Canadian Heritage Committee on April 21st, 2016

[Albert Lo]

We are creating a network of almost 500 leaders from the various faith communities across Canada, as well as the cultural communities, and that's a result of the 24 workshops I mentioned earlier. In each workshop, we specifically invited the leaders from the various communities locally.

In terms of public awareness, we're now ramping up on Facebook and Twitter and using the new media to reach the youth. For example, we have the youth video challenges. Those video challenges are specifically designed around certain themes that relate to racism and racial discrimination.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Are you working with schools to do this?

[Albert Lo]

Yes. The National Film Board, for example, is also a partner. We also work with OMNI Television. We work with many of the ethnic media in order to accomplish that communication and awareness aspect.

I want to go back to LGBTQ and many of those other issues as well. Those are important issues. However, as you understand, the foundation is so stretched—

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

I understand that.

[Albert Lo]

—with this limited budget that we can only focus on what we are able to do.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Do you meet with the minister who is responsible to Parliament for reporting about you and dealing with you? Do you meet with the minister regularly? Do you intend to? Do you intend to see if you could launch projects on some of those issues?

[Albert Lo]

Indeed, in the past we regularly—at least once or twice a year—had a meeting with the minister. With regard to the new minister, I have yet to have the opportunity to meet with her. I have sent a letter and an email and I'm waiting for a response.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you very much, Mr. Lo. I want to thank you and Mr. Friedman for coming to visit with us today.

We have a couple of minutes. I just wanted to let the public and of course our members know that we were supposed to have met as well with the chair of the Canada Council for the Arts, Mr. Lassonde, but Mr. Lassonde has become ill. I want us to wish him well and a return to good health in the future, but we may need to decide as a committee how we meet with Mr. Lassonde when he gets better and returns to good health. The Canada Council for the Arts is going to be receiving a great deal of money, and we want to make sure that we know how they intend to spend it in terms of accountability issues.

Finally, I don't know how everyone feels, but I thought this was an extremely good exercise. I was wondering if as a committee we might believe that every year we should be able to bring forward in one meeting these particular groups, just to see what and how they're doing and assess their progress and evolution.

Does everyone think that's a good idea?

[Some hon. members]

Yes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you. Good. I got a good sense of yesses around the room, and I heard no noes. Thank you very much.

Mr. Van Loan, may we have a motion to adjourn?

[Peter Van Loan, Conservative, York—Simcoe, ON]

I so move.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you very much.

The meeting is adjourned.