Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you for your question, Ms. Boutin-Sweet. It's very good coming from you, because you worked in a museum, in Pointe-à-Callière in Montreal, so you know our field. In terms of the funding question and the $25 million, it certainly would be nice, but I would point out to you that it is a one-time contribution, so it will not be repeated.

Canadian Heritage committee  Yes.

Canadian Heritage committee  Yes, 40 years.

Canadian Heritage committee  I would not agree with that. There's the willingness and the desire to do it. What there may be is a problem with environmental controls at some of those very small museums, and that would be a legitimate reason, because we have to be very concerned about temperature, light, humidity control and so on.

Canadian Heritage committee  Yes. The other point I'd like to make is that today we're spending a lot of time talking about history, but I think a lot of people are coming at it from the point of view of putting a capital-H on “History”, and local museums, as you've mentioned, are using small-h history, with much more emphasis on social history and a broad definition of what history means.

Canadian Heritage committee  We've been completely supportive of developing private sector philanthropy to help museums. Currently in Canada the museum community is receiving about 9% of its total revenue by way of donations. I don't mean donations of artifacts, I mean donations of money. That is much lower, for example, than in the United States and other countries.

Canadian Heritage committee  I would like to comment that I've worked in the museum profession for about 40 years, in New Brunswick, Ontario, and now in Ottawa. When I look at the capacity and powers outlined in this legislation, they are consistent with what a museum does. With respect to questions such as the international role, I draw your attention to paragraph 9(1)(e), which clearly provides for the role of the museum internationally, as well as within Canada.

Canadian Heritage committee  Sir, we are completely supportive of Bill C-49, and we are certainly aware of the comments of a number of other people who have been supportive of the legislation as well.

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. That was quite an enjoyable lesson in parliamentary procedure.

Canadian Heritage committee  The Canadian Museums Association or CMA is delighted to be here to provide our advice and commentary on Bill C-49. We are the national not-for-profit association for museums, art galleries, and related institutions across Canada. We have almost 2,000 members located in every province and territory of this country, all of which are dedicated to preserving Canada's cultural heritage and presenting it to the public.

Official Languages committee  Mostly museums deal with objects, and not so much with documents. We deal with the stories behind the objects or, in the case of song and dance, with bringing them to life. There are some wonderful examples in the museum world of aboriginal tales, myths, and stories being brought to life through holography or different lighting.

Official Languages committee  That's a really good question. Offhand, a number of iconic images come to my mind about Canada, in the very early periods. In fact, just a week or two ago I was at the Museum of Civilization for the official announcement of its name change and they brought out a number of things from their collection—Champlain's astrolabe, the van that followed Terry Fox, the Maurice Richard hockey sweater.

Official Languages committee  Mr. Dion, I think one of the principal recommendations we've made is over the structure of how the celebrations would be undertaken in 2017. We think it's really important that there be an arm's-length commission established with representatives from every province, from the people, from aboriginal people, and so on.

Official Languages committee  As we said in our presentation, certainly the national institutions deliver in both official languages, and many of the provincial institutions do as well. However, at the local level there is a need. This is why we've asked for a funding program to be put in place that would, among other things, help create the celebrations, the artistic performances, the exhibitions, and the radio programs, as well as service in both languages.

Official Languages committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would actually like to welcome all of you to this place, because you are in what was a museum. Perhaps someday it will be returned again, when we have better days, to the Museum of Contemporary Photography. My name is John McAvity, and I am the executive director of the Canadian Museums Association.