Evidence of meeting #11 for Canadian Heritage in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was museums.
A recording is available from Parliament.
10 a.m.
NDP
Pierre Nantel NDP Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC
Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
I thank you for being here with us, Ms. Beckel. First of all, I have to thank you, because I think that...
10 a.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Museum of Nature
Just a moment, please.
10 a.m.
NDP
Pierre Nantel NDP Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC
You want to use the interpretation services? I can speak English. It's no big deal.
10 a.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Museum of Nature
I apologize. I am learning French, but for today...
10 a.m.
NDP
Pierre Nantel NDP Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC
As long as you have French staff to accommodate the groups coming from Quebec and the Maritimes, it's fine.
10 a.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Museum of Nature
Absolutely. That is true.
10 a.m.
NDP
Pierre Nantel NDP Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC
I want to congratulate you on your thinking outside the box. I think you obviously do it.
How long has the dancing with dinosaurs or rocking with the rocks been going on?
10 a.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Museum of Nature
Three years.
10 a.m.
NDP
Pierre Nantel NDP Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC
In these three years, have you had a chance to meet with the ministers of Heritage from the previous government?
10 a.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Museum of Nature
At the Nocturne? I must admit I do not believe any of our ministers have participated in a Nocturne that I'm aware of, but there are people who told me afterwards they snuck in just to check it out.
10 a.m.
NDP
Pierre Nantel NDP Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC
That's good. At least they came to see what's going on there.
You made a daring choice to change the way you would get your budget for the museum. Having been there many times, I've seen the importance of private sponsorship. I think this is a delicate....
We all remember when Imperial Oil asked the Technology Museum to change an exhibit. How do you deal with that?
10 a.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Museum of Nature
We simply make it clear sponsorship or philanthropy does not come with any involvement or say on content. The sponsors we have dealt with in my history and involvement with fundraising particularly, which goes back 25 years, are generally respectful of that.
10 a.m.
NDP
Pierre Nantel NDP Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC
That's just great.
I wanted to ask you, with your attendance, can I assume students are an important part, primary school and high school?
10 a.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Museum of Nature
Yes, they are.
10 a.m.
NDP
Pierre Nantel NDP Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC
In my last visit, I was speaking with one of your employees who was telling me he had in mind some coordination between museums for a broad packaging offer for museums of the capital for Canada 150.
Do you think you feel free to speak to us about this potential coordination? I think it is a crucial point during Canada 150 this summer, and at the end of the season, for schools to have some sort of easy access pass or something that's coordinated.
Do you think there's something coming like this?
10 a.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Museum of Nature
Are you're thinking for students specifically, or for the general public?
10 a.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Museum of Nature
For the general public we are working on a passport, which would provide a significant discount for access to all of the museums participating. I think we call it our three-three-three?
10 a.m.
John Swettenham Director, Marketing and Media Relations, Canadian Museum of Nature
It's double three, double 30: three days, three museums, $30 for an adult, and 30% off for an accompanied child.
10 a.m.
NDP
Pierre Nantel NDP Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC
I think this is a very pragmatic marketing approach. I congratulate you on bringing in something that's so, “please come“.
April 21st, 2016 / 10:05 a.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Museum of Nature
Yes, and it's something we worked on with all the national museums and some of the smaller museums. It is an initiative that originally started in collaboration with the National Capital Commission, and it's something that has been evolving.
Now you can provide the facts.
10:05 a.m.
Director, Marketing and Media Relations, Canadian Museum of Nature
I was going to say it's in cooperation with the other national museums.
Yes, the museum's passport is geared to visitors to the national capital, including students. They stay on average for two days and see three attractions, so this is three leading attractions for $30. We think it will go very well.
10:05 a.m.
NDP
Pierre Nantel NDP Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC
That's a very good initiative. I'm sure everyone around here is happy to hear that.
Thank you very much. I have no more questions.
10:05 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry
We're catching up on some overtime.
We're going to go to Mr. Samson for the Liberals, for five minutes.
10:05 a.m.
Liberal
Darrell Samson Liberal Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS
I have lots of questions that came from other questions, and it's of interest to me very much.
The first one is about schools. I'm an educator by trade, in my first life, and you bring that with you as you move forward.
How are we connecting with schools? Yes, we are connecting. We're going to get kids showing up here. Most of them are going to be from the surrounding areas, but not the people from Edmonton, Alberta, or from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, etc.
We might be sending materials out. You talked about the iChat, which I really like, but if I were to do a survey—I was superintendent of all the French schools in Nova Scotia for the last 11 years—I'm not sure any of them would know anything about iChat.
Try to help me better understand, in one minute of course.