Canadian Heritage Committee on June 16th, 2016

[Catherine Cole]

Museums certainly are a part of civil society. We have a strange structure, in that some of them are public institutions that are lined up as part of government-run museums, and then some of them are part of the voluntary sector. However, all museums are part of the voluntary sector because we depend so heavily on volunteers for everything that we do.

Because museums are taking on much larger social themes and social issues, we are more and more involved in civil society, so we certainly do position ourselves in civil society, but as I was saying, the American funding model is so totally different that we can't play in that field. Canadians are not expecting to contribute to museums the way they do in the United States. We don't have the philanthropic model for that. You don't get the same type of tax benefits in Canada as they do. We don't have the foundations with the huge amounts of money that they do in the U.S. It's just a totally different place here from what it is there, and we can't follow their model in terms of culture.

[Peter Van Loan, Conservative, York—Simcoe, ON]

You guys are from Montreal. We've heard a lot about the museum directors' association in Montreal, and the benefits it has provided. That is a model I don't think I've seen in terms of the actual services to museums that are provided elsewhere in the country. Perhaps you could speak a bit about that, and the difference it's made to your museum. I assume you are members of it.

[Joanne Watkins]

The Montreal Canadian Art Museum Directors Organization has been around for a very long time and has actually put in place a pooling system. Unfortunately, we are not part of it. However, it was a very collegial project that brought a great deal of people together.

In the past, I was the coordinator of a network of museums in Montérégie. The network was called the Cellule régionale d'expertise en muséologie and was funded for a three-year period through a specific project by the ministry of culture. If we set up pilot projects, we need at least three years to do the work and get them off the ground. The network led joint promotion projects specifically in 17 museums. The money was for everyone, which is a great idea. That's what the Société des musées de Montréal is doing as well, just like the Société des musées du Québec and the Canadian Museums Association. They provide services to all the institutions that are members. The services vary. We are talking about training, support and technical services.

That might be an avenue worth exploring. Allowing associations to provide services to their members could be one way to help.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you, Ms. Watkins.

Mr. Breton, from the Liberals, you have three minutes, please.

[Pierre Breton, Liberal, Shefford, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

My thanks to the three witnesses for joining us today. Congratulations on your illustrious career, Mr. Poitras. It is a great source of pride for Quebec and Canada.

We have talked at length about the financial challenges. Among other things, you mentioned government commitments, particularly for Canada. I would like to know whether there have been commitments or some sort of participation in previous years, of which I am not aware. When you talk about disengagement, are you referring to the funding that you received from Canadian Heritage or other departments and to which you are no longer entitled today? I would like to make sure I understand your remarks.

[Joanne Watkins]

The amounts are not going up, which means that there is a decrease to some extent. More and more groups are submitting projects and are trying to obtain funding. That's the way things are playing out. The grant from the ministry of culture to museums has not gone up in a number of years.

[Pierre Breton, Liberal, Shefford, QC]

It is stagnant.

[Joanne Watkins]

The costs are increasing and we are doing more with far less. We are very creative and you have to see it. All museums are.

[Pierre Breton, Liberal, Shefford, QC]

Congratulations for your work and your resilience.

[Jean-Claude Poitras]

I think the time has come to think and act differently. We really must think differently.

To illustrate, I helped with the groundwork of a development project that started slowly four years ago. It reached the pinnacle of its success in Toronto at the largest furniture show in Canada.

In a way, it was the initiative of the regional CEGEP of Lanaudière in Terrebonne, where they have an industrial design department. They came to see me to tell me that, first of all, it was time to reposition Quebec, but eventually and ideally, it was time to reposition all of Canada with respect to our approach to design and our activities.

Two colleagues, who are industrial designers and researchers, and I created what we called the reference guide to Quebec furniture to try to find a new way to approach this fuzzy picture of furniture manufacturers in Quebec. We did that because the furniture industry is very important in Canada. Those who have withstood the Asian wave of production are searching inside themselves a little, calling themselves into question and wondering how they will stand out and what they will do. They are constantly in survival mode. They must go in a different direction.

We thought that we really needed to believe in the power of design in order to stand out and we have gone back to our roots and our traditions over the years. First, we persuaded seven manufacturers.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Mr. Breton, I'm afraid I am going to have to ask Mr. Nantel to kindly allow you to finish that bit in his three minutes.

[Pierre Nantel, NDP, Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Mr. Poitras, could you elaborate on your idea by focusing on the fact that designer Philippe Dagenais closed his shop. We have to have a clear picture.

[Jean-Claude Poitras]

I'm sorry, but I have to set the record straight. Mr. Dagenais is a great interior designer who sold his name to business people a number of years ago. So Mr. Dagenais has no longer been involved in this business for over 10 years.

There is a connection to fashion because we have matched seven industrial designers with seven manufacturers and we tried to find what might define us. So we showed the first results four years later in Toronto, which was an incredible success. We won two of the most prestigious prizes of the show. We were referred to as “the jewel of the show”. It was a revelation for all the journalists. Right now, we are covered both in Milano and Paris in amazing publications. It was all done internally by getting everyone involved.

Export Québec is behind us. We have the government's support because we dared to do things differently. We have even convinced those at the base, the manufacturers, making sure that we had the government's support. I think that's what we need to take away today. We need stimulating projects that result from the commitment both of the government and the industry as a whole.

[Pierre Nantel, NDP, Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC]

You are absolutely right.

It is interesting and I am glad you mentioned the Korean model given that I gave the Minister and her office the book entitled The Birth of Korean Cool. This book talks precisely about what is happening in Korea. The best known phenomenon, the famous Gangnam Style song, is a government initiative and is completely supported by the state.

By the way, Ms. Watkins, are you aware that, in terms of the support for theatre, there has been this—

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

You have about one minute.

[Pierre Nantel, NDP, Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC]

There was a sort of crisis during which the big theatre institutions bemoaned the fact that they were losing sources of funding because they were giving younger people a chance. Do you think museums are experiencing this trend?

[Joanne Watkins]

I wish that were the case. However, I can say that the networks and museums are not big risk takers. Museums do not come forward as strongly as that. I think this actually is a statement of who we are. You are right that museums are doing cultural mediation, and that's what development is. We must stop thinking of museums as closed places with collections.

In that sense, museums need to assert themselves a little more; it can become, as we said earlier, a new brand for Canada's museums. That's where we are.

[Pierre Nantel, NDP, Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you very much.

I would like to thank the witnesses for being present. I know the time was very limited, but we're doing an overview, so I guess we're getting a sense from you of what is right or what is wrong or what needs to change.

I did not know, for instance, until I went to this place called Design Exchange in Toronto, that Canada, after the Second World War, was a leader in industrial design. All those kettles came out of the aluminium lights from the planes that we made. We became an icon in industrial design during that era. Nobody knows about it. I didn't know about it until I visited the museum. I thought, whoa, we need to celebrate this as part of our history. For our 150th, we need to say this is where we were, not only in those kettles, etc., but in a lot of resin furniture, a lot of plastic design, clocks, the console that housed the television and the hi-fi and everything all in one space. We designed that. That was a Canadian design that was really popular in the 1950s.

I think you make a very important point, and thank you very much for coming.

[Joanne Watkins]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

We will just have a minute for the witnesses to leave before we go into the second part of this meeting.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Members, we'll begin the second round, and we will need time for an in camera session for business.

Mr. Nantel, may I ask you to take the chair for a couple of minutes?

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, Pierre Nantel]

We will resume the committee's work.

I would like to welcome our witnesses, Alexandra Badzak, director and chief executive officer of the Ottawa Art Gallery, and Robin Etherington, executive director of the Bytown Museum. If I'm not mistaken, that museum is just next to us, near the locks.

Ms. Etherington, go ahead.

[Robin Etherington, Executive Director, Bytown Museum]

Merci.

Through you, Mr. Chair, I consider this opportunity to speak before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage a personal privilege, but also it's an honour to represent the Bytown Museum and to speak on behalf of all community museums and community galleries across our remarkable country of Canada.

The Bytown Museum is a registered, not-for-profit charity, as are most community museums and galleries across Canada. The Bytown Museum is now in compliance with the federal Corporations Act, as of October 2014. We could talk about that, but we're going to move forward, because I only have five minutes.

What I want to emphasize at this time—

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, Pierre Nantel]

You have 10 minutes.