Canadian Heritage Committee on June 9th, 2016

[Cynthia White-Thornley]

Speaking to your first issue about the classification of sizes, the distinction we're making when we.... We are assuming that when you talk about local museums, you're generally speaking about museums in what we classify as the small and medium sizes. These are thresholds that have been used for a long time by, for example, the Canadian Museums Association. We divide them as we do just so all of us speak the same language.

There are so many that are much smaller than the museums that you're speaking about. They probably do look small in the context of a place like Oakville, but in much of rural Canada there are organizations that operate on less than $50,000 a year.

[Pam Damoff, Liberal, Oakville North—Burlington, ON]

One of the things he said was that even for them—

[Cynthia White-Thornley]

Yes.

[Pam Damoff, Liberal, Oakville North—Burlington, ON]

—they really have difficulty fundraising. It's not like a ROM, where you can get subscribers—

[Cynthia White-Thornley]

Right.

[Pam Damoff, Liberal, Oakville North—Burlington, ON]

—and do fundraising, so they absolutely love your Young Canada Works program. Out of their budget, they get $7,000 a year for that. That's a program they would love to see expanded, because he said that a number of students who have gone through that have gone on to get careers in museums. It's a fantastic training ground. I don't know if there's ever been any consideration to expanding that.

[Cynthia White-Thornley]

Actually, in the most recent budget there was an announcement by the government that they are expanding the youth employment strategy, and that will result in another approximately 125 internships this year for museums across Canada.

If the museum you're speaking about receives $7,000, it was probably because that would have been an internship rather than a summer job, but we do support an extensive number of students for summer jobs through museums of all sizes, including the museums that Mr. Van Loan referred to earlier, those that are just seasonal in nature.

[Pam Damoff, Liberal, Oakville North—Burlington, ON]

The other comment I got is that you have an excellent education exchange program. They could partner with a museum in France—

[Cynthia White-Thornley]

Yes.

[Pam Damoff, Liberal, Oakville North—Burlington, ON]

—but there's no opportunity to partner interprovincially. His suggestion was that for a museum like Oakville Museum to send someone to France is costly, but there are also opportunities within Canada that would be great to partner with. I put that out as a comment.

Then there is also the issue of the types of programs they are able to apply for. Travelling exhibits, he said, are fantastic, but they are not able to apply for something that would be more of a blockbuster exhibit. He felt some of the granting restrictions make it very difficult for a smaller museum like that to apply for the grants.

[Cynthia White-Thornley]

I'm not quite sure what he means when he talks about difficulty applying for a blockbuster. The access component under the museums assistance program provides funding for the development of exhibits, if they want to develop one. If they want to bring something in, we provide up to $15,000 for museums across the country to help them with the financing costs or the travel costs.

[Pam Damoff, Liberal, Oakville North—Burlington, ON]

I only have 10 seconds left. I was just going to say they went from a—

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Larry Maguire]

You have seven minutes.

[Pam Damoff, Liberal, Oakville North—Burlington, ON]

Oh, I have seven minutes. I thought I had five. Hey, wow, this is awesome.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[Pam Damoff, Liberal, Oakville North—Burlington, ON]

In terms of charging fees, they used to charge a fee, and their revenue went up when they stopped charging a fee, because they found that it drew people to the museum. It is by donation when they go through.

What other kinds of supports do you provide for museums like the Joseph Brant and the Oakville Museum and the galleries?

[Cynthia White-Thornley]

In addition to the programs we have, the museums assistance program being the main one, we also have infrastructure support, and those museums would be eligible for infrastructure. They would also be eligible.... You mentioned Young Canada Works. We also have something called the “strategic initiatives” component of the Canada Cultural Investment Fund. It is a program that enables partnering with other museums of similar size or with other partners, either regionally or nationally. It is aimed at helping them improve their fundraising, their business practices, and so on. This is another avenue.

We also have two special operating agencies, one called the Canadian Conservation Institute and the other called the Canadian Heritage Information Network. The Canadian Conservation Institute doesn't provide funding. It provides services. It can provide training services for the museum, sometimes in person, sometimes online. They also preserve very important artifacts. We do calls for artifacts and treat some of the most important artifacts in Canada.

[Pam Damoff, Liberal, Oakville North—Burlington, ON]

Are there any funding opportunities to partner with educational institutions, such as colleges?

[Cynthia White-Thornley]

Not under any of our programs.... There is a program called building communities through arts and heritage, to which museums and educational institutions can apply for very specific celebratory activities and so on.

In many of our programs, you can have partners of all kinds of different types, but it is the museum, the heritage institution, that is the eligible applicant. If your museum wanted to partner with the local school on something, depending on what it is, it could be eligible.

[Pam Damoff, Liberal, Oakville North—Burlington, ON]

They did a fantastic one with Sheridan College on black history for Black History Month, celebrating the settlers who came to Oakville. That was one, but I think they got provincial funding for that one.

[Cynthia White-Thornley]

Actually, that one sounds familiar. It might have received.... I will have to check on that.

[Pam Damoff, Liberal, Oakville North—Burlington, ON]

I think it might have received some from you, actually.

[Cynthia White-Thornley]

I think so too. It sounds familiar, but we fund so many that I don't have....

[Pam Damoff, Liberal, Oakville North—Burlington, ON]

That's okay.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you.

I think the time is up, Ms. Damoff. Thank you very much.

Now we go to the second round, which is a five-minute round. We go to Mr. Van Loan of the Conservatives.