Canadian Heritage Committee on June 16th, 2016

[Robin Etherington]

Thank you, sir. I think I'm going to also let Alex answer this one, because it's—

[Alexandra Badzak]

—because it's so huge?

[Robin Etherington]

Well, it's about updating the museum policy. I don't have a specific answer, but we're not in the 1970s anymore, and with 21st-century challenges, museum policy has to incorporate youth engagement, multiculturalism, technology...and not just digitization.

I stepped onto the dark side in my career and was a technical writer for Nortel Networks. Even back then, there was a revolution in technology every six months. We ended up just putting the manuals online, because by the time we finished a manual, it was obsolete.

Museums and all cultural organizations are faced with that challenge of keeping up with the technology. The policy actually has to address all of that and the fact that we are working in an international world economy and society. Canadian society is contributing to the global society and the global culture, and we need to have our resources making us strong enough to play at that level.

On a long-term basis, this not going to happen overnight. This is a long-term review and research process that will incorporate all of the programs or get rid of some programs and build new programs. Again, I'm going back to a suite of policies and procedures that will affect us.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

Thank you.

[Alexandra Badzak]

To add to that, I think the original policy was very object-based and very protection-based. Those are all very important things, since we won't be museums without objects—the human rights museum may be the exception—but we now need to turn it around on a really basic level in terms of our thoughts and ideas about places of celebration. We know our spaces are beautiful spaces in which people want to congregate and commune with art, but because we have so much strength in our protection of the art work, we don't allow for that natural social gathering to occur.

That's just one tiny, small example. As Robin indicated, the digital world and all of its myriad factors weren't addressed at all.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

Thank you.

Ms. Etherington, in your document, you say that, next year, we will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Rideau Canal's designation as a UNESCO world heritage site. Has that designation added value to your museum in some way?

[Robin Etherington]

Merci, and yes, absolutely.

Being on a UNESCO world heritage site is.... First of all, Canada doesn't have many, and we need to celebrate being on one. It's also a national historic site. I think next year is the 75th anniversary of national historic sites in Canada.

We're a national historic site and we're a UNESCO world heritage site. You're absolutely right, the museum, the federal government, and the City of Ottawa need to incorporate that remarkable status in all of their promotions of Canada and of Ottawa.

In 2017 we're going to have millions of people here. They want to know that there is something that they can connect with at the international level.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

It's three celebrations, in a sense: the 10th year anniversary of the canal, the 100th year anniversary of your museum, and the 150th year of Canada. It's quite impressive.

[Robin Etherington]

Absolutely. Thank you, sir.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

It should play to that.

Ms. Badzak, I may have misunderstood, but I felt that, in your view, the bilingual services that are being provided added pressure on and costs to your services. I have a bit of a hard time understanding that. Actually, bilingualism attracts more visitors and generates more revenue. Could you just tell me what you think?

[Alexandra Badzak]

It certainly does, and that's our expectation. Nonetheless, it does mean that unlike the majority of art galleries across Canada, everything we produce is done in two languages. That just doubles our costs for everything. I don't want that to come across as a complaint, but it's a particular budgetary pressure that we face. It's an exciting one in the sense that we can draw upon a wider audience. We can form partnerships with Gatineau and their cultural institutions, not to mention the strong relationship we have with the University of Ottawa, which is a bilingual university.

I take your point that it came across as a complaint, I suppose. You were asking for the realities facing small museums, and those are some of the budgetary realities that we face.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

Could you both speak to the challenges in terms of training and development opportunities for your staff? Do you have enough money for that? What type of training and professional development do you provide to your paid employees?

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

I think you have 30 seconds within which to answer this question.

[Robin Etherington]

It's an excellent question.

It's an ongoing challenge. We have a small professional development budget or line, and we use every penny of it. On top of that, I sit on the Algonquin College museum studies programs advisory committee, and the committee for UNAM, the Mexican university. Both of us are guest lecturers at Algonquin College, the University of Ottawa, Peterborough, and the University of Toronto. We're trying to contribute to the professional development of our young people.

There is a longer answer to that. Yes, it is a challenge, but it is also an opportunity.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you very much.

I want to thank the witnesses for coming. I want to thank the members as well.

We now have to go in camera, so I would ask everyone to please leave as quickly as possible, ensuring that there is one staffer for each member of parliament and one for each party's whip. Everyone else should leave.

Thank you very much.

[Proceedings continue in camera]