Canadian Heritage Committee on June 14th, 2016

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Good morning, everyone. I call the committee to order

Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), we're looking at an overview of the state of Canadian museums, excluding the major national museums.

Today we have four witnesses here representing the Canadian Museums Association.

I'm hoping that you will help us with this overview of the state of the smaller museums in Canada, so thank you for coming.

Here's how it works. Each of you can take 10 minutes, because you have 10 minutes to present, and then we have a question-and-answer session. At eight minutes, I will give you a two-minute indicator so that you know you have to stop. Thank you so much.

Now, who will begin?

Go ahead, Mr. McAvity.

[John McAvity, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Museums Association]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

I want to open by saying that we are extremely pleased and honoured to be here today. This study—this “overview”, as you put it—is extremely important to our sector. We take it very seriously and so we're delighted to be here.

I would like to introduce the other panellists who are with me.

First, we have Manon Blanchette, President of the Board, Canadian Museums Association. She is also the Front-line Activities Director at Pointe-à-Callière in Montreal.

Also here is Susan Burrows-Johnson, who is the director of the Galt Museum in Lethbridge, Alberta, a municipal museum, and Karen Bachmann. Karen is the director of the Timmins Museum in Ontario.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

You have a western representative, Ms. Burrows-Johnson.

Thank you.

[John McAvity]

We almost had somebody from your riding, but she was unable to attend today, so we were sorry about that.

This study is crucial to understanding the changing role of museums within their communities and across Canada from static old temples of yesterday to today's vibrant and engaged community hubs, and to understand the challenges brought on by the new role and the changing populations and resources that they face.

[Manon Blanchette, President of the Board, Canadian Museums Association, Chief Operating Officer and Director of Front-line Activities, Pointe-à-Callière, Musée d'archéologie et d'histoire de Montréal]

Museums play an essential role in our society. Canada has more than 2,600 museums, art galleries and related heritage institutions. They employ more than 32,000 people and 103,000 volunteers all over the country. Almost 62 million people visit our museums, galleries and historic sites each year, including 7.5 million students.

The economic and social impacts of museums in Canada are huge. Surveys show that people who visit museums indicate a very high level of satisfaction, at 78%. Ninety-one per cent of the visitors agree that museums provide valuable learning experiences, both in major urban areas and in rural community museums.

Museums are seen as trusted and respected cultural institutions. Their popularity is explained by the variety of their exhibition programming and the services they provide. I should even add that, more and more, we are talking about museum experiences. These experiences vary. They can be multisensory and multimedia.

As centres for continuing education, museums are also key players in research into, and the conservation and interpretation of, Canada’s heritage. Museums foster a better understanding of Canada’s history and life in Canada for new Canadians, and promote Canadian identity beyond our borders.

As a national association, the Canadian Museums Association represents the interests of more than 2,000 members all across Canada. Our mission is to maintain meaningful links between museums and their communities, and to enhance the value of museums in society.

We are here today to share our assessment of Canada's museums, based on extensive consultations, and to offer preliminary recommendations to guide the committee's study of our country's museums. We respectfully request being invited back at a later time to further explore these issues and address the questions raised during the course of the committee's study.

Thank you.

[Karen Bachmann, Director, Timmins Museum and National Exhibition Centre]

The 10-page brief submitted to you today depicts the current state of museums in Canada and highlights some innovative projects and activities that demonstrate the changing role of contemporary museums.

It follows important consultations and studies undertaken by both Société des musées du Québec's “États généraux des musées du Québec” in 2011, and the Ontario Museum Association's recently published “Ontario's Museums 2025: Looking Ahead”, in which I participated.

Our brief also puts forward important recommendations aimed to improve the support offered to Canada's museum community in order to ensure its stability and its sustainability.

Our presentation this morning focuses on only a few of these recommendations, so we invite you to read our detailed brief for more information.

Through their outstanding exhibitions, educational programs, and outreach, museums offer opportunities for valuable learning experiences and social dialogue. This public face of museums is well understood and appreciated, yet the majority of museum operations occur behind the scenes, and this is where they require more public and private support.

Let me be blunt. The current state of non-government museums in general is one of extreme neglect. Roofs leak, buildings lack proper heat and humidity controls, artifacts rot away in poor conditions, and little research is accomplished. The reality facing many small museums is not a pretty picture; it is a shocking portrait.

The skills needed to work in the museum sector are also evolving to encompass a wide range of business management, fundraising expertise, and new technologies. Museum professionals are working closely with their communities to create value, and more emphasis is placed on public relations, digital outreach, and fundraising expertise.

Most museums have lost or are losing their curators and experts; in the eyes of many in the museum world, this is evidence of a crisis. Without curators or experts able to understand and interpret the museum collections, they are nothing. There is an urgent need to provide a greater range and a greater number of training opportunities for museums and museum professionals.

Museums also require better support for the many administrative and legal tasks that result from their growing activities and responsibilities. This support includes an improvement of the Copyright Act, the exclusion of museums from the Firearms Act, a loosening of insurance requirements, support for digitization initiatives, and the encouragement of partnerships between small and large museums, just to give a few examples.

[Susan Burrows-Johnson, Director of the Board, Executive Director, Galt Museum and Archives, Canadian Museums Association]

Funding will always be seen as one of the biggest concerns for museums, especially smaller community museums. While museums and heritage organizations have relied heavily on government support in the past, this is increasingly not the case today. At the federal level there is an astounding lack of an overarching vision for museums in Canada.

Our country's current national museum policy was established in 1972. It was last reviewed in 1990. The focus and concentration is on the national museums and institutions of larger scale. It is now time for Canada's new government to renew its commitment to museums, which are generators for our tourism and social sectors.

The museums assistance program, or MAP, was also created in 1972, with $7 million for grants to fund projects in non-federal museums. At that time there were 500 museums. Based on inflation, this investment would be equivalent to over $38 million today. MAP's current allocation is $6.5 million, for more than 2,600 museums.

Although this is a very valued program for preservation, conservation, and exhibits, clearly the vast majority will not receive any federal assistance.

We strongly recommend the development of a new national museum strategy and a complete review of the suite of heritage programs at the Department of Canadian Heritage and other appropriate departments in order to modernize and allow the appropriate level of investment of new funds.

At this time, we also believe that special focus needs to put be on creating the right conditions for Canadians to donate more robustly to their museums and heritage organizations, enabling them to increase their revenues and their long-term stability.

Aboriginal leadership in the museum community has increased over the last years, but indigenous participation in the broader museum community is still under-represented. As an important first step, we recommend the establishment of a new council of museums and indigenous people to review the progress achieved since 1992 in the landmark study on museums and first peoples, which was called “Turning the Page”, and to address the recommendations identified in the truth and reconciliation report as well as the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

[John McAvity]

Finally, museums across Canada are engaging in new and innovative activities to bolster a much more meaningful social role. From working with health agencies in developing therapeutic programs to dealing with the topics of climate change, mental health, sexual identity, death and grieving, and the prevention of crime, museums engage the public in important social issues.

For the most part, these museums today are not your grandparents' museums. They have changed dramatically. They had to, in order to survive. In fact, with dwindling public funds, they had to stand on their own two feet much more strongly. They strive to be community centres today, places of dialogue and learning.

Museums across Canada would also greatly benefit from a public appreciation campaign to raise awareness about not only their programming but also their impact and image. Museums are often, stereotypically, thought of as these dusty old cabinets, and that is an image we are very much trying to dispel. It is not what the community looks like today.

In short, we believe a campaign on public appreciation would be very valuable for a number of reasons, not the least of which is to highlight the important contributions of Canadian culture and heritage.

We thank you for your time today. We urge you to make this a very meaningful and significant study on the state of Canadian museums, and we look forward to your coming out with some very strong recommendations.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you, Mr. McAvity, Ms. Blanchette, Ms. Bachmann, and Ms. Burrows-Johnson.

Now we will go to a component of this, which is a question-and-answer period. The first round is a seven-minute round, which includes questions and answers. I'd like everybody to be as concise as possible in order to get many questions in.

We begin with Mr. O'Regan for the Liberals.

[Seamus O'Regan, Liberal, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

Thank you very much for your presentation.

I sat on the board of The Rooms in St. John's, Newfoundland, for 10 years. It housed our provincial museum, art gallery, and archives, and they now exist as one entity. They do remarkable things together. I say that for a point of reference.

Federal responsibilities for heritage and museums are set out in the Department of Canadian Heritage Act and the Museums Act. There are a number of programs we've looked at that support the museum sector. They include the museums assistance program, the movable cultural property program, the Canada travelling exhibitions indemnification program, Young Canada Works in Heritage Organizations, the Canada Cultural Investment Fund, the Canada Cultural Spaces Fund, the Canadian Conservation Institute, and the Canadian Heritage Information Network. That's a lot for individual museums to deal with.

Is that legislative framework adapting to your needs? How can the department go further to meet your needs? What changes would you like to see?

[John McAvity]

I'll give a kick at that.

Frankly, many of the department's programs are out of date, and they are no longer meeting the needs of the community. We have said that. We've been on record saying that. That is nothing new.

[Seamus O'Regan, Liberal, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

It was last reviewed in 1990, as you said.

[John McAvity]

Yes, 1990.

In fact, the museums assistance program was supposed to go up to about $20 million per year. That had been the promised commitment at that time. It never made it. Today it's less money than it was in 1972. It's close to almost irrelevant. Many larger museums do not have the time, particularly, to invest in an application process.

Now I have to say that the minister has recently made some changes to the administration of the program that are really good. They are going to speed up the process, but it has taken up to six months to get an answer back on grants. Hopefully that will be much quicker in the future, but the pot of money is still very small.

[Seamus O'Regan, Liberal, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

Okay.

Is there anything else from any of you?

[Karen Bachmann]

I'll just add that from a smaller museum's perspective, the grants can be quite daunting in terms of getting it together and putting it together.

[Seamus O'Regan, Liberal, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

Yes, that's been my experience, too.

[Karen Bachmann]

If you're just one or two staff members, the expertise required to actually formulate the application properly so that you get the right wording—

[Seamus O'Regan, Liberal, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

It is a singular expertise.

[Karen Bachmann]

You got it. In smaller institutions, it's a little more difficult. We do have very good people working in the department, however, who have offered a lot of support. The staff has been really good, but again, it is daunting for smaller museums, and it's competitive. Smaller museums are faced with competing against larger institutions that are much more sophisticated in their ability to deliver these kinds of things. The success rate is not as happy as it could be.

[Seamus O'Regan, Liberal, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

I'm still getting over the fact that 1990 is 26 years ago.

[Karen Bachmann]

Yes.

[Seamus O'Regan, Liberal, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

It blows me away.

We have a couple of programs that the last budget supported. The Canada Cultural Spaces Fund was at $24.9 million. I think we've moved it up to $168.2 million. That is meant to go to improvement, renovation, and construction of arts and heritage facilities, to specialized equipment, and to one that I'm really big on, which is the youth employment strategy. There's $330 million for that. Some of that is to go to the heritage sector for increased job opportunities for young Canadians in the heritage sector.

Obviously, I think that's something you'd welcome. I think we'd probably agree on that. I'm just wondering how you see yourselves utilizing it and how much help it will be in doing what you guys have to do every day.

[Manon Blanchette]

This will not perhaps be a direct answer to your question, but it was brought up in the text that I submitted. It was not the case 40 years ago, but today, museums are suffering from a great lack of funds for in-museum research. It was once considered that museums were centres for research. Now, that is no longer possible.

Who better to conduct research than museum curators, who have the objects close at hand? In my opinion, a special program should be developed to allow curators to identify objects first. A huge number of objects in museums are poorly identified, poorly catalogued and poorly accessible to the public, because they are not digitized. Now, with the Internet, we can have access to those objects digitally.

So there is an urgent need to establish a program like that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

You have two minutes.

[Seamus O'Regan, Liberal, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

With regard to information and communication technologies, I know that a number of institutions have been digitizing their collections and making them available to the public. Can you give us an idea of how the digitization of your collections or your presentations has worked for you? Is it taking up too much of your budget? Are you not receiving enough in order to complement it?