Good morning.
My name is Suzanne Campgagne, and I'm the director of the Conseil culturel fransaskois. I was a performer in Hart Rouge for years. Since I became an administrator in the arts and culture sector, I now have a different perspective.
I can tell you that it was good news for us when we heard that the Official Languages Act was going to be modernized. The Official Languages Act was created during a time when the federal and Quebec governments were clashing, but a lot has changed since then.
In the arts and culture world—and I'll certainly focus on artists and culture in my speech—we truly believe that the act, in its current form, is more about statements than it is about enforcement, as my colleague said. This is a problem for the francophone minority in Canada, and this is why we think that part VII of the act, which deals with enhancing the vitality of francophone minority communities should be the preamble of this modernized act.
We also think that the arts and culture sector should be considered its own sector. We can talk about all of the benefits of bilingual country, but artists and cultural communities essentially embody this success. If we are modernizing the act, we have to look at modernizing the promotion and development of this act, which is currently lacking. The act does not not address promoting a bilingual country, and it is artists and their work who make this happen.
One of Canada's most prolific francophone visual artists, Joe Fafard, is from Saskatchewan, and Lord Byrun, who is also from Saskatchewan, won a 50-year-old competition. Both of of these men are powerful representatives. Of course, we are showing Quebeckers that there are francophones elsewhere, but we are also showing our financial backers that their money delivers real results. This is why I truly believe that arts and culture must play an important role in the modernization of the act.