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Notes for remarks by André Courchesne  
Director, Strategic Initiatives
Canada Council for the Arts
Senate Standing Committee on Official Languages
April 28, 2008

Madame Chairman, members of the committee:

I am delighted to be here today on behalf of the Canada Council for the Arts, and thank you for inviting me to participate in this round table discussion.  I would like to introduce Katherine Berg, special advisor to the Canadian Commission for UNESCO – which is part of the Canada Council – who will assist me in the discussion.

As you are no doubt aware, the Canada Council was created in 1957 by an Act of Parliament, based on the recommendations of the Royal Commission on National Development in the Arts, Letters and Sciences, better known as the Massey-Lévesque Commission.

The Canada Council Act describes the Council’s mandate as “to foster and promote the study and enjoyment of, and the production of works in, the arts, and that remains our mandate today, more than 50 years later. 

Throughout our history, the Canada Council has reflected and promoted Canada’s linguistic duality, both in our own operations and in the support we provide to artists and arts organizations across the country. We know that the arts play a major role in forging and maintaining cultural identity, which reinforces the importance of ensuring that artists and arts organizations live in and tell the stories of francophone communities in official language minority situations. 

There are many examples of the way in which the Council has provided its support to the arts in francophone minority communities, going back almost to its inception.  In 1958, the Council awarded a grant to Le Cercle Molière – a French-language theatre company based in St. Boniface, Manitoba, which is still operating and receiving operating support from the Council – to tour Molière’s Le Médecin Malgré Lui to eight cities in Western Canada, delighting francophone and anglophone theatre-goers alike.

The following year, when the Canada Council assumed responsibility for  administering the Governor General’s Literary Awards,  the Council made French-language books eligible for the awards for the first time. Today, a total of 14 Governor General’s Literary Awards are presented each year – seven in English and seven in French – including awards for books translated from French into English and vice-versa.  Francophone GG winners have included not only prominent Francophone writers from Québec, but also Acadiens Antonine Maillet, Herménégilde Chiasson and Emma Haché and Franco-Ontarian writers Jean-Marc Dalpé, Michel Bock and the late Robert Dickson.

Over the years, the Canada Council has provided support to numerous minority francophone artists and arts organizations, from sculptor Joe Fafard and ceramic artists Paul Mathieu and Léopold Foulem to the Prince Edward Island musical group Barachois, the Toronto-based francophone dance troupe CORPUS; theatre companies such as l’UniThéâtre in Edmonton, La Troupe du jour in Saskatoon, Théâtre de la Vieille 17 in Ottawa and Le Théâtre Populaire d’Acadie; and book publishers like Bouton d’or in Moncton, Les Éditions Prise de Parole in Sudbury and Les Éditions du blé in Saint-Boniface. In 2007-08, more than $3 million in Canada Council funding was awarded to francophone artists and arts organizations outside Quebec.

The Canada Council was one of the first agencies to sign the multi-party agreement, the Entente pour le développement des arts et de la culture de la francophonie canadienne, in 1998.  We were also the first to sign a PICLO agreement with the Department of Canadian Heritage, which provided the Council with additional funds to support the arts in official language minority communities.  Most recently, the Canada Council’s Action Plan – released in February of this year – specifically refers to linguistic equity as a key element of its broader equity strategy, and commits the Council to ensuring the continuation of support now provided by PICLO. 

More specifically, the Canada Council has taken a number of positive measures to implement our commitment to Section 41 of the Official Languages Act. For example, we make a concerted effort to recruit francophone artists from outside Quebec to serve on our peer assessment committees, which are responsible for evaluating grant applications.  We also provide the committees with context sheets, which were prepared in collaboration with the Fédération culturelle canadienne-française, to give them information on the specific context of Francophone artists in minority situations.  We also hold information sessions and mock juries in minority official language communities to ensure that artists are aware of our programs and to respond to their questions about the assessment process.

In conclusion, the Canada Council for the Arts has been, throughout its 50-year history, an important force in the development and sustainability of a strong francophone culture,  present throughout our country.  We are firmly committed to continuing to do so as we enter our second half-century.

As the director of the Canada Council’s Strategic Initiatives division, and with Katherine`s support, I would be happy to answer your questions and participate in the discussion.

Thank you.