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.

ii. That the federal cultural policy framework build upon the two official language communities, and that it maintain throughout its various components a strong commitment to the vitality of this fundamental dimension of Canadian artistic and cultural life.

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.

vi. That the responsibility for the preservation and promotion of works important to Canadian heritage in all of its manifestations be supported through a variety of instruments dedicated to this mission, including private and public museums and art galleries.

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.

viii. That the various institutions, agencies, programmes and measures that flow from a federal cultural policy framework be subject to the full disciplines of transparency and public accountability.

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.