Canadian Heritage Committee on Feb. 12th, 2026

[Joëlle Montminy]

Yes, certainly.

Obviously, first, we recognize the importance and urgency of taking action in this area, to protect culture in the digital environment. We were there and we did so, without necessarily having a binding protocol at UNESCO. Other countries have also acted in this space.

That said, we recognize that UNESCO is one of the important forums for discussing governance of artificial intelligence and digital platforms in general. There are also other forums to do that. Minister Solomon is responsible for broader governance of AI. As part of the work under the 2005 Convention, we absolutely want to explore the path of a protocol, as we have done.

In recent years, as you know, together with Quebec, we have encouraged UNESCO's Secretary-General to advance her analysis. Sufficiently advanced analyses are required if we want buy-in from enough countries to give the protocol the clout it needs to regulate digital platforms. We have to demonstrate that there's a need, light the way forward and indicate what kind of principle should be included in the protocol.

In our opinion, the work is coming along nicely. I think we've received all the information we needed. At this stage, we're going to try to build consensus around these issues. Operational directives are part of it as well, but they can be complementary.

[The Chair, Liberal, Lisa Hepfner]

Thank you.

Mrs. Thomas, you have the floor now for five minutes.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

One of the observations I've made over the years is that grants made available to communities for festivals or community events often go to large cities. The minister sat here earlier and talked about Montreal as an example. Vancouver receives a lot of money. Toronto receives a lot of money. These big centres receive a lot of money.

My community is Lethbridge. It has a population of about 110,000 people. It's not rural and it's not super urban, so it often gets left out.

What is available in these estimates with regard to a community like mine?

[Véronique Côté, Chief Financial Officer, Department of Canadian Heritage]

Specific to these estimates, the building communities through arts and heritage program is receiving $400,000. This is available to a number of festivals.

Of course, we have more in our main budget that covers festivals and events across the country. There's a lot of assessment that is being done to determine which festivals and which events will get funding. Unfortunately, it is a program that is oversubscribed, so there is limited funding available.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

What metrics are taken into account and what provisions are made to make sure that smaller communities are considered, in addition to these larger ones?

[Francis Bilodeau]

It's a really good question. I've lived interesting dynamics around other programs that are major grants and contributions programs. I think we should get you more detail on this. Generally, for most grants and contributions programming, there's a review of both regional programming and rural versus urban to try to ensure equity.

Four weeks in, I do not have the detail on the specific programs and how that's built into the application. I don't know if others do, but it is a really valid point, and I'm happy to provide more information to the committee on that, unless Blair happens to know in more detail.

[Blair McMurren, Assistant Deputy Minister, Cultural Affairs, Department of Canadian Heritage]

In one of the programs in our department that supports festivals, the Canada arts presentation fund, which is for professional arts presentation, there's been a deliberate effort in recent years to calibrate it to support more smaller and medium-sized festivals, which tend to be in smaller centres. That's a deliberate policy calibration that's going on.

We have other programming in the department, such as the program Véronique just mentioned, that is focused on smaller, community-based, non-professional festivals. We're constantly looking at the balance in terms of recipients.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Thank you. I can appreciate that.

Having looked at that funding, I see that the majority of it stays east, largely in Quebec. When the minister talks about social cohesion and our country being unified, part of that is making sure that dollars flow east and west and don't just get caught up in the larger centres or in eastern Canada as a whole. I think that's just a note of caution for those at the table.

My next question has to do with the anti-hate network.

Minister Guilbeault appeared here at this committee on September 24. He was asked a question with regard to the Anti-Hate Network. It's reported and well known that the Anti-Hate Network received about $1 million in federal grants from 2020 onward. We also know that they target pro-life Catholics as well as conservatives under the pretext of exposing “neo-Nazis”.

Further to that, the Liberal government's current Minister of Public Safety has said that they have in fact found bias within the network, and in 2022, a small claims court judge accepted evidence that the Canadian Anti-Hate Network assisted antifa, which is an incredibly violent organization as well.

The minister at the time committed that he would undertake a review of this organization and whether they should be receiving funding. Has that review been completed? That commitment was made by the minister on September 24 here at the committee.

[Francis Bilodeau]

Andrew should be able to follow up directly on that one. I know that we did look specifically at that contribution, and I know that we did bring forward changes to our programs more generally. Following a series of issues that were brought to our attention, we did strengthen our programs to require an attestation—

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

My question wasn't whether you strengthened the programs; my question was whether a specific review was done on the Anti-Hate Network. If so, it actually needs to be tabled with this committee, as per that meeting that took place on September 24.

[Andrew Brown]

I can confirm that this review was completed at Canadian Heritage. We continue to maintain our relationship with the funding recipient, the Canadian Anti-Hate Network—

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Again, the minister agreed at that meeting on September 24 that the review would be tabled with this committee and that he would get back to us in terms of decisions made. Will your department give those documents to this committee to see?

[Francis Bilodeau]

You have my commitment to come back to the chair of the committee not long after this to identify what's been done in terms of documents and then, as appropriate, share them within the bounds of what I can do within any privacy constraints or other constraints.

Definitely, if there is a study that is within the bounds of what we can release, we will do that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Lisa Hepfner]

Mrs. Thomas, can we just clarify for the officials? Are we requesting specific information from them to come back to committee? Can you maybe specify exactly what you want to hear from them?

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Sure.

I think it would be easy enough for us to look back on September 24, at the meeting that took place with former minister Guilbeault, in order to understand exactly what was committed to. However, my record would say that the minister committed to do a full review of the Anti-Hate Network and then come to a decision as to whether or not funding would continue. He said that the decision would be reported back to us.

[The Chair, Liberal, Lisa Hepfner]

In regard to your excellent question about mid-sized cities getting funding, did you get adequate answers from the officials here, or are we asking for more information on that as well?

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Thank you. I appreciate that.

I believe their commitment was to get more information to me on that as well.

[The Chair, Liberal, Lisa Hepfner]

Okay.

We'll go to Ms. Royer for five minutes.

[Zoe Royer, Liberal, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

British Columbia is home to an internationally revered modern dance company, the iconic Ballet BC. At the same time, Ballet Vancouver is emerging as a new and extraordinary classical ballet company. They are actually repatriating Canadian talent back from institutions such as the American Ballet Theatre.

How is the department ensuring that federal policy supports both established flagship institutions and emerging companies that strengthen Canada's cultural sovereignty by retaining and bringing home our own elite artistic talent?

[Blair McMurren]

The department focuses on the next generation of talent through different ways and different components of programs. One that's notable, in our view, is the Canada arts training fund. It specifically funds a unique set of post-secondary institutions. This is the next generation of performing artists in specific disciplines like ballet and theatre, with a strong lens on diversity and a strong student assistance component to ensure that participation is equitable. It is looking to the future and the diversity of that next generation.

[Zoe Royer, Liberal, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

That's incredible.

I have a follow-up question on that.

When Canadian dancers and artists must build careers abroad due to limited domestic infrastructure, does the department view this as a cultural competitiveness issue? What tools exist to reverse that artistic talent departure?

[Blair McMurren]

It's an excellent policy question that we look at from a number of angles in terms of arts administration. It comes up in that context when leaders of cultural institutions are recruited and leave Canada. It's likewise for the artists, who are also the public faces of these institutions.

It's for this reason that we invest in all parts of the value chain in terms of performing arts—the training upstream, the cultural infrastructure and the audience development or the presentation to the public—so that they are in a position to be competitive in Canada and vis-à-vis international competition as well.

[Francis Bilodeau]

Ballet and the institutions in Canada are still ones that I'm getting to know. I will just mention that earlier this week I met with Canada's National Ballet School. They were expressing that Canada is actually a leader on the world stage and attracting people from all across.... Actually, through that recognition, it's exporting Canadian values and Canadian culture. I was quite impressed with the place that Canada takes in the world of ballet.

I'm looking forward to engaging with the other institutions in that space as well.

[Zoe Royer, Liberal, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

I really appreciate that.

The minister mentioned that the arts contribute $130 billion to the Canadian economy. We have many flagship organizations in B.C. In the Lower Mainland, we call them the “G8”. They include the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the Vancouver Art Gallery, Bard on the Beach, the Arts Club Theatre Company and Arts Umbrella. These extraordinary institutions are central to our Canadian identity.

Is the department able to ensure that predictable and sustainable core operating support happens, so that these institutions remain globally competitive?

[Francis Bilodeau]

I'll see if Blair wants to add anything, but the core of our mission is supporting the arts and culture. A huge amount of what we do is provide supports and financial supports to both the institutions and the artists. It's part of our work to continuously review our suite of programs and ensure that we're providing adequate funding. You know, the government faces multiple pressures within funding envelopes, but it is our commitment to make sure that we have programs that are both evolving with the time and providing adequate supports to the communities that we try to represent within government.

Blair, maybe I'll turn to you.