Good morning, Mr. Chair and honourable committee members.
I will be making my presentation in French.
First of all, I want to thank you for inviting me to take part in today's meeting. I am here as a museologist and General Manager of the Musée des Abénakis, Quebec's first aboriginal museum, founded in 1965 and located on the Odanak Indian reserve in the Centre-du-Québec region. I also want to mention that I am the first non-aboriginal manager that this first aboriginal museum has had since its inception. I would like to make a few observations and comments on the role of small museums in the celebrations for Canada's 150th anniversary and on the ways that can be considered for facilitating their involvement in that very important event.
But first of all, allow me to present the Musée des Abénakis, a small museum similar to most of the 2,000 members of the Canadian Museums Association. The Musée des Abénakis, which is a private institution administered by the Société historique d'Odanak, an independent non-profit organization of the Odanak band council, is located in a small aboriginal community of 400 members. We receive 7,000 visitors every year from 90% of the regions of Quebec and from Canada.
The Musée des Abénakis conserves the knowledge, know-how and traditions of the Abenaki nation and passes them on to future generations. Its primary mission is to engage in and develop a viable constructive dialogue between Abenaki culture and the members of the community and between aboriginal culture and the museum's visitors.
The Musée des Abénakis is also interested in the experience and achievements of the other aboriginal nations of Quebec and Canada and also feels it has a mandate to promote the creative works of contemporary aboriginal artists. The museum has five full-time employees, including three Abenaki from the community. During the summer, various employability assistance programs, such as Young Canada Works, help us hire additional workers, mostly members of the Abenaki first nation.
The museum has some 20 volunteers who take part in our cultural and funding activities, as well as 150 members.
Our collections comprise nearly 8,000 archeological and ethnological objects and works of art. Through a three-year expansion and renovation program started in 2003, we have established museum reserves in accordance with standards guaranteeing optimum conservation of artefacts and additional exhibition areas.
The Musée des Abénakis is one of the 123 Quebec museums recognized and supported by the Quebec government's department of culture, communication and the status of women. As a result, we receive recurring operating assistance representing 24% of our total revenue. That amount, which has been the same for more than 20 years, is inadequate to support the institution's operation. Our other revenue sources are museum admissions, museum store sales, donations and various federal and provincial government ad hoc project grants.
In 2011, a $198,000 contribution from the Aboriginal Heritage component of Canadian Heritage's Museums Assistance Program was granted to us for a major archeological research project entitled, Fort Odanak: the past revisited. This is a three-year project, the purpose of which is to locate a fortified village built in 1704 and to establish better documentation on land use during the period when first contact was made with the aboriginal population. Once the project is finished, we will share our research results with Canadians through various development programs: a semi-permanent and virtual exhibition and educational and cultural programs. Without this generous contribution by Canadian Heritage, it would not be possible to share an important segment of Canadian history.
Other national projects have also been made possible through financial assistance from Canadian Heritage: two virtual exhibitions as part of the community memories program and a project to digitize and document our collections.
Although our revenues have risen in the past three years, it will be impossible for us to take part in the celebrations for Canada's 150th anniversary without financial assistance from Canadian Heritage. A funding program will therefore have to be created specially for the museums for that occasion. Eligibility criteria will have to take into account institutions of all sizes and could be similar to those of the Holidays, Celebrations and Commemorations program. There will have to be a call for projects in 2013 since some initiatives will require a long planning and execution period. To encourage more Canadians to take part in the festivities, this funding program should favour institutions that encourage the members of their local communities to get involved in their projects. Here then are a few project suggestions.
The Musée des Abénakis is a member of several Canadian and Quebec museum associations whose representatives you have had the pleasure of receiving here: the Canadian Museums Association, the Société des musées québécois and Médiat-Muse, which is an association of museums and exhibition centres in Mauricie and the Centre-du-Québec. Médiat-Muse's mandate is to coordinate and ensure a supply of services and activities to institutions in a single region. One achievement under that mandate is a territorial exhibition held on a common theme every four years. In a given year, some 30 institutions present temporary exhibitions on the selected theme. Every member is responsible for producing and presenting its exhibition. Médiat-Muse promotes all the exhibitions presented through grants and private funding. It would be appropriate to grant funding to those kinds of associations that could promote commemoration activities in a given region for 2017. The cultural network is very strong and promotes the outreach of small institutions that cannot afford to do so on their own.
The Internet and social media can also play a very important role in disseminating high-quality historical content and enabling people to discover the collections of Canada's museums. A program such as community memories would help small institutions develop virtual exhibitions that can be accessed by the vast majority of Canadians. These exhibitions require little in the way of material or financial resources to develop and could be produced by small museums. Canadian Heritage could conduct a cross-Canada advertising campaign to promote the exhibitions. Smartphone apps for accessing Canadian museums' collections or short history capsules would be of interest to younger audiences. A unique model developed by the Canadian Heritage information network could be available to all museums, and they would be responsible for developing information content. This would be a universally accessible solution.
Another idea to consider is pooling expertise. Federal and provincial government institutions could associate with small museums to develop satellite exhibitions. For example, the Canadian Museum of Civilization would present an exhibition on the first nations based on objects from the collections of aboriginal museums across Canada. Those museums would offer their visitors a smaller, local version of the exhibition presented in Gatineau. This would make it possible to circulate collections across the country, thus encouraging people to discover the rich aboriginal heritage.
Lastly, consideration should be given to ensuring greater access to the mobile exhibitions circulated. Rental and transportation costs for those productions are very high and prevent visitors from discovering extraordinary collections. The eligibility criteria for the exhibition circulation fund will have to be relaxed.
In closing, I want to emphasize that Canada's 150th anniversary is not necessarily an event the first nations wish to celebrate. I am not a spokesperson for the Abenaki or any other first nation, but, from a historical viewpoint, the creation of Canada led to the passage, in 1876, of the Indian Act, which is still in force today. Regardless of the programs developed by Canadian Heritage for commemorative events in 2017, the preferred theme of the festivities, again in my view, should be Canada's cultural diversity. The first nations will have to tell their story, an uncensored story, a story more than a thousand years old in this vast land that today we call Canada. It is that story, that knowledge and that know-how that we convey to our visitors every day.
My sincere thanks to every one of you for inviting me to this committee meeting. I sincerely hope that Canadian Heritage will make it possible for all museums, regardless of size, to take part in the festivities in 2017.
I will be very pleased to answer your questions.