Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you, Madam Chair. Good morning, everyone. Since I just found out yesterday that I would be here today, I have no document to submit. First, I will go over my career. I have worked in museums for almost 50 years. I have been an observer of the museum cultural scene for all

Canadian Heritage committee  This is a kind of evolution. There has been...with the arrival of computers in the 1980s, we saw many museums experimenting with the new technologies. My idea on this subject is that all these communication devices you have, your iPhone or whatever, cannot replace the basis of t

Canadian Heritage committee  Food for thought has to be well dosed, and it has to go to the right clientele. For example, I worked in northern Sweden with the Lapps, with the Sami community, and we did their national museum in Jokkmokk. We designed the exhibition of the museum like a reindeer corral. In o

Canadian Heritage committee  Smaller museums have an annual budget problem. This is all across the board in every country. I have not seen many small museums that have sufficient money, because their staff are always thinking about developing new programs and helping children become more aware of things. Apa

Canadian Heritage committee  I don't know. I can't tell you by percentage, but I must say that there are two currents of ideas in the curatorship of museums. Some are quite resistant to marketing forces, because I guess they believe it will make culture the servant of money. On the other side, most managers

Canadian Heritage committee  On some occasions it has been, yes; in other cases, a little.

Canadian Heritage committee  Excuse me?

Canadian Heritage committee  That's a difficult one.

Canadian Heritage committee  I don't think I can answer.

Canadian Heritage committee  There are many museums in Canada. When I started 50 years ago, there were half as many as there are today. Many were created in the 1970s and 1980s, especially heritage sites or thematic museums that were developed mostly along tourist routes. This is a natural phenomenon. If yo

Canadian Heritage committee  I won't be able to speak to the last part of your question.

Canadian Heritage committee  My first job was with the federal government. From 1970 to 1973, I was the director of National Historic Sites of Canada for Ontario and Quebec. In 1973, the government created Parks Canada, and I became the director of the interpretation and museology service for Quebec. We dec

Canadian Heritage committee  That's not the case for all museums.

Canadian Heritage committee  Basically, but we can, for example, talk about what the miners earned on the work plan through their demands and the challenges they faced. We can also talk about the challenges that the companies had to face to become prosperous.

Canadian Heritage committee  I would have liked to have been better prepared before testifying before you today.