Evidence of meeting #59 for Official Languages in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was 2017.

A recording is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Jessie Inman  Chief Executive Officer, Confederation Centre of the Arts
John McAvity  Executive Director, Canadian Museums Association
Karen Bachmann  Director, Curator, Timmins Museum: National Exhibition Centre, Canadian Museums Association
Audrey Vermette  Director of Programs and Public Affairs, Canadian Museums Association
Daniel J. Caron  Librarian and Archivist, Library and Archives Canada

12:35 p.m.

Liberal

Stéphane Dion Liberal Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC

In 2017, what are we celebrating again? It's the anniversary of what?

12:35 p.m.

Chief Executive Officer, Confederation Centre of the Arts

Jessie Inman

We're celebrating Canada, as a nation.

12:35 p.m.

Liberal

Stéphane Dion Liberal Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC

Are you sure?

12:35 p.m.

Chief Executive Officer, Confederation Centre of the Arts

Jessie Inman

And our heritage, our history, our people, our culture—

12:35 p.m.

Liberal

Stéphane Dion Liberal Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC

Excuse me, are you saying that Canada was born in 1867? Is that what you are teaching in your arts centre?

12:35 p.m.

Chief Executive Officer, Confederation Centre of the Arts

Jessie Inman

No. We're the national memorial to the founding of the nation in terms of the first meeting that was ever held to discuss Canada as a nation, and that happened in 1864. Our building was opened in 1964 to commemorate that.

12:35 p.m.

Liberal

Stéphane Dion Liberal Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC

We are not discussing Canada as a nation. We are discussing Confederation. Canada was a nation before that. I hope you know that.

12:35 p.m.

Chief Executive Officer, Confederation Centre of the Arts

Jessie Inman

Absolutely, I know that.

12:35 p.m.

Liberal

Stéphane Dion Liberal Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC

Then why are you calling it the anniversary of Canada? I think we need to respect our history.

November 6th, 2012 / 12:35 p.m.

Chief Executive Officer, Confederation Centre of the Arts

Jessie Inman

And that's why I—

12:35 p.m.

Liberal

Stéphane Dion Liberal Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC

In some parts of the county it will play very badly if we call 1867 the birth of Canada.

Do you know who François-Xavier Garneau was?

12:35 p.m.

Chief Executive Officer, Confederation Centre of the Arts

12:35 p.m.

Liberal

Stéphane Dion Liberal Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC

He was a great historian.

12:35 p.m.

Chief Executive Officer, Confederation Centre of the Arts

12:35 p.m.

Liberal

Stéphane Dion Liberal Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC

In 1845, he wrote Histoire du Canada depuis sa découverte jusqu'à nos jours.

Who was the first prime minister of Canada?

12:35 p.m.

Chief Executive Officer, Confederation Centre of the Arts

Jessie Inman

Sir John A. Macdonald.

12:35 p.m.

Liberal

Stéphane Dion Liberal Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC

Excuse me?

12:35 p.m.

Chief Executive Officer, Confederation Centre of the Arts

Jessie Inman

I'm sorry.

12:35 p.m.

Liberal

Stéphane Dion Liberal Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC

Have you never heard about Louis-Hippolyte La Fontaine?

12:35 p.m.

Chief Executive Officer, Confederation Centre of the Arts

Jessie Inman

Yes. That's why I want to do this show, Evangeline, because it was the mid-1700s—

12:35 p.m.

Liberal

Stéphane Dion Liberal Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC

I'm very concerned about the way you teach history in your arts centre, but you're not alone.

You are all making the same mistake and it is a very serious mistake. You cannot demolish a country's history just like that. You are going to have a major problem with a good portion of the population, including francophones, if you are forgetting why we have two official languages in this country and how the Europeans populated this part of the continent.

12:35 p.m.

Chief Executive Officer, Confederation Centre of the Arts

Jessie Inman

May I respond? I agree with you completely, Monsieur Dion. This is why I want to show the story of Evangeline next year on our stage. The mid-1700s, when the expulsion of Canadians happened in the Maritime provinces, is a very big part of our history—

12:35 p.m.

Liberal

Stéphane Dion Liberal Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC

But it's not the pre-history of Canada; it is the history of Canada.

12:35 p.m.

Chief Executive Officer, Confederation Centre of the Arts

Jessie Inman

It is the history of Canada. I agree completely—

12:35 p.m.

Liberal

Stéphane Dion Liberal Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC

Okay. Thank you. I hope you will correct that, because it's a big mistake if you are pretending that Canada started in 1867.