Canadian Heritage Committee on March 20th, 2018

[Anne Élisabeth Thibault, Director, Exhibitions-Technology Development, Pointe-à-Callière, Montréal Museum of Archaeology and History]

Now I will give you an overview of our situation, since that is one of the reasons you invited us here today. My comments will pertain to Pointe-à-Callière, a history museum and historic site.

Like the previous witnesses, we are of the view that the lack of resources hinders development. As everyone knows, the obligation to be innovative and at the forefront of museography looms large in the current ecosystem. What's more, we have to deliver a diverse range of experiences that visitors increasingly expect. This means that the museum, in and of itself, must be an experience. We must stay abreast of communication trends and advances in knowledge, while building partnerships as part of our mission. Museums accomplish a lot with very little. Museums have a sweeping mission to promote culture, education, awareness, and heritage preservation, not to mention welcome the public, mount exhibits, and undertake cultural initiatives. Consequently, museums serve as spaces for dialogue and public interaction. Meeting all of these challenges can be very difficult without stable operating funding.

Every museum institution must seek out diverse sources of operating funding, both public and private. That is our approach at Pointe-à-Callière, but programs are few and focus mainly on individual projects, an issue that was raised earlier. As we see it, operating funding is the building block necessary to fully carry out our mission. Pointe-à-Callière is one of the major museums that receives funding solely from the City of Montreal, its own city. Sixty per cent of the museum's funding comes from the city, with ticket sales, donations, and sponsorships accounting for the rest.

More and more people are visiting museums. We heard a prime example earlier, and it is also the case for us. In 1992, the museum expected to welcome about 150,000 visitors, which was very good at the time. Today, however, Pointe-à-Callière has 463,000 visitors, a substantial increase. Our welcome centre is much too cramped for this growing number of visitors.

When it comes to public funding, heritage is often overlooked. It doesn't fall in the art museum and artistic organization category, which is covered by the Canada Council for the Arts. By building partnerships with provinces, municipalities, and the private sector, the Government of Canada could play a larger role in supporting museums whose mission is to preserve and showcase heritage so it is accessible to Canadians.

History museums are a category of institutions that would naturally fall under the jurisdiction of Heritage Canada. The Canada Council for the Arts is one of 12 crown corporations that report to Heritage Canada, and yet history museums are not able to access its programs. No counterpart exists to support heritage.

[Louise Pothier]

I'd like to draw your attention to a peculiar aspect of the broader network of national historic sites, which, as you no doubt know, are governed by Parks Canada. The agency has been part of the Department of the Environment since 2003, rather than the Department of Canadian Heritage. Parks Canada is also in charge of Canada's major archaeological collections. In our view, linkages between the Department of Canadian Heritage and Parks Canada should be established to facilitate the funding of national historic sites not administered by Parks Canada. More than 750 such sites exist across the country.

Now I'd like to share with you a real-life example, one of our own experiences. The Fort Ville-Marie-Quebecor Pavilion, located on the site where Montreal was founded—a national historic site—was inaugurated in May 2017 in honour of Montreal's 375th anniversary. We received tremendous support from Parks Canada, through a program that provided preservation grants. This was a million-dollar project, and thanks to the grant, we were able to create an incredible preservation system to protect this extremely fragile site. Without Parks Canada's support, we would have had a very hard time achieving the level of innovation required to preserve and showcase the site. We very much appreciate the funding support, but it does not help cover the additional operating costs associated with the new pavilion. We have a new system accessible to the public, but it was paid for using our capital and preservation budgets. Now we have to look for funding to cover the operating costs.

I'd like to end on a different topic: the threat that looms over the heritage of religious communities. In the years ahead, many of these communities will hand over the management of their heritage assets. What organizations will be called upon to take over the management of these historic buildings, collections, and archives, and with what money? A huge part of Canadian history is at risk of being forgotten. The Government of Canada needs to play a central role in preserving and promoting these historic buildings and collections, for which funding is rarely, if ever, accessible.

[Anne Élisabeth Thibault]

I will conclude our presentation this morning with some recommendations. We have four.

First, we recommend that the government establish a fund where it would match private contributions, as is the case with the Canada Council for the Arts. Similarly, perhaps a Canada council for heritage could administer recurring funding for museums. This is an opportunity the federal government could leverage without interfering in provincial jurisdiction.

Second, we recommend that the government create a program, administered by a federal agency like Parks Canada, to support regional museums that manage collections or buildings of national historic significance. The program would provide access to recurring operating funding. The government could play a role in preserving and promoting national collections, for example that of the Parliament of United Canada located in Montreal. We have managed to remove 350,000 artifacts from the site after two summers of archaeological digs. Special funding to facilitate the restoration, digitization, accessibility, promotion, and maintenance of heritage assets is extremely important.

Third, we recommend that the government establish a strategy to preserve religious heritage by pooling capacity. That would involve staff optimization and the pooling of resources. It would also require the support of museums, which have expertise in managing movable, immovable, and documentary heritage assets to ensure they remain accessible to current and future generations.

As a side note, I would point out that Canada's religious heritage makes up an invaluable part of its history. This heritage represents religious institutions that settled in Canada, and thus, America. It is all the more important that we step in to look after these heritage assets given that, thus far, they have been handled with care by their communities and remain in excellent condition.

Fourth and finally, we recommend that the government provide support for international outreach. The federal government could actively contribute to the vitality of Canadian museums by financially supporting their international development efforts, thus raising Canada's visibility on the world stage. Currently, the museums assistance program provides similar support through its travelling exhibitions component, but only in Canada. The government should consider expanding the program to include international travelling exhibitions. We are endeavouring to diversify our funding sources, and since we produce our own exhibits, integrating travelling exhibitions is part of our plans. Funding to assist with travelling exhibits would be very welcome.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Julie Dabrusin]

Thank you.

Now we're going to our question and answer period. There will be seven minutes for the question and answer.

We will begin with Mr. Hogg, please.

[Gordie Hogg, Liberal, South Surrey—White Rock, BC]

Thank you.

Is there a correlation between the age a person first attends an art gallery or museum and their continued participation?

[Hank Bull]

I can answer that from personal experience. I grew up in Toronto. Living in downtown Toronto, at the age of eight, I used to walk in the front doors of the Royal Ontario Museum to look at the mummies and all their treasures. I had amazing experiences as a child and a young teenager in seeing major retrospectives of the work of Picasso, Van Gogh, and Mondrian, all at the Art Gallery of Ontario. They were life-changing experiences and set me on my path to being an artist.

Today, at the Vancouver Art Gallery, we welcome record numbers of art students and public school students. Many of the students come from schools that no longer have very robust art programs within the schools and depend very much on the Vancouver Art Gallery for that aspect of their education. Education is one of the major roles played by the museum.

[Louise Pothier]

I would add that approximately 100,000 young people visit us at Pointe-à-Callière year after year, depending on the school strikes that may occur. We realize that, for them, it is an introduction to the world of museums. In our school programs, we can see how much the teaching of history, in both elementary and high school, completely changes young people's perspectives.

Since the museum has been around for about 25 years, we get to see the students, who had visited us during the school programs, return as young adults or later on in their lives. They do come back. We know this because they mention it to our guides. They tell us that they discovered the museum thanks to the school programs.

The education sector is extremely important to us, not only because of how many visitors it draws to our museum, but also because young people are the future, the visitors of tomorrow. Reaching out to a wide range of visitors who come from schools is essential to us.

[Gordie Hogg, Liberal, South Surrey—White Rock, BC]

Those are great anecdotal reviews of it. Have there been any studies done on early participation or attendance that then continues on an ongoing basis? Do you know of any studies worldwide with respect to that?

[Anne Élisabeth Thibault]

Worldwide in terms of statistics? We take our own statistics on visitorship at the museum, but in terms of larger visitorship, I wouldn't be able to tell. On our end, about a quarter of our visitors are students. We take them from a very early age, from five years old, and they come until the end of high school age when they're about 17.

[Gordie Hogg, Liberal, South Surrey—White Rock, BC]

I would suspect there is a correlation. Certainly there is with respect to elections, and people who participate earlier in political processes tend to vote more often and continue to do so, so I imagine there is a correlation.

Mr. Bull, I was interested in what you need to do. You're talking about getting $50 million as an endowment fund as part of your budgeting process. How far away are you from being able to get into the ground, and are you intending to get all of your funding in place prior to commencing?

[Hank Bull]

We need to have the commitment of the provincial and the federal governments before we put a shovel in the ground. We cannot proceed without that. We don't need to have all the funding in place before we start. It's a bit like making a movie. You get the money to shoot, and then you get the money to do the post-production.

We can be raising money throughout the process, but we need, of course, to be confident that it's there and that it's forthcoming. That's important.

[Gordie Hogg, Liberal, South Surrey—White Rock, BC]

Also with respect to the growth that's happened in metro Vancouver, could you talk about the impact or the participation of new Canadians in the work that you're doing?

[Hank Bull]

Absolutely. It's not only about new Canadians, but we have a very strong commitment to first nations and indigeneity. We've produced major exhibitions and major publications in that vein. We have also created what is called the Institute of Asian Art, which has been going for three years. It's been highly successful.

There is good cultural diversity throughout the organization at the level of the board, the staff, and the artistic program, and we really see ourselves as a lead player in the Asia gateway, Canada's initiatives, not only to encourage trade and exchange across the Pacific, but also to help Canadians understand what is a massive historic change for this country.

[Gordie Hogg, Liberal, South Surrey—White Rock, BC]

I have one other question. When your project gets completed, what impact do you expect to have on the smaller museums and art galleries in metro Vancouver, and indeed, in British Columbia more broadly?

[Hank Bull]

The smaller museums in British Columbia already depend on the Vancouver Art Gallery for exhibitions that we package and send out across the province. We're very much part of the cultural life of British Columbia. The soundings that we have conducted in cities like Nanaimo or Prince George have elicited very strong support for the new building.

[The Chair, Liberal, Julie Dabrusin]

You still have a minute, if you like.

[Hank Bull]

I would like to say something about your educational question. International studies have been done by Pew Charitable Trusts and various other organizations around the world. I know personally from my work with Michaëlle Jean when she was the Governor General that she was fond of quoting statistics that showed the effect of museums and art education on crime prevention, citizenship, health, and all sorts of things that you don't normally associate with the arts. The arts are really one of the major humanizing forces we have as a civilization, especially in an era of fake news and all that we hear about mind-jacking and so on. Art galleries are what help you to think and help you to maintain an independent intelligence.

[The Chair, Liberal, Julie Dabrusin]

Thank you for that.

We are going to Mr. Shields, please, for seven minutes.

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

I'm an old guy. We didn't call it fake news in the old days. We just called it gossip and rumour. It's got a new title these days.

I really appreciated the presentations.

Mr. Bull, when you talked about your financing, you mentioned $40 million and $50 million numbers. Is $40 million from fundraising?

[Hank Bull]

It's $40 million-plus from board members and close friends of the gallery in a quiet phase of the fundraising campaign.

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

How long did it take you to raise that?

[Hank Bull]

We've been raising that for four or five years now. Some of it goes back further, because the province came in 10 years ago with its first investment of $50 million, so fundraising has been going on for a long time.

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

Do you own the property that you are currently in, and is it available, in a sense, for you as a resource to sell?

[Hank Bull]

No, it's not. The land is owned by the City of Vancouver, and the building, the former courthouse, is owned by the Province of British Columbia. We have no say over its future destiny.

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

When you talk of quiet fundraising, then, are you talking now of a broader public fundraising process?