Finance committee  Yes, certainly. When a monument is designed, the whole design phase is the responsibility of the Department of Canadian Heritage. Once the monument has been unveiled, its maintenance becomes the responsibility of the NCC—as is currently the case. The NCC will continue to be responsible for monument maintenance.

Finance committee  The National Holocaust Monument Act entrusted this project to the minister in charge of the NCC. Since the responsibility for promoting the capital includes monument design and creation, that responsibility will be transferred to the Department of Canadian Heritage. However, the NCC will still be in charge of maintaining the properties, parks and sites under its responsibility—including any urban landscapes and monuments on those properties.

Finance committee  That will be the responsibility of the team being transferred from the National Capital Commission to the Department of Canadian Heritage. In addition, the ministerial responsibility is changing.

Finance committee  Good morning. My name is Denis Racine. I am the Executive Director of Major Events and Celebrations at the Department of Canadian Heritage. Division 14 is transferring the responsibility of promoting the national capital from the National Capital Commission to the Department of Canadian Heritage.

Finance committee  That will not necessarily be the case. The NCC group in charge of promoting the national capital will be transferred as a whole to the Department of Canadian Heritage. We will then assess the resulting synergies and efficiencies.

Finance committee  Not at all. Until the transfer has been completed, everyone will have the same responsibilities and continue to work on events and projects.

Finance committee  I don't think so, as the idea is to transfer the whole unit to the Department of Canadian Heritage.

Finance committee  My understanding is that the responsibility transfer is due to the fact that the Department of Canadian Heritage has some responsibilities when it comes to commemorating events of national significance. In addition, the national capital is a very important location where activities are organized and where many national symbols are located.

Official Languages committee  The 375th anniversary will be celebrated in 2017.

Official Languages committee  It will be a challenge for whomever will be proposing activities to celebrate the 150th anniversary. As we mentioned at the outset, the Canada of 1967 and the Canada of today are very different demographically. We were talking earlier about the franco-saskatchewan community that is undergoing very major changes with the arrival of French-speaking immigrants.

Official Languages committee  Let me make a quick comment, taking the 1812 bicentennial as an example. When we started planning for that event, we consulted francophone and First Nations communities. If you look at the activities that have gone on up to now and that will go on in the coming months or next year, you can see the recognition of First Nations communities.

Official Languages committee  With the commemoration of the bicentennial of the War of 1812, Parks Canada is a key partner and obviously some national historic sites are key places where so many battles took place. When we commemorate major milestones, we try to work with our federal colleagues and federal institutions to reach out to Canadians.

Official Languages committee  One does not preclude the other. Sometimes, where there are national celebrations, some francophone communities want to organize their own activities. An Aboriginal community, a First Nation, might perhaps do the same thing. In some cases, everyone gets together around a table and forms one single committee.

Official Languages committee  Let's look at some past experiences. The organization of the Olympic torch relay, for example, was done at two levels. The VANOC organization took care of the relay as such, including all the mechanics of the torch, the torch bearers, and so on. Seeing the torch go by was a very popular and very exciting event.

Official Languages committee  When we did the Olympic torch relay, there were obligations with VANOC because the government was investing money in this event. Everything had to be in both official languages. We also agreed with VANOC that each organizing committee in the local communities that held a community celebration had to include a representative from the official language minority community when there was a presence in such communities.