canadian museum of history would not be an isolated act. It would be one step in the larger government strategy in support of our history and the need to increase our knowledge and appreciation of it. That strategy did not start with this bill and the decision to create a new museum. Our Conservative government has been making efforts to close gaps in how Canada's national museums share Canada's incredible story.

In 2008, we created the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, in Winnipeg, and in 2010 the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21, in Halifax. The government recognized the need for these stories to be presented across the country. These were the first national museums to be established outside of the national capital region.

The 2011 speech from the throne observed that Canadians are united by core values, a shared history and a sense of common purpose. In that speech, our Conservative government pledged to join Canadians in celebrating our heritage. The 2013 speech from the throne reinforced this theme. The government's strategy is underlined by the priority it is giving to nation-building milestones on the road to our 150th birthday in 2017.

Our Conservative government's efforts began, as we know, with the commemoration of the bicentennial of the War of 1812, as a way of increasing the awareness of the influence that this conflict had on our nation. Other important anniversaries and milestones in the years approaching Canada's 150th anniversary have been identified and will also be commemorated. On the War of 1812, I remember that having that moment to recognize our history was tremendously appreciated across Canada. I remember the celebration we had in Barrie for the War of 1812 and how the community came out to recognize that important milestone. A lot of young people in our community learnt a huge amount about it through that commemoration.

Other events we will be commemorating in 2013 and 2014 include the 100th anniversary of Canada's first Arctic expedition, the 150th anniversaries of the Charlottetown and Quebec conferences, the 100th anniversary of the First World War, the 75th anniversary of the Second World War, and the 200th birthday of Sir John A. Macdonald. I know the member for York—Simcoe is not in the House right now, but I know he would be a big fan of that particular celebration.

On June 11, the Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages announced a range of further measures in support of the government's history strategy. I would like to take a moment to describe a few of these. First, the Canada history fund will connect Canadian young people to their history in a number of ways, including through the Government of Canada's history awards, which honour outstanding students and teachers who show an interest in celebrating Canadian history.

We have some amazing teachers across this country who have done a lot to inspire young Canadians about our history. I think of Clint Lovell from Eastview, in Barrie, in the east end of my riding, who was recognized with an award two years ago in Ottawa. That inspired the community. It highlights people who throw their heart into Canadian history. I was pleased to see that recognition, and we certainly need to continue that type of recognition of some of our incredible educators.

Through the Canada history fund, the government has also partnered with the Historica-Dominion Institute, both to create new heritage minutes and to allow more veterans and serving soldiers to connect with students in their classrooms.

The second measure is a range of existing programs that have been strengthened to improve access to funding for museums and youth groups that wish to promote Canadian history in their local communities. For example, there is the exchanges Canada program that provides young Canadians with more opportunities to take part in history themed events. The Canada book fund encourages collective projects, with a focus on promoting Canadian history titles. The Canada periodical fund, through the business innovation and collection initiatives components, supports the promotion of history magazines and history content. The Virtual Museum of Canada funds 2017 online exhibits and podcasts, and provides new historical content for teachers and students.

Finally, beginning this year, we will mark the first Canada History Week, from July 1 to 7, which is an opportunity for Canadians to learn more about their history through local and national activities and events.

The creation of the Canadian museum of history is a significant part of this multi-faceted strategy to explore and preserve our history and increase Canadians' knowledge, understanding and appreciation of it. Indeed, Bill C-7 is but one aspect of this exciting initiative.

We know that in addition to the creation of the museum, a network of history museums in Canada is being formed. Led by the Canadian museum of history, museums would work together to share Canada's stories, share artifacts that are the touchstones of those stories, bring history exhibitions from museums across Canada to the national museum, and create opportunities specifically for small museums to borrow artifacts from that national collection.

We all have museums in our regions that would love this opportunity. I can think of the Simcoe County Museum, just north of Barrie, in the riding of Simcoe—Grey, and that would be tremendously appreciated by the broader Simcoe County community.

To help make this happen, the museum assistance program would support museums, including small museums that wish to borrow objects from exhibitions in the national collection of the Canadian museum of history. We understand that the cost of shipping and insuring artifacts is often too much for small museums. We want to help these museums showcase the national collection across the country, which is why we changed the museums assistance program.

The museum assistance program would make it easier for institutions to create and share history exhibits, by eliminating the requirement for exhibits to travel outside their province or territory of origin. We recognize that local and provincial history is an important part of our broader national story. It is vital to give a voice to these stories. We believe that by moving the interprovincial requirement for exhibition circulation, more exhibitions would be shared, and the Canadian story would be better understood.

These are exciting initiatives, and we hope their impact will be felt by Canadians for generations to come. The creation of the Canadian museum of history, through Bill C-7, is an important part of this broader history strategy.

I urge all members in the House to support Bill C-7 and efforts being made within and outside government to preserve and promote Canada's history. It really is an incredible story.

[Denis Blanchette, NDP, Louis-Hébert, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his presentation.

The people who speak on behalf of the government keep talking about the opportunity for exchanging artifacts, touring exhibits and all that. However, this is the same government that turfed the archeologists who were responsible for the artifacts being discovered. In Quebec City alone, 43 people were let go. What is more, the artifacts are not being stored properly. They will be centralized and no one will be able to catalogue them because the people who used to do that were shown the door.

My question is, how will Canadians be able to see the artifacts that would have been discovered and that would have added to our knowledge of Canada's history?

[Patrick Brown, Conservative, Barrie, ON]

Mr. Speaker, obviously the member opposite is confused on the aspects of the bill. Bill C-7 would invest $25 million to preserve Canadian artifacts and to having this museum.

I find it surprising that the previous NDP questioner complained about spending too much money, and now this member is saying we are not spending enough money. The NDP needs to decide on the reason they do not support this bill because they cannot change their attacks within two minutes. It seems a little inconsistent and, unfortunately, very typical of the NDP.

[James Moore, Conservative, Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, it has been a very long road to get to this point, but we are finally voting on the final passage of this legislation. With the bit of time I have, I want to thank a few people who have allowed this moment to come.

First, I thank all the provinces in this country. The provinces and territories across all political boundaries, Liberal, NDP, Conservative, have all stepped forward and said they support this legislation and want to see it passed.

I also thank the mayors of Ottawa and Gatineau who have also come forward to support this legislation. Douglas Cardinal, who was the original architect of the Museum of Civilization, is supporting this. I thank him for his support as well.

I thank all of Canada's history organizations and societies across the country who have endorsed this legislation and want this museum to be created. I thank the Canadian Museums Association, which has helped build a network to make this possible, for the great work it has put in to building the family of museums across the country that are supporting this legislation.

I also thank historians Jack Granatstein, Richard Gwyn, Charlotte Gray, and others, who are supporting this legislation, putting partisanship aside, and who recognize that getting a $25 million investment for Canada's largest museum will be great for Canada's history and the celebration of our 150th birthday.

In a non-partisan way, I thank all those who took the time to support this legislation and to make it happen. It will be a very great day when this museum is reborn as the Canadian museum of history.

[The Deputy Speaker, Joe Comartin]

I am not sure if that was either a question or a comment, but does the member for Barrie want to respond?

[Patrick Brown, Conservative, Barrie, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it has been great to have the leadership of the Minister of Industry, specifically in his previous capacity as Minister of Canadian Heritage.

His passion for Canada's history has been incredible. Canada has benefited from his passion, and it is great to see the results with this wonderful bill.

[Pierre Jacob, NDP, Brome—Missisquoi, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I want to ask my hon. colleague if his government is seriously and truly interested in history.

Do the Conservatives understand the importance of research, archives and local initiatives, or are they only interested in celebrations, jubilees, photo ops and ribbon cutting?

[Patrick Brown, Conservative, Barrie, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I will share a quote from one of Canada's most renowned historians, Michael Bliss, who said, “It is very exciting that Canada's major museum will now explicitly focus on Canada's history”.

This government has shown again and again that we are proud of our history in Canada. I am completely perplexed as to why the NDP cannot support a bill that is celebrating Canada.