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.