Evidence of meeting #76 for Environment and Sustainable Development in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was place.
A recording is available from Parliament.
9:30 a.m.
Liberal
Mike Bossio Liberal Hastings—Lennox and Addington, ON
Thank you.
Ms. Charrois, what type of heritage made up the 35 projects? Can you give us a sample?
9:30 a.m.
Director, Cultural Heritage Policies, Parks Canada Agency
I have a short list here, which I prepared just in case you asked for some examples.
In New Brunswick, there's the CenterBeam Place, which is half of a corner of a.... It's really a block of buildings downtown. In the same province we have the Hartt Boot and Shoe Factory, an old factory that was refurbished for commercial use.
We have in Trois-Rivières, Quebec, La Fabrique.
That was an old site that was converted into a commercial space with several owners.
Parkdale Fire Station No. 11, here in Ottawa, used to be a fire station but is now a school. They teach cooking.
We contributed to Gooderham and Worts in Toronto.
9:30 a.m.
Liberal
Mike Bossio Liberal Hastings—Lennox and Addington, ON
I'm sorry, but I don't want to run out of time. The reason I'm asking these questions is to find out what percentage of the properties were rural.
9:30 a.m.
Director, Cultural Heritage Policies, Parks Canada Agency
There were some, but rural is.... I would say they were in small downtown areas. We funded and contributed to a former post office. I recall that one a little more.
So it was not so much rural, with the exception of one project we had in St. John's, Newfoundland, which was a small hardware store.
9:35 a.m.
Liberal
Mike Bossio Liberal Hastings—Lennox and Addington, ON
Was there any particular reason not much of it was rural?
9:35 a.m.
Director, Cultural Heritage Policies, Parks Canada Agency
No, no real reason. The program was launched as a pilot; the tools were created. The promotion of the program took a moment to really make its way, so we weren't getting all these asks at the time of the program.
9:35 a.m.
Liberal
Mike Bossio Liberal Hastings—Lennox and Addington, ON
If you were to re-establish the program, are there any mechanisms you could see that you could put in place that would emphasize the rural component? There is so much historic property on the rural side, and we're so....
Where there's a lack of funds in rural areas that are more impoverished, if we can't rely on the contribution of funds from the federal level of government, then these are just going to fall apart and disintegrate.
9:35 a.m.
Director, Cultural Heritage Policies, Parks Canada Agency
We'd need to be very, very active where these buildings are. We would need to network with communities at municipal meetings. We would need to be out there for the program to be known.
9:35 a.m.
Liberal
Mike Bossio Liberal Hastings—Lennox and Addington, ON
Was there even really a rural component to the registry itself?
9:35 a.m.
Director, Cultural Heritage Policies, Parks Canada Agency
There is not that angle, but that's part of it. It's not because you're rural or not rural that you are listed or not listed. In Ontario, it all depends on the LACAC and what they put forward. If the people at the community level are very good at promotion, the buildings will be listed, so I don't see this as being a barrier.
9:35 a.m.
Conservative
Robert Sopuck Conservative Dauphin—Swan River—Neepawa, MB
Thank you.
Ms. Prosper, I listened to your testimony with great interest. I approach culture more from an ecological perspective. I think cultures develop out of the landscapes and ecosystems they inhabit. I think for many of our aboriginal people that's a principle that's fairly well established. I really liked your phrase—I think I got it right—that aboriginal people want to see themselves reflected back in Canadian heritage.
To follow up on Mr. Stetski's questions on first nations tourism, the hunting and guiding industries in Canada employ a lot of aboriginal people. I myself went up to a fishing lodge this summer at Gods Lake, and there were local Cree people as guides. It's a place where they are the authorities and where you listen to them. You may be paying them, and they may be your so-called employees, but when you're on the water with them on a rough lake, you listen to them.
How important are those kinds of activities, and should we work to enhance those?
9:35 a.m.
As an Individual
I guess I would shy away from pronouncing on that. Again, I think community-driven, and the authority to make the distinction between the role that would play in their broader approach to their own heritage....
I don't know, but I appreciate your comment.
9:35 a.m.
Conservative
Robert Sopuck Conservative Dauphin—Swan River—Neepawa, MB
Of course, in the modern world there is a need for cash. That's not like it was 100 years ago.... Well, yes, it is, but it's not quite the same.
We discussed an interesting example with Madeleine Redfern, the Mayor of Iqaluit, who was here last time. I think it's more in line with what you were saying, about communities being in charge of tourism. That's the Inuit polar bear hunt. People come from around the world and pay a lot of money, like $100,000, but the rules are very strict. A set of traditional clothing is made for the hunter; they use dog teams only; and it's as close to a traditional hunt as it could possibly be. It's done without any government subsidies whatsoever.
Is that more in line with what you're thinking of as the kind of tourism in which the communities are in charge and it's done in a traditional manner? Is that a way to help preserve this culture?
9:35 a.m.
As an Individual
Again, I'm going to shy away from that a little bit. I'm a little hesitant to say that only traditional modes are where the investment is required, because we need to understand these communities as contemporary communities.
9:40 a.m.
Conservative
Robert Sopuck Conservative Dauphin—Swan River—Neepawa, MB
Again, I focus on the wildlife issues because that's my main area of interest.
Let's talk about the seal hunt for a minute. There was a study done by the standing committee on Inuit suicide. I quoted from the committee last time, and I'll quote it again. Mr. Peter Williamson testified before the committee, and he said:
I want to talk about a couple of issues I think will make a difference. One is I really started noticing a difference in how many young people committed suicide after their parents and their aunts and uncles and their grandparents could no longer afford to go hunting, because living the traditional lifestyle and being brought up in a community and in a family where the traditional lifestyle is the way you are brought up really does make a difference. We started losing that in the 1970s.... There was what were called the seal wars at the time, when Greenpeace and other environmental activist organizations who wanted to raise money started to attack the sealing industry....
I could go on, but it's fair to say that if we were to bring the seal market back and have a thriving market in seal pelts, we would see a resurgence in a form of a traditional Inuit culture. Is that a fair comment, in your mind?
9:40 a.m.
As an Individual
I think there are a lot of communities who would identify land-based harvesting practices as an integral part of their cultural identity, yes. I think the ability to continue many of those harvesting activities will contribute to cultural pride and also provide a vehicle for the transmission of traditional knowledge from generation to generation. It's part of the puzzle, for sure.
9:40 a.m.
Conservative
Robert Sopuck Conservative Dauphin—Swan River—Neepawa, MB
The great partnership between aboriginal people and Europeans in the fur trade back in the 1600s, 1700s, and 1800s obviously transformed aboriginal culture. It became in a way money-based; nevertheless, that culture was allowed to flourish. How well do you think the fur trade and the activities of the fur trade are being remembered in Canada these days, Ms. Prosper?
9:40 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Deb Schulte
We'll have to end that there.
Mr. Amos, I know that you're going to split your time.
October 5th, 2017 / 9:40 a.m.
Liberal
