Madam Speaker, I am proud to stand here on behalf of my party, the NDP, to support the motion put forward by the member for Verchères—Les Patriotes and seconded by the member for Laval.
As my colleague for Edmonton—Strathcona said, we recognize a number of aspects of the motion as being very important, for example, the call for an increase in the direct assistance given to artists by increasing the annual budget of the Canada Council for the Arts to $300 million, noting that the government should not roll back the cuts it announced in the culture sector and that it should restore funding for a number of programs, including the arts promotion program, trade routes, the national training program for the film and video sector and many more programs that are very important to our arts community.
One of the ways in which I truly understand the importance of the arts in our country is by knowing what it means to the community from which I come. I was born and raised in Thompson, a mid-sized mining town in the north of Manitoba, about 800 kilometres north of Winnipeg. When people heard about where I came from, they thought about the mining industry. They thought of people working hard. Certainly, our community is made up of a lot of hard-working people.
However, what people from away often failed to recognize was the vibrancy of our community and how, in many ways, this vibrancy was a result of how active so many people were in the arts. This was in the visual arts, music, film, theatre and all sorts of ways. Those aspects of the community were what contributed to so many of the positive influences I had growing up. I know many people who make Thompson and northern Manitoba their home have had those positive influences as well.
One of the things that concerns my party and I a great deal is the disregard of the government for the arts. We have heard quite a bit about money and specifically the numbers, but what we are really concerned about is the mentality that has been at the bottom of many of the decisions as to which programs would and would not be funded. This motion points to that.
For example, in my riding artists are calling out for increased supports. In fact, just two weeks ago, I attended the northern juried art show in Thompson, which brought together artists from Norway House, Flin Flon, the Pas and all across northern Manitoba to showcase their visual arts. It was so exciting to see so much talent. However, one of the ongoing themes was the challenges that northern artists faced in being able to produce and sell their work and network with other artists, given our distance from the main hubs. In our case, it would be Winnipeg.
They talked about the need for greater access to broadband Internet, something to which we are still waiting for the government to respond. They were talking about the need for increased grants. Specifically, first nations artists have referenced this, given the fact that many of them come from communities that do not have an economic base and are unable to access employment in many cases. In order to be involved with their art, they need some sort of income to drive them in what they do.
I think of the art of Jasyn Lucas, who I am very proud to say I grew up with, and of Teresa Burrows, an amazing woman artist in our community who has done great work with northern women. I think of the Flin Flon Arts Council, which has brought together people from all across our region and does a lot of great work in Flin Flon to showcase singing and theatrical arts. I think of the talented musicians coming from our region, such as Tracy Bone, Highway 373, Prodiggy and Hayley McDonald.
The latest are young people who come from communities such as Nelson House, Cross Lake and Norway House. These people, despite the challenges they face, find they are able to not just entertain, but to become stronger individuals through their art. As I noted, they certainly entertain the rest of us whose talents may not lay in this area.
One thing that comes up every time we either have a chance to admire this art or listen to these musicians is how important it is for our smaller communities to have access to such artists and how important it is for us to support such artists.
I noted a few of the challenges that artists have spoken to, but I also want to focus a bit on what the opportunities would be to support the arts in the region I represent in northern Manitoba. I will specifically talk a bit about first nations communities. I have risen in the House many times to talk about the lack of extracurricular activities available to first nations youth.
We already know the high indicators in gang and criminal activities in which so many young aboriginal people become involved. Many friends of mine and many young people across the region have said that they need recreational activities to keep their young people busy and to keep them away from the negative kinds of activities.
Oftentimes, perhaps because we are such a proud country in terms of our sports, and we are certainly a proud hockey nation, one of the things we miss is how important it is to encourage the arts in our communities. First nations have been calling for money for recreation, not just for sports but also for the arts, recognizing that arts activities, whether it is music, visual arts or film and film production, would be positive, inspirational and would keep young people excited about their lives.
I mentioned some of the high rates of negative activity in which so many young people get involved. I also come from a region with very high suicide rates among aboriginal people. The need for alternatives and supports in their communities is absolutely real. So many have called out for the arts, in terms of a way that young people can be excited, become empowered and also contribute to their communities.
I remember meeting with youth leaders from the Island Lake area, one of the areas that is unfortunately dealing with what might be termed as the H1N1 pandemic. I met with them a couple of months ago in their community. One young man came up to me and told me that his dream was to become involved in multimedia, specifically documentaries.
From what I understand, there have been cutbacks and a diversion of funding away from some of the supports documentary filmmakers could receive, which concerns me. This young man has a dream. With all the technology we have here today, it should not be that difficult to provide the appropriate grants for young people like this young man so they can follow their dreams. It is absolutely incumbent on us as parliamentarians to listen to what these young people say and recognize their connection and their interest in the arts.
One of the ways in which the arts have been attacked is the cuts to the CBC. I am very proud of the region I come from and the work we did to save our CBC station. I appreciate the recognition that the CBC gave to CBC North Country and CBC Keewatin Country in Saskatchewan. It recognized how important these two stations were for our region and that they ought to be kept open.
However, I am also aware of the cuts in other northern regions, northern Ontario, Newfoundland and Labrador and generally in Atlantic Canada. This really concerns me. We know the extent to which our public broadcaster supports the arts and provides a venue for artists to promote their work and for Canadians to get to know their work, whether it is literary, music, theatre or whatever it might be. By cutting at the voice for so many artists and by cutting at the venue by which we as Canadians get to hear about the work they do, we are damaging the arts community.
I am very concerned about the government's demonstrated lack of support for the CBC. I recognize that is a big part of how we ought to be supporting the arts.
I would like to note again our support for the motion. We hope the government will recognize just how important the arts are to all our communities.
