Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Members of the committee, good morning, and thank you for inviting us to make a presentation here today.
The Corporation and its museums will play a very prominent role in the celebrations of the 150th anniversary of Canadian Confederation in 2017. I have three primary goals today. Firstly, I want to speak generally about our commitment to linguistic duality and our efforts to enhance Canadians' understanding of this core attribute of our society. Secondly, I want to give you a general outline of the museums' plans for 2017. And thirdly, I want to tell you about our efforts to reach out to French and English linguistic minorities in communities across Canada as we develop the new Canadian Museum of History.
But I will begin with a brief introduction to the corporation and its museums. The Canadian Museum of Civilization Corporation is the corporate parent of the Museum of Civilization (which will soon become the Canadian Museum of History) and the Canadian War Museum. The corporation also includes the Virtual Museum of New France, which exists only on the Internet. These institutions preserve and share the heritage of Canada, and they contribute to the promotion and reinforcement of the Canadian identity. They do so in both official languages.
In their permanent and temporary exhibitions, the Museum of Civilization and the War Museum tell the story of Canada and its peoples from earliest times to the present day. Among other things, our museums help visitors understand why Canada today has two official languages. Our visitors learn about Samuel de Champlain and the establishment of New France. They learn about the British conquest and the rebellions. Of course, it goes without saying that our museums also explore the history and contributions of Canada's first peoples, and those who came to Canada from around the world in more recent times.
The Museum of Civilization and the War Museum are national institutions. As such, we strive to reach out to Canadians wherever in the country they live and we do so through a variety of offerings. The most prominent are our websites, which are accessible from anywhere, and our traveling exhibitions, which are presented at venues across the country. Our websites are rich, reliable sources of information about Canadian history and culture. All the material we generate for the sites is presented in both official languages and is available free of charge.
Traveling exhibitions are another tool we use to reach across the country. During the last fiscal year, we had 11 exhibitions on the road in Canada. They traveled to 17 venues in five provinces and were seen by more than 150,000 visitors. All were presented in both English and French.
I will now turn to our plans for 2017.
Our museums will offer events, exhibitions, and activities that will engage Canadians not only in the national capital region but also across the country. We will undertake these endeavours, whenever possible, in collaboration with museums and other partners from coast to coast to coast, and we will do so in both official languages.
The centrepiece of our plan for 2017 is the development of a major permanent exhibition in the new Canadian Museum of History. It will be the largest and most comprehensive exhibition on Canada's history ever created. The exhibition will be developed in stages and is scheduled for completion in 2017.
Under its new mandate, the museum will tell the story of Canada and its people with greater clarity and effect than ever before. It will have a sharper focus on the major themes and seminal events and people of our national experience. It will bring our history to life through the display of more of our national treasures, artifacts that will resonate with Canadians, whatever their language, English or French.
Although planning for the new exhibition has just begun, it's obvious that Canada's linguistic duality will be a central focus of attention. How that theme will be explored and presented has yet to be determined. Our decisions will be informed by a process of national consultation, which is now under way.
We are inviting Canadians to help create this new exhibition. We have launched what is surely the most ambitious program of public engagement ever undertaken by our museums. We're asking Canadians to identify the themes, events, and people they would include in their national history museum. We are also asking how our museums can best serve their needs and interests, no matter where they live in Canada or whether they speak French or English. Through an interactive website, we are inviting Canadians to vote on earlier suggestions and to make new nominations of their own. At last count, the site had attracted over 7,000 visitors.
We are also making visits to nine cities across the country. At each stop, we are hosting information sessions and round table discussions. In every case, we're reaching out to linguistic minorities through media releases, in both official languages, through community newspapers, via CBC and TOU.TV, and through direct contact with relevant groups and associations.
We have contacted umbrella organizations, such as the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadiennes du Canada and the Quebec Community Groups Network. We are also contacting local groups in every city on our itinerary. We also have a portable kiosk we're taking to every city on our tour. We're asking passersby the same fundamental questions we're posing through our website and round table discussions, in either official language. The response to date has been wonderful.
In a parallel process, our historians and researchers are consulting with experts from universities and museums and other centres of scholarship across the country.
Once the outreach initiative is completed, we will be better informed on how to shape the new exhibition and other programming for 2017. This much is certain: We will invite Canadians to learn about their country, to appreciate the richness of their history, and to discuss with each other what it means to be Canadian in 2017.
We look forward to the results of your deliberations and any guidance you might offer regarding the national celebration and Canada's linguistic duality.