moved that Bill S-202, an act to amend the Parliament of Canada Act (Parliamentary Visual Artist Laureate), be read the third time and passed.
Madam Speaker, it is a great honour to rise again in the House and speak to Bill S-202, an act to amend the Parliament of Canada Act to establish a parliamentary visual artist laureate.
As mentioned in my speech during second reading, I want to thank former senator Patricia Bovey for all her hard work in getting this bill through the Senate and to the House this last time.
I am also incredibly grateful to former senator Wilfred Moore for his initial push of work on this legislation in 2016.
I also want to thank Senator Andrew Cardozo for stepping forward and offering assistance should the need arise to return this bill back to the other place to consider amendments that are now before the House.
These three senators are each strong champions of the arts, and each deeply understands the need for this legislation. I am truly honoured to be working with these three senators on this bill to ensure that the Canadian arts are featured prominently through the parliamentary visual artist laureate. This position would arise from the successful passage of the bill, as amended at the Canadian heritage committee.
I will note that the heritage committee made two amendments to the bill at committee stage. While I believe both amendments were covered in the original form of the legislation, they further clarify two aspects.
Following consultation with the above three senators, who in turn have consulted with the larger arts community, we have accepted the validity of these two amendments and ask the House to formally adopt them as part of the legislation that is once again before us.
In a previous session, when this bill was known as Bill S-205, the members of this House delivered many excellent speeches when they debated the legislation. It is clear that, in the three times this bill has been before the Senate and the House, it has had overwhelming support from parliamentarians in both chambers. There have been a lot of positive discussions on Bill S-202 to date, with my colleagues from all parties providing supportive statements during this Parliament’s second reading of the bill, as well as during the committee stage.
Bill S-202 is about supporting Canadian art and artists. The arts community was hard hit economically during the COVID-19 pandemic but is slowly recovering from that time. The arts provided a respite to Canadians during that challenging time in our country’s recent past. During my time away from this place between 2019 and 2021, I worked for the Township of Langley as the cultural services manager, where I had the opportunity to work very closely with the arts community. I have always understood the importance of the arts, but it was during the pandemic that I truly came to understand how essential artists are to the well-being of society.
For over 150 years, Canadian artists have influenced Canadian culture and its beautiful microcultures. Acclaimed and beloved artists such as Emily Carr, Kenojuak Ashevak, George Campbell Tinning, Claude Vermette, Jack Chambers, and Maud Lewis illustrated their experiences, desires and perceptions with exhilarating grit and comforting beauty. They all worked to elevate cross-cultural understanding, curiosity, unity and proud expressions of Canadian culture.
To make a position within Parliament specifically for artists to create in, just as many Canadians before them have done outside of these parliamentary walls, honours the creativity and perseverance of Canadians. Along with these well-known artists, I believe we can all name more than one inspiring artist in our own home community, demonstrating how art is embedded in all our communities across Canada.
George Elliott Clarke, our parliamentary poet laureate from 2016-17, wrote the following poem in support of this legislation for Senator Bovey. I apologize to the interpreters, who will have to do this on the fly.
The poem is as follows:
The blank page—the blank canvas is—
Undeniably delicious—
Like fog, which obscures, then reveals—
What Hope imminently congeals—
A fantastic architecture—
Imagination born secure:
What Vision—the I of the eye—
Had dreamt, is What answering Why. . ..
Rainbows erupt from paint or ink—
And film sculptures light—in a blink;
A needle, weaving, is lyric,
And whatever is shaped is epic.
Art's each I articulate,
Whose vision ordains a laureate.
As a reminder to my colleagues, Bill S-202 seeks to amend the Parliament of Canada Act to create the position of parliamentary visual artist laureate. The parliamentary visual artist laureate would be an officer of the Library of Parliament, akin to the position of the parliamentary poet laureate. The selection process for this role would consist of the Speaker of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Commons acting in tandem to select artists to reflect Canada’s linguistic and cultural diversity.
The mandate for the parliamentary visual artist laureate is to promote the arts in Canada through Parliament, including by fostering knowledge, enjoyment, awareness and development of the arts. In carrying out this mandate, the laureate may “produce or cause to be produced artistic creations, at the request of either Speaker, especially for use in Parliament on occasions of state”.
A two-year period is in place for this position, as is in place for the poet laureate, with the intention of rotating different ideas and perspectives, ensuring that multiple voices and approaches are heard and seen.
As mentioned in the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, the important consideration here is that this position would become a part of the institution of Parliament and would be here for the long term. Having that longevity, that permanence, would allow for the arts to reflect various aspects of current and future Canadian culture, including the experiences of everyone from around the world that has come to call Canada home.
Canadian artists from across the country, whether lifelong Canadians, immigrants, indigenous peoples or others, will benefit from having a parliamentary visual artist laureate in Ottawa. The appreciation of the arts unites us, and in a multicultural country such as Canada, we should promote our many different forms of art at every opportunity.
Senator Bovey had a long and wondrous career as a visual arts curator, a director of several major Canadian art galleries, a professor and an author before joining the Canadian Senate in November 2016. She carried that passion for the arts with her during her tenure as a senator, and she continues her advocacy today, reminding us that the arts are a critical part of living and realizing Canada's diversity.
In her maiden speech in the Senate in 2016, Senator Bovey said, “The arts play an uncontestable and considerable role in all aspects of society”. As chair of the Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs, I would like to build on Senator Bovey's statement. The role that the arts can play in society includes building relationships and knowledge with indigenous nations.
Indigenous artists are arguably the best-known Canadian artists outside Canada. As we look toward reconciliation and renewing relationships with indigenous peoples, I want to remind everyone of what Senator Bovey said in 2016. She indicated, “The power of the arts is infinite.... The arts are letting the world know who Canadians are, where we are and what we value”.
For my colleagues who may not have noticed it, I mentioned future Canadian culture. The next generations of youth are Canada's future, and art is a critical component in engaging with, teaching and learning from our youth.
As a witness in heritage committee, former senator Bovey stated:
The visual arts also have the power to teach and inspire. I believe the visual artist laureate will be a bridge to our youth regarding the role of democracy, the workings of Parliament and your commitments, and will assist in addressing the gap in knowledge about civics. It would be a connector across this country and across generations, and open doors to bring us together at a time when that has never been needed more.
Art, as a mirror of society, is not a lie, an exaggeration or a fleeting, impermanent digital commentary. It is permanent, good and an important part of our heritage and ongoing history, portraying honestly what we are and what we are thinking.
I want to take a moment to thank the members of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage for their careful consideration of Bill S-202 and for putting forth two previously referenced amendments that enshrine our commitment to diversity and equality of opportunity for all artists.
Similar to the position of the Poet Laureate, the selected visual artist laureate would alternate every two years between someone who works primarily in English and someone who works primarily in French. With the first amendment accepted, the committee is ensuring a reflection of Canada's linguistic reality in the position of the parliamentary visual artist laureate. I thank my French-speaking colleagues for their clarification of current practices of the House by making sure French Canadians are equally represented as the parliamentary visual artist laureate through this amendment.
I also want to thank the heritage committee for amending Bill S-202 to ensure digital creations are included in the definition of “arts”. While the original legislation included reference to future art forms and would have included digital creations, this amendment solidifies digital creations as a legitimate art form. As more and more artists express an interest in digital media, we must ensure that digital creations are included to reflect the diversity of Canada through this evolving art form.
As Senator Moore said in his final speech in the Senate in 2016, when the legislation was known as Bill C-234, the position of parliamentary visual artist laureate would augment the Poet Laureate's office and expand the types of artistic expression that depict Canada both at home and abroad. The federal government has actively promoted the arts since the Massey Commission in 1949, which recommended that federal funding be made available for a wide range of cultural activities.
The Massey Commission stated that “it is in the national interest to give encouragement to institutions which express national feeling, promote common understanding and add to the variety and richness of Canadian life”. I want to note that the Massey Commission recommended the founding of the National Library, the National Gallery and the Canada Council for the Arts; we readily founded these institutions to support the artistic expression of Canada.
I wholeheartedly agree with Senator Moore that the expansion of artistic creativity deserves recognition in Parliament. As the former senator noted, our chambers of Parliament are defined not just by those of us sitting in its hallowed halls, but also by the artwork hanging on the walls that remind us daily of the sacrifice of those who built this nation. Canada has so many talented artists, and it is time we celebrate these visual artists and their contributions to our culture and the expression of who we are.
As we discuss Bill S-202 during its third reading, for its third time in the House, I urge my colleagues from all parties to support this bill and to vote in favour of its passage. Let us show our support for the arts across this beautiful and diverse country.
