Canadian Heritage Committee on June 9th, 2026

[The Chair, Liberal, Lisa Hepfner]

I think everybody is here, so I'll call the meeting to order.

Welcome to meeting number 42 of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage.

Before we begin, I'll ask all in-person participants to read the guidelines written on the updated cards on the table. They are the measures in place to prevent audio feedback incidents and protect the health and safety of all participants, especially our interpreters. You'll notice there's a QR code on the card; it links to a short awareness video.

Pursuant to the routine motion adopted by the committee, I can confirm that all witnesses have completed the required connection tests in advance of this meeting if they're joining us online.

Please wait until I recognize you by name before you speak. All comments should be addressed through the chair.

Before I go any further, I think we have a birthday among us today.

Mr. Waugh, is it 30 again?

[Kevin Waugh, Saskatoon South, CPC]

I wish.

[Voices]

Hear, hear!

[The Chair, Liberal, Lisa Hepfner]

Happy birthday, sir. Mine is next week, so we're all Gemini, I guess.

Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), we're meeting today for our fourth and final meeting regarding our study on the state of creative and performance spaces across Canada.

We have with us today Ariane Caron Lachance, executive director of Antitube and Cinéma Beaumont, by video conference.

From Ballet Vancouver, we have Joshua Beamish here with us in the room.

From the Conseil québécois du théâtre, we have Caroline Gignac and Rachel Billet, who are with us in the room.

From the École de musique Alain‑Caron, we have Angel Blanco, master's in musical performance, who is also with us in the room.

From the Fédération culturelle canadienne-française, we have Nancy Juneau, who is in the room, and Laurence Dubuc, who is joining us by video conference.

We also have, from PAVED Arts, David LaRiviere, who is here with us in the room.

Each organization will have five minutes for an opening statement, and then we will turn to questions from members.

I will advise you that we are expecting another vote in the House of Commons in the next hour or so, so we will likely have to take a break from this committee and then come back. If we have unanimous consent from members, we can go a little bit past one o'clock if everybody's available. I'll canvass members closer to the time to see if everybody's willing to do that.

We'll start here in the room with Ariane Caron Lachance from Antitube.

Excuse me, she is joining us by video conference instead.

Ms. Caron Lachance, you have the floor for five minutes.

[Ariane Caron Lachance, Executive director, Cinéma Beaumont, ANTITUBE]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

Good morning. My name is Ariane Caron Lachance. I was told to speak slowly today because I did not send any notes to the interpreters. So I am going to take my time.

I am, indeed, the director of Cinéma Beaumont, a small independent movie theatre in Quebec City. I am also the director of the Spira co-operative, which is an artist-run centre for filmmakers outside large urban areas. The co-operative is also a film distributor, and it manages a pool of film production and post-production equipment.

These two organizations, both located in Quebec City, have been in existence for 30 and 50 years, respectively. By supporting artists, they help ensure the survival of independent cinema, from production all the way to theatrical release. The co-operative is the only film distributor in Quebec City. It is therefore a key player in the world of independent filmmaking, especially outside large urban areas.

These two organizations are tenant members of Méduse, which is also a co-operative. I know this can get a little confusing. Méduse brings together 11 arts organizations in a single building, with spaces designed to meet the needs of each organization at an affordable rent. The building was built in 1995, at the initiative of Mayor Jean‑Paul L'Allier, so that artist-run centres could continue to operate in downtown Quebec City.

I would like to take this opportunity to talk about one of the main challenges we face: building maintenance. The Méduse co-operative, which is home to 11 artist-run centres in Quebec City, is located in a building that was constructed 30 years ago and has not been well maintained over the years for various reasons, but particularly because its management was delegated to the directors of the individual artist-run centres. While we may be versatile people with a great capacity to learn, maintaining buildings is not necessarily part of the skill set of artist-run centre directors.

No acquisition fund has been set up for that. The building would require major funding to continue being used. However, we are currently in a period when funding for capital expenditures has largely been frozen. If Quebec City were to lose a building that houses the majority of its professional arts centres, it could have a decisive impact on its future. This is something I wanted to mention to you here.

In addition, one of the main funding sources that allowed us to at least maintain the equipment inside the buildings, the Media Arts Equipment Acquisition Fund, was discontinued last year. Since then, we no longer have access to funds for purchasing building equipment.

I would now like to comment on my field, independent filmmaking as part of audiovisual arts. Personally, I have been working for about ten years in independent theatres, such as the Cinéma Moderne, the Cinéma Public and the Cinéma Beaubien in Montreal, and now the Cinéma Beaumont in Quebec City. It would be interesting to recognize the importance of these small theatres, which offer a different kind of film programming from what we are used to seeing in traditional commercial cinema, which is just as relevant, but complementary.

The work we do is primarily audience development and cultural mediation. However, we often find ourselves in a gap between funding for more commercial projects and funding intended for organizations that are more like artist-run centres offering production support. For our part, we are really focused on presentation, and there are few funding streams available to support these projects.

Yet the impact of our work in terms of audience development, particularly among young people, is enormous. Generally, our theatres welcome between 20,000 and 30,000 people each year, and the vast majority of these attendees—well over 50%—are young people under the age of 30. Given that in Canada, we hear people talking quite openly about how difficult it is to connect with young audiences, it would be interesting to take a closer look at the work these theatres are doing.

Of course, I am talking about the reality in Quebec. I know that in the rest of Canada, there may be fewer small independent theatres. However, we can see that in Quebec, there has been a boom since 2018, with five new theatres opening. Something is happening there, and it will be important to pay attention to that.

Some of you have certainly heard about the report that the Working Group on the Future of the Audiovisual Sector in Quebec published last year. One of the conclusions expressed very clearly in the report is that we have lost our cultural connection with young people and that we have lost the battle to capture their attention against streaming platforms, at least in the audiovisual sector.

Small and medium-sized organizations have enormous potential as testing grounds for introducing people to culture. Generally, these organizations have teams with expertise, are deeply rooted in their communities, and are very flexible when they are being proposed new projects. They would be ideal places to carry out pilot projects, measure their impact, and expand their reach if they are successful. In recent years, the funding we have received for these types of projects has mainly been used to pay consultants who, more often than not, produce reports that we are then forced to shelve because we lack the funds to implement their recommendations.

This might be a good time to trust the expertise of existing teams and to provide funding for human resources to set up projects of this kind.

One thing that—

[The Chair, Liberal, Lisa Hepfner]

Thank you.

[Ariane Caron Lachance]

Is my time up already?

[The Chair, Liberal, Lisa Hepfner]

Yes. If you have a few words to add, that is fine, but the six minutes are already up.

[Ariane Caron Lachance]

No, that is fine. Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Lisa Hepfner]

Okay. I am sure there will be questions.

Next, we'll turn to Joshua Beamish from Ballet Vancouver.

You have the floor for five minutes.

[Joshua Beamish, Artistic Director, Ballet Vancouver]

Hello, Madam Chair and committee. I am Joshua Beamish, the artistic director of Ballet Vancouver. I offer additional insight as a past member of the City of Vancouver's arts and culture advisory committee, with a subfocus on spaces.

Ballet Vancouver, the new operating name of Movement Dance Productions Society, is mandated to revitalize our city's access to professional classical ballet. We operate with gratitude on the ancestral and unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh first nations.

Emerging from the pandemic, our organization has seen remarkable growth. From 2023 to 2025, our per-performance attendance rose by 50%. This season, our transition to Ballet Vancouver prompted another 50% increase. In just one year, our individual donations have risen by 1,600%. By April, our organization's 2026 year-to-date actuals had doubled our entire 2025 operating budget. With half the year still remaining, our 2026 actuals are expected to quadruple those of 2025.

Budgetary jumps of this magnitude are extremely rare. These figures illustrate an objective reality: Our public wants access to professional ballet. They are readily engaging as donors, subscribers, single-ticket buyers and outreach participants. This is a homegrown Canadian success story driven by the celebration of our nation's cultural sovereignty.

Our performances are self-presented at Vancouver Civic Theatres through rental grants to offset occupancy. At first glance, our 2026 grant suggests an encouraging 107% increase. However, our venue usage increased by 275%. This paints a troubling picture of the Canadian cultural ecosystem. The theatre rental grants program was not given a budget increase for 2026, and our growth could not be accommodated at a viable level. Our 2025 subsidy rate was 57%. Despite community enthusiasm, this subsidy is now just 33%. This has upset the sustainability of our presentation model.

Given limited theatre availability and rising presentation costs, we are challenged to add performances. At our current pace, we will outgrow the 668 seats of Vancouver Playhouse within just two seasons. With no 1,000-seat venue for dance, we are faced with cutting performances to expand to a 2,700-seat space. Our audience, conditioned to the increased date flexibility and intimacy of a smaller theatre, would have fewer options to attend our work in a venue four times the size.

To address this, Ballet Vancouver has joined the Vancouver Cultural Precinct planning committee. Under the leadership of Suzanne Anton, the former attorney general of B.C., this coalition joins over 30 organizations across dance, opera, music and theatre. Combining new builds with renovations to existing structures, the committee envisions a four-venue complex encompassing discipline-specific halls at 400, 900, 1,750 and 2,000 seats.

The need is urgent and significant. Between 2001 and 2030, Vancouver's population will have risen by 67%, with residents spending more on performing arts than the national average. Vancouver's last new major performance venue was built in 1997. Three decades have passed. With venues at capacity, arts groups cannot secure the dates they need to program effectively.

While Ballet Vancouver's example of rapid organizational growth is unusual, sector-wide artistic limitations also present a compelling case for reimagining the city's cultural landscape. Vancouver must move beyond a generic approach to outfitting presentation venues. Increased fly space and backstage areas would enable the programming of larger-scale work with greater production value. Similar to London's South Bank or Montreal's Place des Arts, such community amenities as restaurants and cafés would further activate public interest and contribute revenue.

Action is overdue. Canadian Heritage has an opportunity to react to the pulse of public enthusiasm and recognize circumstances of extraordinary growth. Infrastructure support is vital, but what is the purpose of investing in venues if organizations cannot afford to use them? This vision will be inconsequential if affordable rental access is not simultaneously considered and addressed.

To secure and celebrate our cultural autonomy, there must be responsive, agile support for the unprecedented.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Lisa Hepfner]

Thank you.

I will now turn the floor over to the representatives of the Conseil québécois du théâtre, Ms. Caroline Gignac and Ms. Rachel Billet.

You have the floor for a total of five minutes.

[Caroline Gignac, Director General, Conseil québécois du théâtre]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Ladies and gentlemen of the committee, thank you for giving the Conseil québécois du théâtre the opportunity to contribute to this reflection.

My organization represents professional theatre practitioners and organizations in Quebec. We represent 310 individual, organizational and association members, comprising more than 2,000 people.

Today, I am joined by a member of our association, Rachel Billet of Théâtres associés, who speaks on behalf of theatre institutions and advocates for performance venues among her peers in Quebec across all disciplines of the performing arts.

The issue of the state of creative and performance spaces in Canada, as well as their role in supporting the next generation of artists, is crucial. Theatre institutions and specialized theatre presenters offer much more than just venues for performances: they provide spaces for artists and audiences to gather, meet and network.

We estimate that in 2024, there were approximately 4,588 theatrical performances in Quebec. They attracted 1.2 million people and generated $35.1 million in box office revenue. These venues serve as true incubators for the entire theatre ecosystem. However, their viability is endangered because they depend directly on the vitality of the creative forces that work there. That is why, before planning the future of our infrastructure, we must understand the reality facing the Quebec theatre community, which is operating under intense pressure.

[Rachel Billet, Director General, Théâtres associés, Conseil québécois du théâtre]

This pressure affects the entire chain of research, creation, production and distribution. Its most devastating effects are felt at the very root of our sector—that is, among artists. The lack of a genuine safety net perpetuates an unacceptable level of systemic precariousness. In Montreal, the average income for an artist is around $17,400 a year.

We saw just how fragile our ecosystem is during the recent crisis in the cultural sector, which shook the entire chain—from creation to presentation. Unfortunately, the effects of underfunding are still being felt today. Last week, another production from the Centre du théâtre d'aujourd'hui's upcoming season was cancelled due to a lack of funding.

Creative and performance spaces are also bearing the brunt of this vulnerability, as they face ever-increasing financial pressure. In fact, between 2017 and 2024, venue-related costs rose by 53%, while overall inflation stood at around 20%. These costs include the operating expenses of performance venues, as well as maintenance and asset upkeep. This data is at the heart of the report “Nos scènes fragilisées, nos arts vivants menacés" by Théâtres associés. The report was co-signed by 34 performance venues in Quebec, including the Société des arts technologiques, and about ten partner organizations, including the Conseil québécois du théâtre, the Union des artistes and the Association professionnelle des diffuseurs de spectacles, whose representatives you have met over the past few days. The report highlights the urgent need to address the costs of operating and maintaining performance venues, which are rising faster than inflation.

The costs associated with asset maintenance are added to operating expenses and include an unpredictable component. Planning and securing the funding for a major renovation project are complex and time-consuming. Performance venues are forced to carry out emergency repairs using their own resources, which threatens their financial stability. They must adapt to address requirements for universal accessibility, climate change impacts, and safety and inclusion standards. Without predictable funding, they will be unable to modernize their infrastructure and meet the challenges of today and tomorrow.

In short, performance venues must prioritize the maintenance of their infrastructure in order to host artists and audiences safely. That is done at the expense of the very core of their mission: presenting a program of performances to the public. The sharp rise in venue-related costs creates a downward spiral that forces these venues to make significant cuts in both artistic and human resources.

[Caroline Gignac]

How can we improve working conditions for artists and increase resources for access to the arts amid this constant pressure? This question raises the crucial concept of intergenerational equity. As a passing of the torch takes place in our community, new voices carrying a renewed vision of artistic creation are emerging. How can we enable this next generation to flourish and become a lasting part of our ecosystem?

So today, the question is not just where the artists of tomorrow will create, but how people will be able to become and remain artists. We need to consider how creative and performing arts institutions can support project-based theatre companies and emerging artists.

In our view, spaces for creation and performance should be thought of as living infrastructure that serves an ecosystem. To achieve this, we believe three recommendations are essential: strengthening the social safety net, providing better funding for the Canada Council for the Arts, and adopting an equitable territorial vision in all funding for culture and within the build communities strong fund.

To effectively support the next generation of artists and promote our culture, we need to shift our mindset. Creative spaces are not just places to be preserved; they are also strategic tools for building a strong, resilient and sustainable artistic ecosystem.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Lisa Hepfner]

Thank you.

I now give the floor to Angel Blanco, from the École de musique Alain‑Caron.

He is master of music performance. That's a wonderful title.

You have the floor for five minutes.

[Angel Blanco, Master of Music Performance, École de musique Alain-Caron]

Thank you, Madam Chair and honourable members of the committee.

I sincerely thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today. It's a great honour for me to be here.

I appear today both as an independent recording artist and, by choice, representing École de musique Alain-Caron, located in Rivière-du-Loup. I speak from a concrete reality, that of artists working outside major urban centres where talent exists but opportunities remain uneven.

I also appear as an international recording artist who has carried Canada's name abroad, while maintaining a living connection to my Mexican and American heritages. From this experience, I have learned that culture is not a decorative element but the living infrastructure of a country.

The central challenge we face is not the absence of culture but the lack of connection between cultures.

In Canada, indigenous musical traditions remain significantly under-represented in formal educational and institutional contexts, despite being a vital and living part of our collective identity. Across the Americas, these traditions are not only the heritage of long-gone civilizations such as the Inca and Mexica empires, where musical systems were highly developed and formally cultivated, but also living systems of knowledge that continue to involve and inform the present.

At the same time, the continent's musical history is more interconnected than is commonly taught. This includes early forms of transmission and intercultural contact in the 17th century, such as those associated with the Mi'kmaq communities and Grand Chief Membertou. This history is inviting us not to simplify the past but to deepen our understanding of it.

Internationally, we can already see models of integration between tradition and innovation. Countries such as Burkina Faso have developed cultural policies that actively embed local traditions into education, contemporary creation and national identity, showing that tradition and modernity are not opposites but deeply interdependent.

This principle is also reflected in technological innovation in music education. In the United Kingdom, tools such as Soundbeam and the BBC micro:bit demonstrate how music can become accessible, inclusive and creatively empowering from an early age, including for persons with disabilities. These innovations echo earlier visionary work such as the Omnifón, an early didactic synthesizer system, created in 1960 by my compatriot Raúl Pavón Sarrelangue, that anticipated the idea of music technology as an educational and creative tool.

Technology does not replace art. It amplifies it. Canada must continue to develop and support similar initiatives.

However, innovation is not only technological; it is also conceptual.

In this sense, there is a historic opportunity in the development of microtonal music. From the “13th sound” system of Julián Carrillo to the natural system of music of Augusto Novaro and the works of Canadian composer Bruce Mather, a coherent field of sonic exploration emerges that extends beyond experimentation into a genuine line of musical thought.

This body of work should not be treated as an isolated curiosity but as a meaningful contribution to contemporary music language, with clear implications for education, research and artistic creation. We are seeing today a growing presence of this language within Quebec's contemporary music scene.

In this regard, microtonal music offers an opportunity to expand curricula, diversify pedagogical tools and deepen the understanding of sound within our institutions, particularly in Quebec, where interest in these practices already exists.

Finally, as a union member of the American Federation of Musicians, spanning Canada and the United States, I see first-hand how collective organization strengthens cultural ecosystems. Broader co-operation is not abstract; it's structural.

Madam Chair, the next generation of artists does not only need spaces; it needs a connected system. If we align institutions, knowledge, technologies and territories, Canada will not only preserve cultural diversity but build a living, integrated cultural ecosystem.

A strong society is not sustained by the economy alone. It's also sustained by science, art, sport and philosophy, which are essential pillars of human formation and collective progress.

Thank you for your attention.

[The Chair, Liberal, Lisa Hepfner]

Hear, hear.

I now give the floor to the representatives of the Fédération culturelle canadienne-française: Nancy Juneau, who is here with us in the chamber, and Laurence Dubuc, who is joining us via video conference.

You have the floor for a total of five minutes.

[Nancy Juneau, Chair, Fédération culturelle canadienne-française]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

Ladies and gentlemen of the committee, I am delighted to be here today.

To begin with, I would like to say that the Fédération culturelle canadienne-française, or FCCF, faces many of the challenges and issues mentioned by my colleagues sitting at this table today and supports many of the solutions they have proposed.

For nearly 50 years, the FCCF has acted as a voice for the arts and culture sector on behalf of the Franco-Canadian and Acadian communities. Our network brings together 22 national organizations in all disciplines, as well as provincial and territorial organizations that promote cultural activities in their communities. Through them, we represent an ecosystem of around 350 organizations.

We are here today specifically to discuss the state of cultural infrastructure in the arts and culture sector of Canada's francophone minority communities. We use the term “cultural infrastructure” in the broadest sense to include the physical conditions essential for experimentation, production, training and rehearsals, as well as for the exhibition and promotion of works and artists across the region.

In our communities, cultural infrastructure plays a vital role in identity-building and social cohesion, as it often represents the only access points to cultural offerings in French. It also supports a thriving economy and helps to attract and retain francophone and francophile populations from diverse backgrounds within the region.

However, at present, recent changes to the Canada cultural spaces fund, or CCSF, which is managed by Canadian Heritage, are raising legitimate concerns about the federal government's commitment and ability to meet the specific cultural infrastructure needs of our communities.

In the latest federal budget, the funding allocation for the CCSF—which until now had funded a wide range of cultural infrastructure projects—has been reduced and reallocated. Over the next two financial years, the CCSF will fund only the acquisition of specialized equipment. Other infrastructure needs will be channelled into a new fund, namely the build communities strong fund, or BCSF, which is managed by Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada.

[The Chair, Liberal, Lisa Hepfner]

Excuse me, I hate to interrupt you.

We have bells now ringing for a vote. We are just around the corner from the chamber. I would need unanimous consent from members to continue for another 10 minutes or so.

I have Mr. Champoux.

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

For someone who walks very slowly, it takes 30 seconds to get to the House of Commons. I think we can easily carry on for another 20 minutes if everyone agrees.

[The Chair, Liberal, Lisa Hepfner]

Do we agree to carry on for another 20 minutes?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Lisa Hepfner]

Ms. Juneau, please accept my apologies once again. You may continue your remarks. You have two and a half minutes left.

[Nancy Juneau]

Thank you.

Unlike the CCSF, which I mentioned earlier, the new fund, the BCSF, is not a program exclusively dedicated to cultural infrastructure. As no minimum funding is earmarked for our sector within this new program, there is a real fear that cultural infrastructure across the country will be underfunded, particularly as demand for the CCSF has been exceeding its resources for several years. For these reasons, the FCCF is making three recommendations.

Firstly, a portion of the BCSF funding should be set aside for cultural infrastructure. Funds must be allocated to the sector.

Secondly, in keeping with the spirit of part VII of the Official Languages Act, funds within this budget should be set aside for cultural infrastructure serving Canada's francophone and Acadian communities. These infrastructures face challenges specific to a context often characterized by remoteness from major centres, the small size of communities, higher project implementation costs and limited access to certain technical skills and resources.

Within the framework of this earmarked fund, flexibility should be shown with regard to the program's eligibility criteria and eligible expenses. Indeed, federal institutions must recognize the unique nature of the realities and characteristics of minority communities—which differ from one another and from those of majority communities—in order to take positive measures that will enable the Government of Canada to fulfill its commitments regarding official languages.

Thirdly, the federal government should fund, through the means it deems most appropriate, research activities aimed at gathering reliable and regularly updated data on cultural infrastructure in all provinces and territories, as well as across all artistic disciplines, whose needs may vary.

As set out in section 41 of the Official Languages Act, federal institutions must, as far as possible, base their positive measures on analyses derived from research and evidence. However, at present, this picture remains incomplete and does not allow for fully informed decision-making.

Thank you for your time. We are now ready to answer any questions you may have about cultural infrastructure or any other topic relevant to the study you are conducting.

Thank you.