[Member spoke in Spanish.]
Evidence of meeting #135 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 work.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #135 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 work.
A recording is available from Parliament.
12:50 p.m.
Randy Boissonnault
[Member spoke in Spanish.]
12:50 p.m.
Minister of Canadian Heritage and Multiculturalism
[The Minister spoke in Spanish.]
12:50 p.m.
Randy Boissonnault
It's weird to talk to you in English, Minister, but in the spirit of official languages and multiculturalism, I would love to ask you a question.
My first languages were English and French. Then English took over more, and I had to get French back in university. Then I added Spanish.
As we talk about the multiculturalism file and people of colour, what is our strategy as a government and your ministry to engage with finance projects relating to black Canadian youth?
12:50 p.m.
Minister of Canadian Heritage and Multiculturalism
As you are probably aware, Mr. Boissonnault, there was an investment of $19 million in the last budget to face the unique challenges that are facing black Canadians, especially young black Canadians. Out of that $19 million, there's $9 million that goes directly to support black Canadian youth. This is a program that is extremely important for the black community. We are very engaged in terms of government.
In parallel, as you also know, we're conducting anti-racism engagement sessions. Gary has been very involved with that. Gary is doing great work in terms of multiculturalism, and Andy is doing an amazing job in terms of culture also. They are both very engaged.
On this specific file, I have been in many cities and provinces, and I keep doing that. We have tough conversations sometimes, but they're sincere and open discussions so that we can get the facts and can get things right so we can have a robust anti-racism bill soon.
12:50 p.m.
Randy Boissonnault
It was a pleasure for me to act as parliamentary secretary, but it's an even greater pleasure to ask the minister questions directly.
12:50 p.m.
Minister of Canadian Heritage and Multiculturalism
You do it very well, thank you.
12:50 p.m.
Liberal
12:50 p.m.
Liberal
12:50 p.m.
Conservative
Martin Shields Conservative Bow River, AB
Thank you.
To Mr. Boissonnault, the Amber Valley story from north of Edmonton is probably one of the stories of black history. I don't know if Mr. Boissonnault knows about Amber Valley or not, but it is one of those.
I met the head curator a number of times. One of the challenges we have in the parliamentary precinct with heritage is that inside the building, it's the head curator's responsibility. Outside, responsibilities are with somebody else. The historical rooms in the East Block are with someone else.
Would you in the future, as you were talking about, work to have those consolidated so that we can have an experience of heritage on our Hill that's not siloed? They can't talk to each other or do anything about the outside or the inside of different buildings.
It's strictly to do with our heritage in 2019—restored rooms in the East Block, the statues on the outside of the block, suffrage in many parts of the country. That is a significant part of the grounds outside.
Would you work to coordinate that part of our heritage, which is now siloed? The head curator inside the building, for example, can't do anything about the heritage on the outside of our building.
12:50 p.m.
Minister of Canadian Heritage and Multiculturalism
Mr. Shields, we always try to work as a government to improve the situation of our heritage buildings.
It's fundamental not only for all of us who have the privilege to work here but also for future generations that we can tell the stories and show things very concretely. The Parliament Buildings, as I understand, are definitely the responsibility of public services, public works. We, as you rightly—
12:50 p.m.
Conservative
12:50 p.m.
Minister of Canadian Heritage and Multiculturalism
What you mentioned before in terms of the monuments and statues is our responsibility, and it's something that we consider very seriously.
12:55 p.m.
Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, CPC
Thank you.
I'll continue with my earlier question regarding the CBC. They're somewhat...I shouldn't say “shady”, but they seem to be skirting the rules and not fairly compensating the creators. There are some copyright infringements that I heard about.
Is your department monitoring what the CBC does?
12:55 p.m.
Minister of Canadian Heritage and Multiculturalism
They report to Parliament.
12:55 p.m.
Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, CPC
They report to Parliament. They don't talk about lawsuits against artists?
12:55 p.m.
Minister of Canadian Heritage and Multiculturalism
The CBC, as with all other media, understands the importance that we give to our creators and artists and the importance of their being paid fairly for what they do.
These people don't sell cars or glasses. They sell their stories and they create. They have to be well paid for that.
CBC, again, is a Crown corporation. I'm not the boss. I don't go to the department and say, “Okay, you do this and you do that.”
12:55 p.m.
Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, CPC
You know, in the private sector we have corporations, and they have to follow the rules.
12:55 p.m.
Minister of Canadian Heritage and Multiculturalism
The CBC has to follow the rules too. We all have to follow them.
12:55 p.m.
Minister of Canadian Heritage and Multiculturalism
Parliament is, and they have their own structure. They have a board of directors, actually, that—
12:55 p.m.
Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, CPC
Do we have a report? Do you guys have any reports regarding the CBC's business activities?
12:55 p.m.
Minister of Canadian Heritage and Multiculturalism
We have regular reports from all Crown corporations, absolutely. You can have access to those.
12:55 p.m.
Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, CPC
Are you aware of the copyright infringements, the remuneration—
