Evidence of meeting #23 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 fashion.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
General Director, Fashion Museum
As my colleague said, this activity consumes a tremendous amount of time museum management team members have. I have been in this environment for 30 years, and I feel that all I currently do is look for ways to obtain money. I do management work, of course, but I no longer do what I have to do. I seek out funding.
Liberal
Dan Vandal Liberal Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, MB
Canadian Heritage manages a number of programs, such as the museums assistance program, the movable cultural property program and young Canada works.
Does your museum use Canadian Heritage programs and services? You mentioned the young Canada works program. What is your experience with Canadian Heritage when it comes to that?
General Director, Fashion Museum
Every year, we submit requests to young Canada works and Canada summer jobs, and they are accepted. This year, Canada summer jobs provided us with funding to hire two individuals for seven weeks. They are just getting in and out. That short period of time does not allow them to do a lot of work. It's not sufficiently long, both in the case of young Canada works programs and the Canada summer jobs programs.
This year, we received funding from the museums assistance program for a collections management project, which will help us reorganize the reserve. When we moved to Montreal, we received funding from Canadian Heritage for the installation and set-up of our room, which was extremely helpful. We have a very nice room that meets the standards and is well organized for presenting expositions.
Yes, we are familiar with the programs and yes, we request funding every year. However, the response is not always the one we expect, even if it is positive.
Liberal
Dan Vandal Liberal Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, MB
Do you have any suggestions for the committee today to improve the existing programs for museums?
General Director, Fashion Museum
A program could be created for the new generation—young graduates—to enable them to join an institution to apply their knowledge. However, that program should last longer than seven weeks. For example, it could be a two-year program.
We get a huge number of people with a master's degree who hold temporary positions through student employment programs. Unfortunately, as those programs provide for very short employment periods, graduates look for another job and go elsewhere to build their career.
A program of that kind would be extremely welcome.
Liberal
Dan Vandal Liberal Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, MB
You talked about jobs lasting seven weeks, which is not a very long time. Has that period been longer in the past? Has its length changed over the past few years?
General Director, Fashion Museum
Yes, it was a bit longer before. Undergraduate students can start working in May instead of June. From May to August, there are four months of work, which would be better.
The fact remains that these jobs are a form of temporary support and should not replace permanent jobs. Permanent teams must first be created. The temporary jobs support these teams.
We make agreements with vocational schools, including the Collège Montmorency, because museum technicians often use museums as study topics. A project on the reserve collection was launched by a group of students. They came to study the reserve collection and gave us suggestions.
We make agreements with vocational schools, but that involves a great deal of human resources management.
Liberal
Dan Vandal Liberal Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, MB
Since we only have one minute left, I will let you speak so you can share your most important message with the committee.
General Director, Fashion Museum
The most important thing is to recognize the value of museums by establishing programs that help them fulfill their mandates. I am referring to mandates regarding conservation, dissemination, and research.
As long as we are struggling to find funding to fulfill our mandates, certain work won't get done, and often, it's the collections that suffer.
Liberal
Conservative
Peter Van Loan Conservative York—Simcoe, ON
Thank you very much.
Ms. Watkins, you identified four challenges, but you had a limited amount of time. Can you identify any other challenges?
Conservative
General Director, Fashion Museum
Exactly.
The challenges are abundant. Managing a museum is a major challenge because important duties need to be carried out that involve more than focusing on specific things. Much else needs to be done.
President, Fashion Museum
I would also add that a sense of long-term commitment needs to be apparent. I am here to make sure the entire Canadian industry is informed.
We have a great history, and people don't even know it. I think it's very important for the history to be known for the retailers I approach to take interest in the museum. It's also important for our Canadian manufacturers, in both the fur and fashion industries. However, they don't feel a sense of long-term or short-term commitment. This instability prevents them from becoming fully involved in supporting the museum.
We need to approach the major Canadian manufacturers and generate interest among the country's major fashion retailers. It's a vibrant and large industry, but its significance is disregarded. French, Italian, American, and British people are very proud of their fashion sector because a museum exists to tell its story. We continue our work because we're passionate about it. However, we sometimes feel a bit vulnerable because of the lack of short-term, medium-term, and long-term commitment. We need it to show that we'll mobilize and integrate all the strengths of Canada's fashion industry.
Conservative
Peter Van Loan Conservative York—Simcoe, ON
Related to that, or building on that, the experts these days say that our economy is shifting to one that's focused more on cities than on countries, that the success of cities to be quality economic places depends on their success in the creative sectors of the economy. Those creative sectors depend on a couple of things that museums might contribute to. One is a high quality of life that attracts those creative people, but also institutions like yours that are focused on design, design being one of those creative industries that's supposed to be a driving force in higher-value economies these days.
Could you speak to the role that your museum has developed, or should develop, in terms of that integration with those elements of the local economy in Montreal?
President, Fashion Museum
We want our museum to fulfill the duty to remember. To be proud of our history, we must first learn our history. It's important, because we're the keepers.
Conservative
Peter Van Loan Conservative York—Simcoe, ON
Of course, in fashion everything that goes around comes around 15 years later.
President, Fashion Museum
Of course. However, it's very important to know that we don't want our museum to focus only on the past. We want to integrate all the emerging young designers and new and dynamic companies. We want the museum to be a home for all those who believe in and support Canadian fashion.
Fashion has an extraordinary element that represents Canada's very essence, that is, it brings all communities together. I was born in Quebec and I'm francophone, but anglophone manufacturers gave me my start, and I have worked with the best designers, including Portuguese and Italian designers. Canadian fashion has an extraordinary international flavour that brings people together.
Not only are we telling a great story, but we also play an exceptional role in the story, one people don't suspect. For example, in the beginning, the fur industry was very important across Canada. The industry continues to innovate with recycled fur and with all the young people who are making fur relevant. The museum tells this story, and they're all encouraged to share their experiences with us. For each of our exhibits, we make sure to invite four or five current designers to create a piece based on the exhibit's theme.
We are rooted in a reality where innovation and tradition come together.
