Canadian Heritage Committee on Sept. 24th, 2025

[Isabelle Mondou]

I don't mind at all.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Thank you.

With regard to online harms legislation, that was introduced by this government in the last Parliament. It came up just a bit earlier. The minister has said that he feels it's important. He has said that it's coming. I think there are a lot of people who are anxiously waiting for it.

When is it coming? What is the time frame we're looking at?

[Isabelle Mondou]

That would have been a very good question for the minister, because it's more in his bailiwick than in mine.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Okay. The department doesn't know.

[Isabelle Mondou]

The department always stands ready to serve when the government wants to table something, but the decision as to when to table things is the prerogative of the government.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Has the department been asked to work on this at all?

[Isabelle Mondou]

We haven't stopped thinking about it, because we know that people care about that. We receive letters almost every day asking us to do something, whether it's for children or deepfakes and all of that.

It's part of our mandate to always work on that and reflect on it. The final decision as to what it will look like and when it will look like that is the prerogative of the minister.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

What I'm curious about is what steps have been taken to start developing a framework for this legislation.

[Isabelle Mondou]

We already had Bill C-63, as you mentioned. That's already a framework that was based, as you will recall because you were here, on a lot of consultation, an advisory committee and all of that. We have that.

Obviously, the war doesn't stand still, so we continue to look at what other countries.... Deepfake was not so much of an issue when we started to look at the bill originally. Today, Minister Solomon gave a speech in Montreal. He said that this is one of the issues that the government wants to address.

As I say, we keep updating it as we go along, if I can say that.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Okay, thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Lisa Hepfner]

Thank you.

Next, we have Mr. Ntumba for five minutes.

[Bienvenu-Olivier Ntumba, Liberal, Mont-Saint-Bruno—L’Acadie, QC]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

I am glad to see that there are six people here for us; that way we will have more answers.

I would like to return to the point raised by my colleague Ms. Hepfner. As AI-generated content becomes more prevalent, how is Heritage Canada ensuring that Canadian artists and cultural workers, particularly those from under-represented minorities, are protected from the erasure of their culture and cultural appropriation?

[Isabelle Mondou]

That’s a very good question. The minister will be discussing this topic next week at MONDIACULT. It is a global challenge. In fact, it is a challenge for all cultures that are seeing themselves somewhat amalgamated in this new emergence of artificial intelligence.

So there are several things being looked at. For example, UNESCO has guidelines for strengthening the presence of diverse cultures. This is based on the 2005 convention, which sought to recognize the diversity of voices. With this new element of artificial intelligence, we are working with UNESCO to see what can be done at the international level to strengthen that presence.

Obviously, here too, we have the same questions and challenges. As I mentioned, discussions with the various stakeholders will help us find the best course of action, whether regulatory, financial or other. It will probably be a combination of several measures.

[Bienvenu-Olivier Ntumba, Liberal, Mont-Saint-Bruno—L’Acadie, QC]

Thank you very much.

My other point concerns the Online News Act and local media. What measures is the department taking to support local and ethnic media, prevent regions from becoming media deserts, and combat the spread of misinformation as traditional media declines and newsrooms close in the regions, particularly in Quebec?

[Isabelle Mondou]

My answer to your question about ethnic media will be in two parts.

Earlier, I mentioned the existence of a local journalism program that is independent of government. This program is offered to media associations. One of these associations deals specifically with ethnic media. It therefore ensures that local ethnic newspapers can participate in this program.

In addition, when the legislation resulting from Bill C-18 was passed, after being reviewed by this committee, there were very specific criteria. The agreement had to cover not only major newspapers, but also minority official language newspapers, newspapers promoting diversity and indigenous newspapers. What is interesting is that the money donated by Google could be given to all kinds of media, not just our major media outlets in large cities.

[Bienvenu-Olivier Ntumba, Liberal, Mont-Saint-Bruno—L’Acadie, QC]

I would now like to talk about Parks Canada.

I would like to know how Parks Canada balances the visitor experience with environmental sustainability and climate adaptation in national parks.

[Andrew Campbell]

I didn’t quite understand your question.

[Bienvenu-Olivier Ntumba, Liberal, Mont-Saint-Bruno—L’Acadie, QC]

Would you like me to repeat it?

[Andrew Campbell]

Yes, please.

[Bienvenu-Olivier Ntumba, Liberal, Mont-Saint-Bruno—L’Acadie, QC]

I asked how Parks Canada balances the visitor experience with environmental sustainability and climate adaptation in national parks.

[Andrew Campbell]

Thank you.

Interpreters in national parks and national historic sites—where history is the focus—are responsible for providing visitors with a meaningful experience.

With regard to climate change and other environmental issues, it is important to note that interpreters, through interpretation programs, reach 25 million Canadians a year in national parks.

[Bienvenu-Olivier Ntumba, Liberal, Mont-Saint-Bruno—L’Acadie, QC]

Madam Chair, do I have any time left?

[The Chair, Liberal, Lisa Hepfner]

You have 30 seconds left.

[Bienvenu-Olivier Ntumba, Liberal, Mont-Saint-Bruno—L’Acadie, QC]

In general, what are your comments on the Canada Strong Pass? How did it go? Was it a success?

[Isabelle Mondou]

At the federal-provincial meeting, we learned that some museums had seen their attendance increase by more than 40% and that this was a clientele they had never seen before. This is very interesting because it means that these people may return to our institutions. Our colleagues from all provinces, since virtually all provinces participated in this meeting, were pleasantly surprised by the very positive results of this program.