Canadian Heritage committee  Honestly, the very first budget terrified me. I had no idea what it cost. I had no idea that doing it, paying musicians and their union fees, all of that, which musicians are worthy of being paid.... I had no idea how much it cost. My first budget, when I was just making my own little thing, was $15,000.

Canadian Heritage committee  Oh, right. I remember. It was the fact that it was a grant. I was terrified of that amount of money. I'd never dealt with that kind of money before. Knowing that I might never sell a CD, I had no idea how I would pay something back. It was a grant. It was something I could actually count on.

Canadian Heritage committee  I was haunted by a character. The character is a young Métis woman from 1930s Batoche who hears jazz on the radio for the first time and discovers that she's connected to the outside world. Dreaming beyond her community, dreaming beyond her family, she wants to connect. It was a story that came through me, songs first, and I had no idea that it was going to become a play.

Canadian Heritage committee  In my world, it changed my life. I can't speak for the province, but it was my launching. The Velvet Devil was something that put me on the map.

Canadian Heritage committee  Oh, yes. It started at the Globe Theatre in Regina, and it came here to Ottawa to the National Arts Centre. It became a radio play for CBC, and then it became a made-for-television movie for CBC television's Opening Night, which has also been cut. Then it went on another cross-country tour.

Canadian Heritage committee  If I had not been given that grant, I would not have a CD that fell into the hands of John Kim Bell, who worked at the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation, who put me on his awards show. It would not have been somehow slipped to the Premier of Saskatchewan, who got me in front of the Queen and Prince Charles and more royalty than you could imagine.

Canadian Heritage committee  I'm not sure. Not in the last while. I feel like I participated in something, but I have no idea if it was the Canada Council.

Canadian Heritage committee  Shock, grumbling, and fear. Where else can we go? Where can people like me go? As I said, I'm from a community of traditional music. You know, someone with a hand drum is not going to make it on CHUM radio. So, fear.

Canadian Heritage committee  Even within Saskatchewan, which had very—

Canadian Heritage committee  Funding has changed even within the province. I know they still have aboriginal categories, but for a jazz aboriginal category, there are not many.

Canadian Heritage committee  No. Absolutely, I had no idea, and the only reason why I found out in the way I did was because one artist at the Western Canadian Music Awards, who was receiving an award, took the time to actually say, “Thank you for the award, and this album, which was actually funded by the specialized music grant, was just cut today.”

Canadian Heritage committee  Hello. My name is Andrea Menard. I am a Métis and a Saskatchewan actress and singer, and probably none of you have heard me on the radio, unfortunately, unless you listen to the CBC, but I am a success. I am a person who has followed my heart, right from my own ideas. The Canada Council grant for specialized music was the focal point and the beginning of my recording career, and in many ways my career in general.