Thank you, Mr. Chair
I want to thank all the presenters for their excellent presentations. They were varied and, as the chair said at the outset, you really learn a lot through these sessions in terms of the diversity and the importance to Canada of so many of the industries.
I'm going to focus most of my questions on the arts and culture sector. I want to first acknowledge the role of our artists/creators and those working in the cultural sector in terms of helping Canadians through the pandemic.
I think many of us are very aware of some of the public things that have been done, such as the artists who performed in Nova Scotia Remembers in commemorating the mass killing in Nova Scotia, and the 86 artists who participated in Canada's Stronger Together, which not only raised money for food banks across Canada, but also put a lot of dance, song and hope into our lives.
I also want to say that even locally I have little bands performing on balconies. I have people sending out songs, stories and poems. I think all of this helps us digest our grief, helps us get us through our days and helps us with a bit of joy and hope moving forward. I want to acknowledge that.
My first question is for Mr. Keast, who is part of One Voice for Arts and Culture.
I know that you represent 100 organizations. It's actually an unbelievable list of organizations across this country, Mr. Keast. Thank you for bringing together a lot of the voices.
You've talked about the $500-million emergency support fund that our government introduced about three weeks ago. I just want to acknowledge the extraordinary leadership of Minister Guilbeault and our parliamentary secretary, Julie Dabrusin. They worked really hard. It has taken a little while, and I know it's because we have such an extraordinarily diverse arts and culture sector that they're taking a bit of time, but I'm hoping to hear some good news soon.
When I look at your 100 organizations, a lot of the organizations tend to be some of the smaller and medium-sized museums and galleries. If there's something very specific within the emergency support fund that you would like to see, could you articulate what that might be?