That's what we've requested.
Evidence of meeting #9 for Canadian Heritage in the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was funding.
Evidence of meeting #9 for Canadian Heritage in the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was funding.
5:05 p.m.
Executive Director, Canadian Museums Association
That's what we've requested.
5:05 p.m.
Liberal
Francis Scarpaleggia Liberal Lac-Saint-Louis, QC
Actually, that seems a little modest. I thought it would be much greater than that.
5:05 p.m.
Executive Director, Canadian Museums Association
We're a very modest organization.
5:05 p.m.
Liberal
5:05 p.m.
Liberal
Francis Scarpaleggia Liberal Lac-Saint-Louis, QC
I'm trying to understand what museums provincial governments should be funding and what museums the federal government should be funding. Is there any kind of rationale for having one level of government fund certain museums and other levels of government—municipal or federal—fund other museums?
5:05 p.m.
Executive Director, Canadian Museums Association
Of course, the federal government does fund the very excellent national museums—
5:05 p.m.
Executive Director, Canadian Museums Association
—here in Ottawa, and the provincial governments generally have their provincial institutions.
Culture, as you know, is not an area that is defined in the BNA Act. It's an area of jurisdiction for both. The provinces were consulted on this museum policy and unanimously approved it last September.
It's a difficult area in which to say—
5:05 p.m.
Liberal
5:05 p.m.
Executive Director, Canadian Museums Association
—A, B, C is federal, and D, E, F.... I think the important thing is that there is an agreement and that there is complementarity in how it's done.
What we're also—
5:05 p.m.
Executive Director, Canadian Museums Association
Excuse me, just one last point I wanted to make is that an investment by the federal government shows leadership, and the provinces are starting to respond. They've looked at the museum policy. The Province of Nova Scotia has, as a result, started a new museum policy. The Yukon has started one. We're aware that Newfoundland is looking at it, and Saskatchewan.
This is wonderful. It shows leadership on behalf of—
5:05 p.m.
Liberal
Francis Scarpaleggia Liberal Lac-Saint-Louis, QC
There's a museum in Delson--the Canadian Railway Museum.
5:05 p.m.
Liberal
Francis Scarpaleggia Liberal Lac-Saint-Louis, QC
Is it Saint-Constant?
It's probably an outdoor museum, is it not? So the leaky roofs and so on wouldn't be a preoccupation. What are their specific problems? I've had some representations from people involved with that museum. While I haven't gotten into the detail yet, I have a sense that all is not right. Maybe you could....
5:05 p.m.
Executive Director, Canadian Museums Association
I've been in my job for 25 years, so I'm long in the tooth on some of the history here.
Once upon a time, that was considered a national institution. We had a program, which is now dead, and it was called national specialized museums--
5:05 p.m.
Executive Director, Canadian Museums Association
--and Delson was recognized as the national collection for railways in Canada. It received some operating support--I'm going to say it was roughly $100,000, or something like that, per year. Gone. History. Toast. The program was cancelled and the funding was cut. The same thing happened with the Maritime Museum. There were a series of specialized institutions.
So they receive no extraordinary support from the federal government. They are an excellent example of the type of institution we're talking about. They would get project funding: they might get money to help with the roof; they might get money to help with the collections and so on.
But in all cases, the amount of money that goes from the federal government to museums is a very small percentage--if any percentage at all.
5:05 p.m.
Liberal
Francis Scarpaleggia Liberal Lac-Saint-Louis, QC
Given that it's dealing with a major part of our Canadian heritage, namely the railway, I would think their needs should be looked at more closely.
Mr. Chair, at some point, I'd like to recommend that they be called to appear in the fall.
Thank you.
5:05 p.m.
Executive Director, Canadian Museums Association
If I may, I have one last point on the federal-provincial role. Our perspective is that all the museums and all the collections across Canada--whether it's the Mary March Museum in Newfoundland, or Delson, or the one in Duncan, British Columbia--are our national fabric.
Our point of view is that our stories start at the grassroots and go up; it's not from the top going down. Sometimes we hear the stories--the big man stories that start at the top, that you have to be a prime minister or something, or that you have to be famous and national. Our perspective is much broader. The provincial museum associations all agree with us on that perspective.
5:05 p.m.
Director, Allen Sapp Gallery
I would like to make one note very quickly here. This issue of jurisdiction is seriously problematic. Battleford, Saskatchewan, was the legislative seat for the Northwest Territories at the turn of the century. For years it was in debate as to who should own, who should look after that building. There was a little historical society trying to resurrect that, but there was no provincial, no federal, and no territorial government that said they would come to bat for the group. It burned down two years ago. It's gone.
Part of the problem we're faced with is that this is our history, collectively, but we don't have people stepping up to the bat, except for the little historical societies in towns of 2,000 people.
