Canadian Heritage Committee on June 4th, 2026

[The Chair, Liberal, Lisa Hepfner]

Thank you.

Mr. Champoux, you have the floor for six minutes.

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

It's my turn to thank the witnesses for joining us for this study, which I think is very important, as do all my colleagues.

Mr. Curzi, we were informed that Ms. Kontoyanni's connection was not good enough for interpretation. Earlier, it would have been possible with the speaking notes, but now, unfortunately, it can't be interpreted. I'll direct my questions to you, then.

We're doing a study on creative and cultural spaces. I'm really glad you're a part of that. Cultural spaces exist because there are people to occupy them. These people are the artists. The Bloc Québécois has been talking with the Union des artistes, the UDA, for years. We talk about artists' conditions. We hear many requests to improve not only their financial and working conditions, but also the system in which they need to be able to work with some security and a social safety net adapted to their type of craft.

I would like you to remind us of the UDA's repeated requests, particularly regarding the tax status of artists.

[Alexandre Curzi, Director General, Union des artistes]

With regard to the tax status of artists, there is a recurring request that the government granted, which was to overhaul employment insurance. Artists are already precarious workers, to say the least, and, on top of that, they don't have access to employment insurance benefits. Remember that Mr. Rodriguez committed to overhauling employment insurance, and it's becoming urgent.

Then, there is also access to group registered retirement savings plans and insurance. Artists are missing out on a bunch of measures right now. It's time to fix that. They are workers like other Canadian workers, and I think they deserve to have a social safety net equivalent to that of other workers in Canada.

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

When it comes to employment insurance, there's also the issue of income averaging. We know that artists spend long periods preparing their next productions or works. This is real, concrete work that does not necessarily allow them to hold another paid job. They go through periods when they have no income, precisely to work on their creations.

As part of our study, we're talking about all kinds of performance spaces. I also find it interesting that we are talking about digital performance spaces. One example is hybrid productions. Today we are hearing from people from the Société des arts technologiques, who have a very interesting offer in terms of physical, digital and hybrid productions.

However, are performing artists concerned about the role that digital technology plays in the dissemination of culture?

Is this an issue that you see emerging?

[Alexandre Curzi]

Yes, that's a challenge.

Revenue in the music industry, for example, has plummeted with the rise of streaming platforms. Artists are therefore turning to live performances in front of an audience as a major source of income. Beyond that, digital platforms can help offset some of this. Our fear is that this could become a trend. We're already inundated with screens. Young people are already constantly in front of screens—or, at any rate, quite often. We're trying to bring them back into venues so that artists can interact with a live audience. If we place too much emphasis on digital platforms, we'll continue in this direction, which, in our view, will continue to harm the industry. We believe that live performances in front of an audience, which generate income for artists, remain the best option for our artists in Canada.

You made an important point earlier, Mr. Champoux. We're often told that an artist could do something else in addition to pursuing their artistic career. I'm sorry, but you can't tell a violinist who has a doctorate in music and has spent 20 years of their life doing that to go find another line of work, no matter how interesting it may be. That makes little sense. It would be like telling our artists to stop practising their art, to stop honing their craft, to stop raising the standard of Canadian artists to an international level, and to go do something casual on the side. This line of reasoning is starting to become problematic, to say the least.

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

We even know some who have become politicians. There are even songwriters who have become members of Parliament. It does happen.

There's another concern. We can't possibly list all the challenges artists face these days. There's artificial intelligence, the status of artists and the conditions under which they work—all of which deserve a complete overhaul. You just talked about it. I'm thinking in particular of the Employment Insurance Act and the recognition of invisible labour, which is especially prevalent among artists.

There are also the venues where artists perform. This concerns the UDA as well, because you represent actors, dancers and artists in the performing arts. Since the beginning of this study, we've been told that there's a very serious problem with the maintenance of venues and buildings. Often, these spaces aren't owned by producers or artists. We don't always have control over the maintenance of these buildings, and this represents a significant portion of expenses that could be devoted to artistic creation but must instead be spent on repairing essential building components.

Have you observed this as well?

[Alexandre Curzi]

Yes. In fact, I think you've received the figures from Théâtres associés, which show that venue management costs increased by 53% between 2017 and 2024, compared to inflation of 20.4% over the same period.

In our view, there are three direct consequences for artists. First, there are fewer roles, since we have to invest in infrastructure. For example, if the elevator needs to be repaired, we'll have to scale back artistic production. Inevitably, there will be fewer roles, fewer contracts and lower fees. We're negotiating lower rates, which leads to a reduction in contributions to the social safety net. Productions will have fewer sets, for example. All of this leads to increased precariousness in the short and long term, followed by an exodus of artists.

There's also a decline in quality. I'm not talking about the quality of the acting or the dancers, but the quality of the performances. It's important to remember that, for Canadians, culture is a source of influence. Tourists come here and see plays. If we offer them plays and performances that are less well funded, and if we're no longer able to tour because we have to invest in buildings, our influence will diminish over time, and we'll become a culturally impoverished nation that is neither attractive nor able to project influence.

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Lisa Hepfner]

Thank you.

Mr. Diotte, you now have the floor for five minutes.

[Kerry Diotte, Conservative, Edmonton Griesbach, AB]

Chair, I would like to ask a few questions of my friend Christy Morin.

Christy, I'm glad to see you here. We go back a few years, and I'm really glad to have your organization in my riding.

I'm interested in how the area has changed. I was a long-time journalist, and I remember covering more than my fair share of fatal stabbings and shootings on what we call Alberta Avenue or 118 Avenue. It's quite remarkable how you've made a change in that area.

Can you detail how that happened? I think it would be a good model for a lot of other cities to follow.

[Christy Morin]

Thanks so much, and it is nice to see you as well.

The important piece that I have learned over the 20 years of building this is that it's partnerships. It's the neighbours, and it's hearing from the community.

We had this incredible gift of artists living in the neighbourhood, because it was affordable and we could buy our homes. We then began to connect with each other, so it was very grassroots.

We started looking at partnerships, with safety as one of the biggest pieces. There was no way I would have gone out on 118 Avenue with the amount of violence there, as you mentioned. The community centre was closed because of gun violence. When we began, we met with the Edmonton Police Service and different agencies and groups, asking what we could do together. It was basically taking off all the hats and just being human, sitting around the table and trying to build, not having any one priority stronger than another and just saying that this community needed help.

Kerry, the volunteerism piece—the number of volunteers who came out—was incredible. We talked here about venues and music venues. The Carrot coffee house was volunteer-powered, without a single staff person for seven years. It was all volunteer-powered. Everyone behind the barista bar, everyone running sound and everyone running lights was a volunteer. It was the incredible gifting of people coming together to build, and the safety component remains.

As I was saying, we're social workers. We're working with opioid addicts on the avenue, working on how to change people from residents to citizens and how to make that stretch. There are veterans who are incredibly impoverished, and we work together with them.

It's creating community and stakeholders, giving voice to the table and continuing that through the decades. We still have committees that are meeting and formed.

[Kerry Diotte, Conservative, Edmonton Griesbach, AB]

One thing a lot of people might not know is that you were quite instrumental, in a move with the Edmonton Police Service and Edmonton City Hall, in removing the sale of large knives from convenience stores, because it was a real problem.

Can you describe that?

[Christy Morin]

You are right. The arts people began to realize it, because we live there. Many convenience stores were popping up. There were about two convenience stores per block for a road 29 blocks long. We said, “Okay, look. Let's go into these convenience stores.” These were convenience stores, and usually you go in and get your Cracker Jacks or whatever. All of a sudden, you were seeing these massive machete knives that slip through the federal code of criminal weapons. We, as artists, began conversations across the whole city of Edmonton, and we went to City Hall together and created a new business class for convenience stores so that they could no longer carry dangerous knives. That's the kind of thing we do.

[Kerry Diotte, Conservative, Edmonton Griesbach, AB]

I have one final question.

I believe that you're still in a building phase. I recall reading that you were once promised some money from this Liberal government, but it didn't seem to come through. Can you tell me a bit about that?

[Christy Morin]

Cultural spaces is a very important department of Canadian Heritage. When we met with former minister Rodriguez, former minister Boissonnault and others four years ago, we were in the building phase of that project and not quite yet shovel-ready. We received the promise from the city of $4 million, and now the cultural spaces fund is completely not in existence any longer to enable building new infrastructure. It's about supporting old infrastructure, so we're quite concerned as to where that will be, as now we are getting into the actual “shovel in the ground” phase.

[Kerry Diotte, Conservative, Edmonton Griesbach, AB]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Lisa Hepfner]

It's an incredible story.

Ms. Hirtle, you have the floor for five minutes.

[Alana Hirtle, Liberal, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Good morning, everyone. It's so great to see you all here today. Thank you for coming.

Mr. Simms, I'd like to start with you. I found it interesting—your comments about balancing artistic endeavours with community access and fiscal responsibility. Can you talk a bit about how Glasgow Square Theatre assists the community?

[Morgan Simms]

Absolutely. One of the biggest ways, on a performance level, that Glasgow Square is assisting the community is by removing pay barriers to ensure that everybody has equitable access to our space. Through our Moments for Everyone campaign with the library, we're seeing a massive uptick in this, and the feedback is that there are a lot of low-income families in our community and a lot of newcomers to our community, and this is the only way they're able to get into our space.

Another way is offering pay-what-you-can models for shows, such as our songwriter circle, Songs from the Square. Outside of that, Glasgow Square doesn't maintain itself as just a performing arts space. I would say half of our time is presenting stuff on our stage and getting folks in there for performances, but the other half of our time and our bookings at Glasgow Square range from weddings to youth showcases that offer underage kids a place to come see emerging artists on our stage.

We partner with folks such as those at Big Brothers Big Sisters and a local artist, Adam MakBain, who hosts quarterly youth showcases in our space. Outside of that, churches, business groups—you name it—are in our space, and they're utilizing Glasgow Square Theatre to its fullest to make sure that it's everybody's home.

Another great partnership that we've been able to really hold on to and develop in the past year or so is with our neighbouring community, Pictou Landing First Nation. That community has really embraced our space. They do their annual Christmas gala, for their whole community, in the theatre. Just last Saturday, we had Pictou Landing's youth gala in our space. We are able to offer the space to the organizations at a reduced cost because we are municipally funded, and our town council and staff recognize the importance of having an affordable, accessible and safe space for everybody in our community.

[Alana Hirtle, Liberal, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

That's amazing. Thank you.

I'm interested in that Pictou Landing connection. How important would you say indigenous-led artists and cultural opportunities are in contributing to reconciliation and revitalization?

[Morgan Simms]

It's incredibly important, and not only because we are on a path of reconciliation. It's more important than ever to offer historically marginalized groups our spaces. Without extending that olive branch of having them in our spaces and seeing different groups, from African Nova Scotians and indigenous people to members of the LGBTQ+ community.... If they don't see themselves in our space and aren't represented within our theatre and our municipal mosaic, they don't feel welcome in our spaces. People don't feel that it's their space unless they're represented within it.

[Alana Hirtle, Liberal, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

I'm going to run out of time. How many nights a month would you say the theatre is dark?

[Morgan Simms]

The theatre is dark enough to give me one or two days off a week. If we are programmed seven days a week, we have an incredible staff. We're a small but mighty team. There are two full-time people who work at the theatre—me and our maintenance and event set-up guy. We also have a volunteer coordinator on a part-time basis. Generally, it's one to two nights a week. Throughout the summer, there's one weekend that I'm not booked from June until September.

[Alana Hirtle, Liberal, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

That's a good problem to have.

You mentioned earlier the benefits of a sold-out show. Can you expand for me on how important you think creative and performance spaces are to local economic development and tourism?

[Morgan Simms]

Absolutely.

Where we're located in Pictou County, we sell ourselves as the festival capital of our region and of our province. There's the Jubilee music festival that we host Natal Day weekend every August in New Glasgow. That three-day music festival brings upwards of half a million dollars of economic impact to our rural community of 10,000 people.

Outside of that, as we're investing more in programming and seeing full houses at Glasgow Square Theatre, the feedback from restaurants and businesses is that they are getting increased business. They have wait-lists for nights that we have sold-out shows. We partner with the local hotels in our area, and they're also noticing upticks of hotel stays in the shoulder seasons when we are hosting sold-out events or any type of event like that.

Without our cultural hub, the off-spin from that could truly be devastating to our community. Residents and politicians alike may not always think the impact is coming from the stage, but if someone's buying a ticket to a show, they are doing much more when they visit our community.