Question Period Note: Canada’s Museum Policy

In the mandate letter, the Prime Minister has asked the Minister of Canadian Heritage to “…review our national museums policy to make sure that people can access Canadian history across the country, with better access to digital collections.”

• Our Government recognizes the importance of Canada’s museums to the preservation, awareness, understanding and celebration of our cultural, artistic and scientific heritage.
• Our Government is committed to reviewing the Museum Policy as recommended by the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage in 2018, and will begin that process in the near future.
• The Department has already received significant input from the community over the past few years, but will consult the heritage community on additional issues.

• On February 16, 2016, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian heritage adopted a motion to “undertake a study to review the state of Canadian museums, with a focus on local and community museums (as opposed to the major national or provincial museums)”. It held eight meetings and heard from 41 witnesses.
• On September 18, 2018, the Committee tabled its Report, making 15 recommendations to Canadian Heritage and the Government of Canada. The recommendations were grouped by theme: Finance and Revenue; Human Resources; Collections and Infrastructure; and Other Challenges.
• The most significant of the Committee’s recommendations is that the Government develop, on the basis of consultations, a modernized Canadian museum policy. The existing policy was introduced in 1990.
• The Committee requested a response to the report from the Government. That response was tabled in the House of Commons on January 16, 2019.
• The Response indicates that for 11 of the Committee’s 15 recommendations, the Government or the museum community is already engaged in activities that address the recommendations, such as in available training for museums staff and volunteers, or is prepared to do so, as is the case with modernization of federal museum policy.
• The other four recommendations (recommendations 2, 5, 6 and 11) would represent a significant shift or increase in federal funding for non-federal museums. The response indicates that it would be premature for the Government to take a position on those proposals in advance of modernization of the museum policy.
• No commitment has been made on a timeline for a new policy. The Government and Canadian Heritage have received input from the museum community in a variety of forms over the past two years. The Department has begun its review of that input which will then guide what additional research or consultations may be warranted.
• The Government response does not commit the Government to provide incremental funding as part of a revised policy, although significant new funding remains an ongoing expectation of the museum community. The response signals that the policy may take the form of a statement that will be used to guide subsequent funding decisions.
• In fiscal year 2018-2019, the Government invested more than $396.6 million to benefit museums and heritage institutions in Canada. This majority of this investment (over 85%) is directed to the six national museums and Library and Archives Canada. The remainder supports the wider museum and heritage community in Canada through grants and contributions.
• In the mandate letter, the Prime Minister has asked the Minister of Canadian Heritage to “…review our national museums policy to make sure that people can access Canadian history across the country, with better access to digital collections.”

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