Canadian Heritage committee  I would like to add one thing, if I may. If events were the same, always unfolding the same way, we could compare one to another, learn lessons and make changes. As Nicole has said, each event is unique; it is difficult to compare and to know what should have been changed. We do

Canadian Heritage committee  I was just going to say that the definition of national protocol is quite a challenge. What do we consider to be national? Aboriginal traditions, for example, that we have to take into account at some events would need to be factored in. We have some provincial traditions as well

Canadian Heritage committee  I was going to mention that on many occasions, people seek advice before they have an event, and I think that's the most important rule. It's kind of an informal network of individuals at the federal, provincial, and municipal level that work together. They know each other, and i

Official Languages committee  Of course, July 1st will probably be a very important day in 2017. The department already supports Canada Day celebrations across the country. There are more than 1,800 of them across Canada every July 1st, and the vast majority of them take place in small communities. They basic

Official Languages committee  In my humble opinion, you have before you the two people who are currently working on the file.

Official Languages committee  As for the organization—

Official Languages committee  I can quite simply tell you that we are the two people who are working on the file currently, with our teams of course. The very structure that will be put in place to go ahead with the initiatives has not yet been determined. Until then, we are the people who—

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

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 communit

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 an

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 in

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 y

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

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

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