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Minority Report from Wendy Lill MP
on behalf of the NDP Federal Caucus
The scope of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage Study, A
Sense of Being - a Sense of Place, has been immense, and the importance
of this task should never be underestimated. We congratulate the Committee,
especially the Chair and the Committee's Branch staff, for their support
and hard work.
The Committee had the privilege of hearing from hundreds of artists,
creators, curators, painters, playwrights, as well as representatives from
vastly different groups such as arts organizations, media conglomerates
and tiny rural museums. People with enormous passion and commitment to
their art, and to the country they create it in. We thank them all for
their enthusiasm, the time they took away from their work, and their vision.
Over and over the Committee heard certain themes; the unquenchable desire
of artists to create and reflect their experience, the importance of the
CBC, the need for a strong Canada Council and the important role which
the federal government has played in nurturing Canadian culture. We also
heard about the impact of fiscal cutbacks on all cultural institutions,
and on the ability of our artists to make a living. The report has put
forward many good recommendations on such important issues as continued
and stable funding for the CBC, Copyright and Status of the Artist legislation,
increased support to educational institutions and cultural training initiatives,
as well as a federal recommitment to our libraries, archives, museums and
our built heritage. We applaud these recommendations.
But the NDP believes that there are some serious concerns which have
not been addressed sufficiently, or at all, in this report. One of these
is the area of Canadian content. Defining Canadian content has now taken
on a greater urgency given the new Canadian content definition used under
the recent Canadian-American agreement on Split-Run magazines. This definition
allows for any material to be considered Canadian as long as it is original
to a publication distributed in Canada. We believe this gravely undermines
our cultural sovereignty and will set a precedent for trade challenges
in film, books, music and all other cultural endeavours.
The report accepts far too easily the inevitability and acceptability
of globalization and corporate concentration and does not take the time
or the rigor to question how these forces will impact negatively on a nation's
culture. This is immensely regrettable. I believe that a committee of this
stature should be a forum for these questions.
The report does not tackle the problem of foreign ownership of our film
distribution system, nor the almost complete foreign takeover of our book
publishing houses and bookstore chains. Nor does the report address the
issue of media concentration and how this impacts on the abilities of Canadians
to hear and express diverse opinions.
We believe that the Government of Canada should review all takeovers
and mergers in the cultural sector in aid of achieving the maximum opportunity
for creators as well as the maximum opportunity of access for the public
to Canadian culture.
On matters of Canada's trade policy as it relates to culture, the Committee
heard testimony about the abject failure of both the WTO and NAFTA to protect
Canadian culture. While there was lively debate on where Canada should
go from here, there was a majority who wanted strong protections for our
culture in any and all future trade deals. New Democrats concur. We believe
that any cultural policy must have as a premise our unfettered right to
manage our cultural affairs as we see fit, without challenge or threat
of retaliation.
We believe that one of the greatest challenges facing the Government
of Canada is to create, protect and nurture a humane and creative environment
for our artists and our citizens in the face of globalization and corporate
concentration.
The Main Committee Report starts out - quite rightly - praising the
Final Report of the Working Group on Cultural Policy for the 21st Century
by the Canadian Conference of the Arts. The NDP Caucus supports the
excellent recommendations of this report. They are included here (with
permission) as the conclusion to our minority report.
The Working Group believes that the best approach is a simple one. First,
the policy must be based in legislation, in particular, the legislation
that has created the Department of Canadian Heritage. This legislation
should be amended to reflect a number of elements:
- change the name to the Department of Canadian Culture and Heritage;
- reestablish the linkage between cultural content and carrier issues
by conferring an exclusive mandate for these areas to the Department of
Canadian Culture and Heritage;
- articulate the key objectives of a Canadian cultural policy framework,
namely:
i. That the federal government recognize its vital role in the sustenance,
promotion and development of the arts, heritage and cultural industries
and confer the coordinating role for these efforts upon the Department
of Canadian Culture and Heritage.
iii. That the full array of institutions, departments, and agencies
involved in federal cultural policy facilitate the broadest possible access
by Canadians to works and productions by Canadian artists and cultural
producers.
a. That the Government of Canada, through the Department of Canadian
Culture and Heritage, apply the tools of legislation, regulation and direct
and indirect financial support measures as well as the use of the taxation
system in pursuit of its cultural objectives.
b. That the Government of Canada confer upon the Department of Canadian
Culture and Heritage full authority to establish and administer foreign
investment measures in the arts and cultural industries.
iv. That the Department of Canadian Culture and Heritage promote and
respect the values of regional and ethnocultural diversity, the role of
the First Peoples, and the need to foster among Canadians a greater appreciation
of our collective experience and aspirations.
v. That the Department of Canadian Culture and Heritage be given overall
responsibility for the creation of an environment respectful of and conducive
to the work and rights of Canadian creators and artists through revisions
to the Copyright Act, the Status of the Artist Act, and the
Cultural Property Act, and other instruments at the disposition
of the state.
vii. That the Department of Canadian Culture and Heritage promote and
facilitate the development of a strong domestic base of artists, creators,
producers and audiences in partnership with other levels of government,
the private sector and the cultural sector.
The Working Group recommends that a Special Commission be established
to work with agencies, departments, and programmes which have a cultural
dimension to ensure that their activities and priorities are consistent
with the objectives of a federal cultural policy. The Special Commission,
composed of artists and cultural workers, members of the general public,
public servants and representatives of the Standing Committee on Canadian
Heritage, would be given a mandate of no longer than three years to accomplish
its work.
The ultimate objective of the Special Commission will be to ensure that
cultural policies, institutions, programmes, and measures are based on
the key objectives of federal cultural policy.
The Special Commission must be satisfied that any element of the federal
cultural policy framework can demonstrate quantifiable and qualitative
evidence of its contribution to the key objectives of federal cultural
policy.
If any element is found to be inconsistent with the objectives of the
policy, the Special Commission will recommend to the Minister of Canadian
Culture and Heritage appropriate revisions, alternatives or a termination
of the measure, programme or institution.
The Working Group calls upon the Government of Canada to move with dispatch
to the third phase of revisions to the Copyright Act and to commission
an in-depth study of more responsive mechanisms used around the world to
develop or upgrade copyright legislation.
The Working Group also calls upon the Government of Canada to establish
a legal aid fund to assist creators and copyright owners to underwrite
the costs of legal challenges over the exploitation of their work by unauthorized
users. For most individual creators, the defense of their economic or moral
rights represents an onerous burden that few can afford to shoulder. The
net result of this situation is a de facto loss of economic benefits owing
to the creator and copyright owner.
The Working Group recommends that the status of the artist be the focus
of a special meeting of federal and provincial governments, during which
a broad action plan to advance the status of Canadian artists and creators
would be devised. The involvement of key artistic and cultural labour and
advocacy organizations would foster a better appreciation of the priorities
most requiring attention.
The Working Group recommends that the funding of arts service and cultural
industry trade organizations be identified as a priority for federal and
provincial ministers responsible for culture.
The Working Group believes that our collective ability to sustain these
institutions is critical to the long-term health of Canadian culture. In
the process of revising and refining federal cultural policies, attention
must be given to a policy for national training institutions which will
permit them access to adequate and predictable funding, so that their energies
can be properly focused on their primary vocation of shaping forthcoming
generations of artists and cultural workers.
That Human Resources Development Canada, in collaboration with the Department
of Canadian Heritage, secure stable multi-year funding for nationally significant
arts training, and for professional development and skills upgrading for
artists and cultural workers.
That in negotiating the transfer of labour market services to the provincial
governments, Human Resources Development Canada ensure that sector-based
training and professional development councils are specifically referenced
as the optimal delivery mechanism for the cultural sector and that specific
funding of these bodies be part of the written delegation of responsibility.
The Working Group recommends that the Special Commission dedicate considerable
attention to the manner in which the important national cultural institutions
complement and support each other in their shared mission to develop, celebrate
and promote Canadian cultural expression.
The Working Group recommends that the Special Commission examine various
models of closer collaboration among the CBC/SRC, the National Film Board
and Telefilm Canada to ensure that they make the strongest contribution
possible to access by Canadians and the development and promotion of Canadian
cultural expression.
The Working Group recommends that a Canadian City of Culture project
be placed on the agenda of the next federal/provincial meeting of culture
ministers for discussion and implementation. The Working Group also recommends
that the Federation of Canadian Municipalities explore the feasibility
of this project among its members. The Working Group recommends that this
initiative start in the year 2000.
The Working Group believes that Canadians should have a right of full
access to their heritage. We therefore recommend that:
- Museums must have the responsibility to make their collections accessible
to all. Creative solutions include more travelling exhibitions, exchanges,
educational programmes, and enhanced distribution through the use of new
technologies.
- Federal, provincial, and municipal governments must work in partnership
to ensure that Canadian museums and heritage institutions are viable and
solidly funded. They must develop an outreach strategy to involve the full
participation of Canadians in the celebration of our culture.
- Museums and heritage institutions have a major role to play in the
promotion, discovery and social integration of artists, scholars, and connoisseurs
through which they will advance creativity in all Canadians.
- The development of a national conservation strategy will ensure that
our collective patrimony is properly cared for and documented. This strategy
must reach beyond the museum and heritage community to involve our citizens,
corporations, and non-profit organizations.
The Working Group recommends that the Minister of Finance in his next
federal budget include amendments to the Income Tax Act to facilitate
the so-called "stretch" provisions, which reward increased donations
by the average donor to charities and registered arts service organizations.
The Working Group recommends that tax incentives for investment in all
cultural industries be developed and implemented as soon as possible. These
incentives are central to the ability of Canadian producers to remain productive
and competitive both domestically and internationally.
The Working Group recommends that the federal government immediately
commission a joint working group of the Department of Canadian Heritage
and the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade to develop
an implementation plan for an international cultural agency, with a view
to implementation by January 1, 2000.
The Working Group recommends that the Parliamentary Sub-Committee on
International Trade, Trade Disputes and Investment convene hearings as
soon as possible to give shape and substance to a declaration of Global
Parallel Rights, which would form an ongoing reference point for the elaboration
of international trade and investment agreements as a condition of Canadian
ratification. This task should be completed before the Millennium Round
of the World Trade Organization negotiations in the year 2000.
The Working Group urges a strengthening of the "net benefit"
test to ensure that the production, distribution, and promotion of content
by Canadians is a permanent commitment by foreign investors receiving approval
to operate in any aspect of culture in Canada. That commitment must be
seen as a mark of good corporate citizenship and a fair recompense for
the access that foreign enterprises enjoy to the Canadian market.
Further, it is our firm belief that the responsibility for the administration
of foreign investment in the cultural sector must be transferred to the
Department of Canadian Culture and Heritage.