Canadian Heritage committee  There aren't—at least not visibly marginalized women. But that is top of mind, and we are considering candidates. Because our project has been such an enormous one, and our board has been such a working board, there are only so many people who can offer that kind of time and heav

Canadian Heritage committee  You know, it's partly luck, but I think we have some very experienced board members around the table who bring with them the HR element. Also, I will say that the individual, a woman, who chaired our search committee has made a huge difference by having that kind of skill set at

Canadian Heritage committee  That's a good question.

Canadian Heritage committee  That's correct.

Canadian Heritage committee  I agree.

Canadian Heritage committee  One of the barriers Kate mentioned was the financial expectations put on board members, particularly in cultural organizations because it is a source of their funding. One way we've mitigated that is by having young people join our board, and we have artists on our board. We rea

Canadian Heritage committee  I don't think it's the head hunters. I know there has been some reference to that, but when we worked with our head hunter—we have some very skilled HR people on our board—the chair of our search committee actually gave a lot of direction to the head hunter.

Canadian Heritage committee  We as a committee actually identified some key people in the landscape who we thought were qualified. That head hunter also went out into its network and brought forward candidates. It was really a collaborative effort. It just so happened that we did get a Canadian and we got

Canadian Heritage committee  Well, to address Kate's point, I think there is board fatigue. Absolutely we welcome multi-generations, but there has been a small pool of board members in the cultural domain, and you see a kind of musical chairs that has happened over the years of people who started being on bo

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you. I'm happy to answer. Yes, there are programs that exist within current curricula. They have programs at OCAD and some of the colleges. I think the point is that there's not enough emphasis put on leadership, and that as a result people are leaving the arts education

Canadian Heritage committee  I think this is a very good point: it needs to be formalized. There are associations that consist of men and women who get together, and doing so has tremendous value, but there are unique challenges for our female leaders. We need to gather those individuals in a less haphazard

Canadian Heritage committee  Good morning. Thank you, Madam Chair and committee, for the invitation to be part of this important discussion around gender parity. My name is Julia Ouellette. I am the board Chair of MOCA, the Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto Canada. I've served in this role for six years.