Canadian Heritage Committee on April 21st, 2016

[Mark O'Neill]

I must say it's rather difficult for me to comment on the exact circumstances under which the board of trustees of our corporation, or the government, saw fit to reappoint me. I would like to think that it was based on the fact that I had performed well during what was essentially the first four years of my term.

In 2009, I believe it was, the Auditor General of Canada made a recommendation to the government that, with respect to the CEOs in the federal system, a minimum of six months' notice should be provided to chief executive officers. Notice was extremely sporadic. Some people, as I understand it, were given under a month's notice.

I can say only that my performance evaluations by the board of trustees for those four years were quite positive, and I assume that the government saw fit to offer me an additional Governor in Council appointment, which I was extremely honoured to accept.

[Pierre Nantel, NDP, Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC]

In that case, if the Liberals follow through on their promise to establish a non-partisan appointment commission before your new term begins, would you agree to submit to such a process?

[Mark O'Neill]

I believe that my appointment is based upon merit. I don't believe that my appointment is in any way a partisan appointment.

I laid out to you, at the beginning of my remarks, that I began my career in the federal public service, where I have served continuously since 1986. I was hired to come to the museum corporation in 2001, and during that time I've served in at least three executive positions. I competed in an open, internationally gazetted competition in 2011 and I was the successful candidate.

I believe there are many instances in the Westminster system of competent senior public servants being eligible for or being reappointed to positions they have served in honourably and well.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you.

Then we go to Mr. DeCourcey, from the Liberals, for five minutes.

[Matt DeCourcey, Liberal, Fredericton, NB]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. O'Neill, for your presentation this morning.

I come from New Brunswick, a place that is rich in Canadian heritage, with strong anglophone, Acadian heritage, first nations communities, and with the support of this government a lot of newcomers coming to our area, which adds to our cultural diversity and celebration of what it truly is to be Canadian.

I wonder how your museums, your institutions, reach out to regions of the country that aren't so close at hand and the museums aren't quite as accessible, and how you represent some of these regions of the country through your exhibits as well.

[Mark O'Neill]

This is a very welcome question, Madam Chair, and I'm delighted to answer it.

First of all I would say to the member that one of the most important museums we work with is the New Brunswick Museum in Saint John. Jane Fullerton is a very good colleague of mine. The New Brunswick museum is the oldest continuously operating museum in Canada, by the way.

Several years ago, we created a national history museums network. The New Brunswick Museum was one of the first museums to join the network. We now have many other museums from Atlantic Canada. We work with those museums to share artifacts, develop exhibition projects, even public programming, and we hope down the road—the network is just a year and a half old—research projects as well.

Madam Chair, a second issue I'd like to mention to the member is that in addition to the Canadian history hall that we will be opening, we have reserved a very large hall, a separate hall, 7,000 square feet, with the working title of the Canadian pavilion, but at any one time there will be an exhibition from a museum in another part of Canada in that hall.

I'll give you an example. Perhaps the disaster in Halifax during the First World War doesn't make it completely into the national narrative of the history hall, but we would work with the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic to do an exhibition on the Halifax explosion. So at any one time, there will be an exhibition there.

The history museums network just met last week in Halifax, at the Canadian Museums Association conference. I presided over it.

Another example of a great project is that the Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria, and our museum in Ottawa, have worked on an exhibition on the gold rush, which is now being presented here. It opened in Victoria, and it will travel to China, because of the important history for Chinese Canadians and Canadians about the whole El Dorado experience.

This is a major part of the work that we're doing, Madam Chair.

[Matt DeCourcey, Liberal, Fredericton, NB]

I am thinking ahead to the 150th celebration, and again about the accessibility of Canadian history and the situation in the world right now, and what Canada will look like over the next number of decades.

I'll admit I had tremendous opportunities as a young person to come to Ottawa and to places where these exhibits were accessible, but not all Canadians, and particularly some Canadians of different vulnerability or new Canadians, can do that. How do your institutions reach out to those persons and provide access to Canadian museums?

[Mark O'Neill]

Madam Chair, both of our museums have very robust websites. We're very active on many social media platforms. We have many virtual exhibitions, and we are also now responsible for the Virtual Museum of Canada. That was a project that was started by the Department of Canadian Heritage and transferred some two years ago to the Canadian Museum of History. We're working with a wide variety of institutional partners to ensure that we have projects that are online and accessible to Canadians across the country.

With respect to new Canadians, we're also very active. We are working with the Institute for Canadian Citizenship on museum passes for new Canadians when they come to Canada and when they are sworn in as new citizens. We will be beginning with that institute, as well, a new project, in fact I believe next month, with respect to the Syrian refugees who are coming. We find ways to work with educators across our country to disseminate our products and exhibitions to new Canadian groups.

I would like to provide one example if I may, Madam Chair. It's a quick one.

I recently brought down Brock's tunic—his actual tunic—from the Canadian War Museum to Roberta Bondar school in Ajax, Ontario. This is one of the most diverse communities in the GTA. Those kids were born online, essentially, and are saturated with the virtual experience. I can tell you that at the heritage fair in that school, they could not believe that they could see the actual tunic that Brock died in at Queenston Heights in 1812.

We're doing things that we can to provide access, not only to the virtual, but to the material culture in our museums across the country, which I believe remains critically important as part of the visitor experience.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

As chair, I want to ask you a quick question. In a special examination the Auditor General conducted in 2013 of the overall workings of the Canadian Museum of History, they identified some key weaknesses in the governance of the corporation. Have those weaknesses been corrected, Mr. O'Neill?

[Mark O'Neill]

To my knowledge, I believe all but two of the issues have been addressed. We take the special examination very seriously. In my time, the museum's is the third special exam that I have personally worked on. When I say two, there were something like....

How many recommendations were there, roughly?

[A voice]

Twenty-five is a rough number.

[Mark O'Neill]

There were 25 recommendations. The overwhelming majority have been addressed, Madam Chair.

The two outstanding ones essentially have to do with work that we're doing internally on some of our strategic planning, but the ones that affect the board in particular and corporate governance have all been addressed by the board of trustees and by museum management.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you very much, Mr. O'Neill.

I'd like to call on Telefilm Canada and Ms. Carolle Brabant.

Ms. Brabant, please, for five minutes.

[Carolle Brabant, Executive Director, Telefilm Canada]

Good morning, Madam Chair and members of the committee.

Thank you very much for the invitation to appear before the committee today to talk about Telefilm Canada. I'd like to focus my comments on the following three areas: first, a brief overview on Telefilm Canada's role and support to the Canadian audiovisual industry; second, our successes and our challenges; and third, our priorities for the next three years.

In 2014-15, we supported the production and marketing of 87 feature films and the development of more than 300 projects, while also helping to promote our Canadian talent in Canada and international festivals.

Building on our near 50 years of investment, Telefilm Canada, together with its partners, has helped shape a landscape conducive to creativity. We have now reached a maturity that enables us to produce and export works of excellent quality. Canadian and foreign film and television production volume in 2014-15 reached $7 billion and accounted for over 148,000 full-time jobs. Film production, for its part, amounted to $349 million and accounted for 7,300 full-time jobs.

What a year this has been for Canada, starting with 21 Canadians behind various Oscar nominations and two Canadian co-productions—in fact, Canada–Ireland co-productions—Room and Brooklyn, receiving best picture nominations—a first. Hosted by Minister Joly, the next movie night on the Hill, on May 3, features the movie Room, and of course you are all invited.

It continues with Cannes. Xavier Dolan's Juste la fin du monde is in the running for the top prize, the Palme d'Or. Just to remind everyone, Cannes receives close to 2,000 films, so having one Canadian in the lineup is amazing. It's the fifth time that Xavier Dolan has been selected for Cannes. In the directors' fortnight section, there are Kim Nguyen's Two Lovers and a Bear, and Nathan Morlando's Mean Dreams. Finally, François Jaro's short film, Oh What a Wonderful Feeling, is part of the critics' week.

The New York Times noted our industry's success in an article, saying that “Canada is on a hot streak, its movies regularly winning prizes....”

Despite these successes, we all face challenges, but our challenges are also opportunities.

First, we need to promote the excellence of Canadian content by conducting effective promotion of the industry and its successes directly to consumers. Second, we need to foster more groundbreaking marketing practices by connecting with a large number of viewers. Third, we need to make decisions supported by meaningful metrics; it's vital that we make informed decisions based on value-added research. Fourth, we need to help the industry diversify its sources of funding by attracting new funding partners, which is the main objective of our talent fund, developed to empower corporations and individuals to support Canadian films through charitable donations and partnerships.

As the committee is aware, Canada virtually invented official treaty co-production, and we're happy to report that Canada has been invited to join Eurimages, the 25-million-euro cultural support fund of the Council of Europe. Canada would be the first non-European member. This opportunity will provide the industry with another excellent instrument to access international funding and to better export our cinema.

Finally, we continually strive to achieve organizational excellence, and Telefilm will continue to maintain its low administrative expenses, not exceeding 6%.

Telefilm's vision for the future is clear: we want Canadian creative content to be accessible and to be viewed everywhere. For nearly 26 years at Telefilm Canada, I have believed in Telefilm's mission more and more each day. I am sentimental and I totally acknowledge that. I am moved by the talent behind the productions we support and truly amazed at the creativity, imagination and performance of our nation's directors, writers, actors and film crews. Each time the magic is created on screen, I experience the same emotion I had as a child when watching The Count of Monte Cristo with my grandmother. I am proud of the work we have accomplished.

In 2017, Telefilm will celebrate its 50th anniversary at the same time as Canada turns 150. The industry we have been asked to develop and promote not only makes a contribution to Canada's economic well-being, but also shines the spotlight on our country throughout the world. Thank you to Michael Spencer—the first executive director of what used to be called the Canadian Film Development Corporation—Gratien Gélinas, and to all the employees who have worked at Telefilm Canada over the past 50 years.

As a final word, I have a dream to share because I am not just sentimental but a perpetual dreamer, as well. I dream of the day when all Canadians will be just as proud of the success of David Gross and Emma Donoghue—respective producer and writer of Room—as they are of the accomplishments of P.K. Subban and the Dufour-Lapointe sisters.

I thank you and I welcome your questions.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you, Ms. Brabant. I think we all dream of that day too.

I want to begin the questions, for five minutes each, with Mr. Breton.

[Pierre Breton, Liberal, Shefford, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you for joining us today, Ms. Brabant. Congratulations on your reappointment.

We have had a new government since last October. The Department of Canadian Heritage is taking a new direction.

I would like to know whether you have had discussions with the minister or with department representatives since the election and, if so, what kind of talks you have had on Telefilm Canada's vision and mission.

[Carolle Brabant]

Yes, we have had discussions with the minister, and we are very proud to be able to count on her department's and the government's support. We are happy about being provided with new funding. That funding will be used to promote and export our content internationally. That will really be our priority. We have talked to the minister and were told about her own priorities.

I know that, when it comes to digital technologies, Telefilm is already in a good position. When it comes to exporting, we have already undertaken several actions on the international stage. One of the things we are very proud of is having helped respond to the invitation Canada received from Eurimages, the European cinema support fund. That is an amazing tool that will give our producers access to additional funding, but also help them gain visibility. We see it as a promotional tool.

So yes, we have had a few very positive meetings.

[Pierre Breton, Liberal, Shefford, QC]

That's excellent. Unless I'm mistaken, you have been at Telefilm Canada for 16 years?

[Carolle Brabant]

I have been there for 26 years.

[Pierre Breton, Liberal, Shefford, QC]

You have been there for 26 years. I missed it by a decade. I'm sorry.

[Carolle Brabant]

You missed it by a few years.

[Pierre Breton, Liberal, Shefford, QC]

You have been there for a long time and you are familiar with the organization. Can you tell us about the discussions you have held with the minister and the Canadian Heritage officials regarding the challenges of the coming years?

[Carolle Brabant]

Over the next few years, competitiveness will be a real challenge in the audiovisual industry. As you know, competition in that sector is global. Canada is a country that produces independent content in all areas—be it for television, cinema or digital platforms. Canada is part of a niche market focused more on independent content. Competition is extremely strong. One of the challenges is to ensure that Canadian production companies continue to have the resources they need to move forward and remain competitive. We know that consumers do not choose content based on where it comes from. They now have access to content from all over the world. So we have to ensure that Canadian companies are remaining competitive. I think that is our biggest challenge.

[Pierre Breton, Liberal, Shefford, QC]

I believe you were appointed to this position last June. Can you tell us about the process that led to your appointment? Do you have any suggestions for improving that process?

[Carolle Brabant]

I am going to talk about the initial process launched six years ago. It was conducted in a very capable way by our board of directors, in cooperation with the various bodies of the department and various services like the Privy Council Office. There was a call for tenders, the services of a headhunter were used, and several interviews. There were several candidates. We had two interview sessions with a committee made up of at least 10 people. At that time, I was given a first mandate of three years.

After those three years, my board of directors asked to me if I was interested in continuing my work during a second mandate. The normal process was followed to renew the mandate. Normally, my mandate would have ended in March 2016 and I had been convinced that it would end then. In the fall of 2014, the chair of the board asked me if I was interested in extending my mandate for another term. Upper management mandates at Telefilm Canada generally last five years.