Evidence of meeting #139 for Canadian Heritage in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was example.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Patricia Lattanzio Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
Have they made recommendations to you? Have they been specific? If they have, would you be able to share those recommendations or those findings with the committee?
Executive Director, MediaSmarts
Has the CJF made recommendations? No, not at all. We have not had those conversations with them.
Liberal
Executive Director, MediaSmarts
It's not part of our mission, our vision or our work.
Liberal
Patricia Lattanzio Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
Okay. I'll go back to some of the questions that were asked this afternoon, in terms of establishing that public trust. We've made comments around the table in terms of the role of politicians. Do politicians who mislead the public with regard to false notions—we've heard about people being forced to eat bugs or about the non-existence of a dental program that a million people have been able to access to date—enhance or hurt the trust of the public, in your opinion?
Executive Director, MediaSmarts
As we've stated, I'm not familiar with these specific examples. However, what we do know, from our work with young people and from work in the field, is that it is really important for authority figures, figures in whom people have trust, to be as truthful as they possibly can and to share good, factual information. That helps to build trust in democracy and trust in institutions. We know that if people with influence deliberately share misinformation or disinformation, that has more impact than if it came from elsewhere.
Liberal
Patricia Lattanzio Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
You spoke extensively in your opening remarks on the key of digital media literacy and on educating the youth. Can you explain exactly where this takes place? Are you invoking programs in schools? How are you ensuring that the youth are media-savvy or able to distinguish among what is true, what is factual and what the sources are? How are you helping to implement this for the youth?
Executive Director, MediaSmarts
We've been doing this work for about 26 years. We were started by a group of concerned citizens. We're a completely independent charity. We seek funding from multiple sources.
We started to create resources for educators. We have a suite of resources, lesson plans, workshops, games, activities and tipsheets for parents and for educators. All are available on our website, free of charge, in English and in French. Everything is always bilingual and always free of charge. It's there for any educator in the country to use in the classroom.
We also provide resources with broad public awareness campaigns for adults. We've done work with new Canadians. We've done work in shelters. We've done all kinds of projects to help increase the digital and media literacy of our citizens.
Liberal
Patricia Lattanzio Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
My last question is for you, Mr. Sérafin.
I'm going to give you the opportunity now to answer that question: What do you think of Mr. Poilievre's decision to muzzle his MPs, who are seeking to defend and advocate on behalf of their community for such programs as housing?
Assistant Professor, University of Ottawa, As an Individual
My answer is this: I don't know what I think about Edmund Burke's views about parliamentary democracy. This is a debate that I think relates to the relationship between individual, elected parliamentarians and their constituencies.
Honestly, I don't have a strong opinion on this.
Conservative
Damien Kurek Conservative Battle River—Crowfoot, AB
I can assure him that the Conservatives are free to support our leader, and—
November 20th, 2024 / 5:55 p.m.
Conservative
Conservative
The Vice-Chair Conservative Kevin Waugh
Let's come back, here. Come back to the chair, please.
You're out of time. Yes, that was five minutes and 20 seconds. Thank you, Ms. Lattanzio.
Mr. Sérafin, I think you were asked at one point if you would submit a brief. If you want to submit a brief, you have until December 6. Then the analysts will work over the break. When we come back in January, we should have the makings of a report.
I want to thank you.
I also want to thank Ms. Hill and Mr. Johnson.
For the committee, on Monday from 11:00 to 1:00, we will have Catherine Tait.
For the continuation of the freedom of expression study, the clerk is trying to add from 3:30 to 5:30 or maybe 6:30, depending on resources. The problem we have is this: We don't have enough witnesses, so please get to Danielle as soon as you can with a list of witnesses. We're having some issues. Some have agreed, then backed out for various reasons. If we're going to extend on Monday for two or three hours, she needs to get on this right away so we can have that extra time on this report.
Is the committee in agreement, then? Okay.
Yes, go ahead, Mr. Noormohamed.
Liberal
Taleeb Noormohamed Liberal Vancouver Granville, BC
I know other people have committee on Monday afternoon. When will we know from the clerk whether we have resources? That's so we can plan substitutes and whatever we need to plan.
Conservative
The Vice-Chair Conservative Kevin Waugh
She's hoping it's as soon as possible.
I saw the list of committees for Monday. You're right. It's fairly heavy.
It's as soon as she can get back to us. It's all about resources.
Liberal
Taleeb Noormohamed Liberal Vancouver Granville, BC
If we can't, we'll have to figure out an alternate plan.
Liberal
Michael Coteau Liberal Don Valley East, ON
Today we had two hours for two witnesses. We usually have three witnesses for one hour. Let's maximize the time, please. Let's not draw it out. If we get only two or three people, let's not split it up and add more time for no reason. It should be three witnesses per hour and not extended past that, in order to be efficient.
Conservative
The Vice-Chair Conservative Kevin Waugh
Thank you.
Are there any other comments?
Are we in agreement to adjourn?