Mr. John McAvity (Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Museums Association) at the Canadian Heritage Committee

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.