Canadian Heritage Committee on June 6th, 2019

[Kathi Sundstrom]

Yes.

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

—in the last 10 years, and that hasn't been the case for Calgary city council. You made a very clear case for the Alberta piece.

I want to go to the Yukon with whatever time I have left. Do you think there's a need for any sort of regional balance for what we're talking about, Casey, or is it all based on merit and you just have to do good art that 66% of the jurists in Ontario and Quebec think is good art?

[Casey Prescott]

I would say the north is a little different. I think the north is very much eager to see people face to face. There are a lot of artists out here, but it's very different from downtown Toronto. I think that building that trust.... There's probably a lot of nuance to some of the criteria the Canada Council would consider if they were here regularly speaking to our community. They would understand that a lot of their criteria are probably responding to more urban constituents. That's where I'm coming from.

I still feel merit is key. I would agree with Kathi. I'm not sure about carving up the pie regionally. However, what I'm really advocating for here is that the north is a very distinct part of the country that has some very unique challenges. I would very much like to see somebody from the Canada Council here more regularly.

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

When was the last time somebody travelled to Yellowknife or the Northwest Territories, to meet with you in person?

[Casey Prescott]

In the Yukon, we had an info session around the new funding models, but I haven't personally seen anyone outside of the info team.

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

How accessible are they by phone or email?

[The Chair, Liberal, Julie Dabrusin]

I'm sorry. Your time is up.

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

I'm out of time. Maybe I'll get back to that in a future round.

[The Chair, Liberal, Julie Dabrusin]

There is no future round. I don't mean to sound....

I'm moving to Mr. Shields now for five minutes.

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you to all the witnesses for being here today. We appreciate it.

Calgary, good luck with the council now, and the economic and tax situation in Calgary. I think that's going to be a tough one for the next few years. Good luck with it.

For the Yukon, if you could replicate the model you have, many communities like mine—15,000 to 20,000 people—would think that would be great.

I loved your recommendations. I think they're right on for a lot of people out there, but the one I found interesting was “Eurocentric”, because we need to change this. We may have a funding model, but we have another issue here. I think you nailed it perfectly in what you described, but we need to get it outside of Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. I live in a city that's small but we have 100 different ethnicities in my community, and we never see anything but the Eurocentric culture. We have to find a mechanism because I think you've identified a real piece.

I'm all for equitable. I'm with Randy. We need to find a way to decentralize it. We have many solitudes in this country. It might be complicated, as you say, but we need to find a way to decentralize it. We need to have that piece, the ethnic piece and the cultures that you're talking about.

I'll give you one more shot to talk about that one, maybe beyond Toronto.

[Owais Lightwala, Managing Director, Why Not Theatre]

I think it's a very important point you make. Absolutely, the spread of cultural diversity is harder to do in rural settings and in areas that are not urban centres, because of the population and the size. You need a critical mass before change can happen, before people can finally not have any other option, but you cannot ignore diverse populations when they're the size they are in Toronto or Vancouver. That critical mass is the challenge in a smaller community.

Due to the prioritization of funding, that can be countered by prioritization of equity, by council and by local funding options.

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

Outside the major centres...how?

[Owais Lightwala]

Absolutely.

Why we even have Eurocentric models is that it's what the incentives were set up for. It was decided, as Kathi mentioned, that this kind of art form, ballet, is valid dance, but jazz is not. The same thing applies with saying that the European tradition of theatre is valid and Shakespeare is valid, but this ethnic form of community theatre is not valid.

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

Is there any possibility that you could write us something, in the sense of how you would broaden that scope from the major centres, how you could get that funding, and how you would see that model working outside of the major centres?

We haven't the time for you to answer here, but do you have the expertise to write us something on that?

[Owais Lightwala]

With a little bit more time than five minutes maybe.

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

Yes, that's what I'm asking for. I'm asking for a follow-up, because I think you have something very important and critical to this country, and we need to have it as part of this.

Could you submit something within a week's time?

[Ravi Jain]

Yes, possibly. We would need more thought, but yes.

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

One page, two pages, we need something in writing.

[Owais Lightwala]

Right. Absolutely.

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

That would be fantastic.

I want to go back to Calgary. When you say the municipal part.... I know you're playing a fine line, but we've heard about this equitability from a number of witnesses. I know you've walked a fine line with it, but it is tough in Calgary, in Alberta, with the equitability.

You have a certain amount of money. Is it ever feasible, in your mind, that it could be equitable?

[Kathi Sundstrom]

Do you mean equitable as far as the council funding goes?

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

Yes, the council funding...in the sense of population distribution in this country.

[Kathi Sundstrom]

I don't see it, no. That can't be the only criteria, because it's not an even....

I don't know the statistics off the top of my head. You know how much money is going to Alberta. However, there are fewer organizations in Alberta because there is less infrastructure to build those organizations. Many artists leave Alberta because there is more funding in other places and because there are not as many theatre companies. They go to Toronto where there are more acting gigs.

It's a complicated question.

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

Didn't you just describe the reason? It's because of lack of funding that they go somewhere else.

[Kathi Sundstrom]

There's not a base of funding. The provincial and civic funding have not grown, and none of the established organizations are going to say, “Hey, you can take some of my money because we should support these new organizations.” We're not that generous.