Proceedings of the Standing Senate Committee on
Social Affairs, Science and Technology
Issue 18 - Evidence - June 18, 2014
OTTAWA, Wednesday, June 18, 2014
The Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology met this day, at 4:35 p.m., to continue its study on the subject matter of Bill S-218, An Act respecting National Fiddling Day.
Senator Kelvin Kenneth Ogilvie (Chair) in the chair.
[Translation]
The Chair: Welcome to the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology.
[English]
I am Kelvin Ogilvie from Nova Scotia, chair of the committee. I will ask my colleagues to introduce themselves, starting on my right.
Senator Seidman: Judith Seidman from Montreal, Quebec.
Senator Eaton: Nicky Eaton from Toronto.
Senator Enverga: Tobias Enverga from Ontario.
Senator Seth: Asha Seth from Toronto.
Senator Stewart Olsen: Carolyn Stewart Olsen from New Brunswick.
Senator Hubley: Elizabeth Hubley from Prince Edward Island.
Senator Chaput: Maria Chaput from Manitoba.
Senator Merchant: Pana Merchant from Saskatchewan.
Senator Cordy: Jane Cordy from Nova Scotia, but I grew up in Cape Breton and I love to see those fiddles here today.
Senator Eggleton: Art Eggleton, senator from Ontario and deputy chair of the committee. I am anxious to hear the fiddling.
The Chair: Thank you, colleagues.
We are used to dealing with true expertise and today we have exceptional expertise as witnesses. I am moving quickly because we are in the midst of a series of bells and we definitely want you on the record.
We are here today to deal with Bill S-218, "An Act respecting National Fiddling Day." We have with us the sponsor of the bill, the Honourable Elizabeth Hubley and, as an individual, Sherry Johnson, Professor from York University. I understand she will be doing the presentation and summaries after the senator has made her opening remarks. We have Kelli Trottier, a musician who will be demonstrating for us, from Kingston — Ontario, I am sorry to say; Ivan Hicks from New Brunswick, who will be demonstrating as well; and Calvin Vollrath, a fiddler from Alberta who will also be demonstrating.
Without further ado, Senator Hubley, we are pleased to have you with us to be the presenter of this bill and I would ask you to proceed.
Hon. Elizabeth Hubley, sponsor of the bill: Thank you very much. I am delighted. It is an honour to be here with these fiddlers and it is actually quite thrilling for me. These are some of Canada's finest fiddlers and we are fortunate to have them as our witnesses.
This is truly a unique committee hearing. My sincere thanks to the chair, the committee members and the clerks for making this day possible, and to the critic, Senator Carolyn Stewart Olsen from New Brunswick, for her enthusiasm and support of the bill.
Honourable senators, allow me to begin by addressing why I have chosen to introduce this bill at this particular time. First, 2014 marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Canadian Grand Masters Fiddling Association. The CGMFA is comprised of people from all over Canada who are committed to keeping fiddling alive and well in our country. A National Fiddling Day will further focus on this mandate.
Second, 2014 is a significant year for our country and its history as we celebrate the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the Charlottetown Conference. I ask you, honourable senators, what better time to recognize a form of music which binds our country together and which factored so prominently in putting our Founding Fathers in the appropriate frame of mind to set aside petty differences and come together as a country.
Third, World Fiddle Day was celebrated last year for the very first time, following an extensive campaign on the part of a number of world-renown fiddle players to encourage its recognition and to celebrate the beauty and history of fiddle music around the world. A National Fiddling Day would go a step beyond and recognize both the historic significance of fiddling in Canada and the dedicated musicians who embrace the instrument.
Since introducing this bill in April, I have been very encouraged by the level of interest and support, but one area of interest that many people have asked me for greater clarification on are the different styles of fiddle playing. I hope with today's witnesses that you will garner a better understanding of the variations in style across our country.
Now I would like to introduce our fantastic witnesses: From St. Paul, Alberta, we have Calvin Vollrath. Calvin has been recognized over and over again for his amazing stage performances and his ability to bring his audience to their feet. He is a true musical prodigy. To date, he has composed over 500 tunes and has to his credit 60 of his own albums.
From Toronto, we have Dr. Sherry Johnson. Dr. Johnson grew up step dancing and playing the fiddle and is currently an Associate Professor of Music at York University. Her PhD dissertation in ethnomusicology was on how fiddlers within the Ontario fiddle and step dancing contest circuit conceptualize "tradition." At this time, she has worked on two projects. The first explores the link between step dancing in Britain and Ireland with that of various regions of Canada; the second examines the role of fiddling and step dancing in the Canadian North.
From Kingston, Ontario, we have Kelli Trottier. Kelli is a champion fiddler and step dancer as well as a singer and songwriter, performing and teaching across Canada. She has toured internationally with the sensational string ensemble Bowfire for nine years and has performed on four tours for our Canadian military in the Far North and the Middle East.
From Moncton, New Brunswick, we have Ivan Hicks. With over 68 years of playing old-time music, Ivan is an award-winning fiddler known throughout North America for his contributions to the preservation and promotion of old-time fiddling. His wife Vivian is in the audience today and has accompanied Ivan for many years on the piano.
I would like to note that Patti Lemoureux had wanted to be here today but had a prior engagement teaching the fine art of the Metis fiddle in Manitoba.
As well, internationally acclaimed fiddler Natalie McMaster sent her regrets to the committee. She is unable to be with us today as she recently gave birth to her sixth child. Natalie is a strong supporter of the bill and provided the following quote:
When I'm touring Canada, I am always amazed at how our country is united coast to coast to coast by the fiddle. It is part of so many unique traditions and every culture. I am proud to support this proposal for a National Fiddling Day.
There is hardly a time when the fiddle is not played at an important Canadian event. Just last week, the fiddle was played at the RCMP funeral in Moncton, New Brunswick. From sombre occasions to joyous events, the fiddle captures the emotions of the occasion.
One of today's witnesses, Calvin Vollrath, was commissioned to compose five fiddle tunes for the Vancouver Winter Olympics 2010 opening ceremonies to represent the various styles of fiddling our country has to offer.
The different styles of fiddling serve to illustrate the regional diversity of our great land. Just as each of our founding cultures is unique and singular, so too are our fiddle styles reflective of the people from whom we come and who we have become.
Despite our regional differences, we all share a commonality and oneness that allows us to respect and honour our history, our lineage and our cultural roots.
Honourable senators, if this bill passes, I envision a "National Fiddling Day" where fiddlers give back to their communities by entertaining and sharing their talents to make people happy, to lift their spirits and to celebrate the unifying nature of this country through the magic of music and the universality of this beautiful instrument.
I envision "National Fiddling Day" as an opportunity not only to celebrate the fiddle as an instrument but also to celebrate fiddling itself — the men and women who bring this music to life; the entertainment; the coming together of family, friends and community; and the celebration of our unique and distinctive culture which finds such a melodic expression through the fiddle.
We now have some terrific music to listen to. I hope you will all enjoy it, so I will turn things over to Dr. Johnson. Thank you.
Sherry Johnson, Professor, York University, as an individual: Good afternoon, honourable senators. As you previously heard from Senators Hubley and Stewart Olsen, fiddling has a long history in this country. The earliest settlers — British Columbia and French — introduced the instrument to the continent, where it was eagerly adopted by Inuit, Metis and First Nations societies who have since made it their own. Immigration continued to bring new styles, tunes and accompanying dances that influenced Canadian fiddling. Since, in many rural communities, members of different ethnic groups join together to attend the same dances, weddings and celebrations, the repertoires of dance music mixed easily. Less integration of repertoire occurred in urban settings initially, where higher concentrations of each ethnic group made it easier for immigrants to socialize only within their own ethnic communities. With a few exceptions, there was and continues to be considerable interaction among the musicians of the various regional and ethnic styles found across Canada. While each region has a recognizable style and repertoire of tunes and steps — and the fiddlers here today will demonstrate some of these styles — there are many more local sub-styles and many instances of musical collaboration and sharing.
While the history of fiddling in Canada is important to understand the development of the wide variety of styles that currently exist, its historical importance is not sufficient to support a national day of fiddling. Rather, I believe it is its role as a dynamic, ever-developing, contemporary tradition that attracts musicians of all ages and from all parts of Canada that makes this musical activity worthy of formal recognition.
Let me share with you now a few of the many scenarios I have seen that prove to me that fiddling has a strong presence and future in our country.
About 30 or more children — the youngest just 3 years old — signed up for the 8 and under fiddle class in a fiddle contest; a multi-generation gathering of family and friends, gathered in a campground until the wee hours of the morning with food, drink, fiddles and a dancing board; a university fiddle-based ensemble that has to cap enrolment because of its popularity amongst students; fiddle teachers with waiting lists and teachers driving hundreds of kilometres to teach students in areas without a local teacher; and programs like Strings Across the Sky, which teaches fiddling to young people in over 17 communities of the high Arctic.
Young people are playing the fiddle. They are taking lessons, attending fiddle camps, competing in contests, composing tunes, playing in bands and jamming with friends. In some cases, older styles are dying away and being replaced by new styles based on those older styles that are attractive to these young musicians. In other cases, there is a strong emphasis on tradition and playing just like their elders. The presence of old and new provides today's fiddlers with a rich, dynamic tradition within which they can develop and to which they can contribute.
One of the few things that might be said to be common to fiddling across the country is its intimate relationship with dance, both social and step dancing. Even in performance contexts in which the audience is primarily a listening one — as at concerts or media broadcasts — the tunes usually come from dance repertoire and are used in other contexts as an accompaniment to dance. A variety of step dancing styles has developed across the country, each remaining relatively contained within geographic or cultural boundaries. Similarly, while some couples and group dances such as the waltz, the polka, and square dancing are performed across the country, regional variations exist in the way partners hold each other, foot work and preferred tempos and tunes.
The last point I want to make today is to highlight the worldwide acknowledgement of Canadian fiddling. In addition to the recognition provided by Senators Hubley and Stewart Olsen for Canadian fiddlers who are in high demand as performers and teachers around the world, I can offer a few examples of the esteem for Canadian fiddling from the academic world.
First, both scholars and musicians come from around the world to Canada to study our fiddle traditions. There are many, many publications — both popular and scholarly — about Canadian fiddle styles, contexts, performers and tunes. My current bibliography of research on Canadian fiddling has over 400 publications.
Second, the Research Centre for Music, Media and Place, located at Memorial University in Newfoundland, recognized the interest, both national and international, in Canadian fiddling and asked me to edit a two-CD set and accompanying book on fiddling across Canada. Scholars of regional fiddle styles across Canada worked with local musicians to identify historically significant tracks from archival collections, personal collections and out-of-print commercial recordings, resulting in a rich assortment of tracks with which no one individual could have been familiar. This publication Bellows & Bows is a first attempt to use historical research, ethnographic research and musical analysis to collaboratively examine a wide variety of fiddle styles and musicians from across Canada.
Finally, the North Atlantic Fiddle Convention is a unique conference that brings together academics and musicians from all over the world to share fiddle and related dance research, as well as performances and workshops. Its founder is very particular about making sure the local hosts are able to provide strong community support in terms of both audience and participants, and it has been held outside of his hometown, Aberdeen, Scotland, only three times since its inception in 2001. It will be held next year in Sydney, Cape Breton, the second time in its short history that it has been hosted by Canada.
With this brief introduction to fiddling in Canada, I turn the presentation over now to three of Canada's most beloved and popular fiddlers, and I bet you won't be able to keep your toes still.
Ivan Hicks, Fiddler, as an individual: Thank you, Sherry.
Good afternoon, honourable senators. I am Ivan Hicks from the Moncton area of New Brunswick. I'm so pleased and honoured to be here this afternoon to tell you a little bit about fiddling in Eastern Canada and to look at a couple of different styles that we have in the East.
I came from a musical family. My dad was a fiddler, so Ivan became a fiddler, too. I played my first dance with my dad when I was six years old. That's why I've been in it 68 years, I guess.
When I grew up, the main fiddling in our area was the Don Messer style. I think many of you are familiar with that name. He came from the little community of Tweedside in New Brunswick and made his home in Prince Edward Island for a number of years. That's where Don Messer and the Islanders came from. That was for radio. When television came along, he moved to Halifax and played his music out of Halifax. He built his home there and passed away there.
The Don Messer style of music is a basic style. There is nothing too difficult about it. He took Irish, Scottish and French-Canadian tunes and did them in his way. But because of his recordings and radio and television, and his tours across Canada, fiddlers growing up in his time learned his style of music. It still exists today, but it is losing ground somewhat to certain other styles that are coming into play.
I would like to play for you a little bit of Don Messer. I'm sure many of you will remember this first piece of music that I'm going to play for you.
[Live presentation]
Hon. Senators: Hear, hear!
Mr. Hicks: I guess that style of music put a lot of music under people's feet for a number of years.
The second style I would like to look at — and I know Senator Cordy is going to enjoy this one — I have a great appreciation for the Cape Breton style of Scottish music. I don't know whether you realize this, but it's probably the oldest form of Scottish music in Cape Breton, to the point that Scotland even sends their fiddlers and other folks over to Cape Breton to learn what the old style was like.
I got to meet and play with many of the fiddlers from Cape Breton like Natalie, of course — I know Natalie very well — and Ashley, and of course Buddy MacMaster and Jerry Holland and many others.
Celtic music in the last few decades has come on strongly because of people like Natalie and Ashley. It is now throughout Canada, throughout North America, and it's in various parts of our world.
I would like to do a little strathspey for you and then go into a reel. This will demonstrate a little of the Cape Breton style.
[Live Presentation]
Hon. Senators: Hear, hear!
Mr. Hicks: Thank you very much.
Kelli Trottier, Musician, as an individual: Good afternoon, honourable senators. I want to thank Senator Hubley for her opening remarks. What you, Senator Stewart Olsen and Sherry have described is exactly what I experienced first-hand most of my life. You have captured the essence and spirit of Canadian fiddle music. It's an honour for me to be here to demonstrate today and to be able to travel across the country to share my experiences and my knowledge of fiddle music in Canada, through performances and through teaching.
I'm going to start by doing a bit of a demonstration of Québécois fiddle music. I will apologize for not speaking French. I practised for a while and I thought we could be here all day if I attempted that, so instead I will talk about it.
Québécois fiddle music is very rhythmic and has a great driving beat to it. It's great for dancing and you will often find Quebec fiddlers sitting while they play because they do this little foot thing, similar to other styles of music, but they will often change the rhythm of their feet to match the phrasing of any particular tune.
Another thing that is quite popular in Québécois fiddle music is that they will change the time signature within a piece of music. Some people might understand that and some might not. It's an interesting way of giving something a little twist.
I'm going to play a tune called "Porteau Blanc." In the B part or second part of this tune, if you listen carefully you may hear what I am talking about. I won't do the foot thing; it might throw me off.
[Live Presentation]
Hon. Senators: Hear, hear!
Ms. Trottier: Thank you. I'm not sure if you heard that or not.
I'll move on to Ottawa Valley-style fiddle music. I had the influence of the Ottawa Valley on one side when I was growing up and Québécois on the other. Yet, I grew up in a hotbed of Scottish music in Glengarry County. I'm not sure what I was left with other than a melting pot of everything. Because I am an Ottawa Valley step dancer, the Ottawa Valley probably had a little more influence on my playing. The most important element we look for in Ottawa Valley play is danceability, because we're often playing for step dancers or square dancers or some sort of dance. We try to put a lot of lift and flow into our music and there are a lot of great melodies, too. There is great lift and flow in all types of fiddle music, but it's something that we try to create to entice any dancer to get up.
One tune I'm going to play is a little jig. I'm choosing to do a jig that is in 6/8 time because jigs are a very popular dance for our Ottawa Valley step dancers and it's not as common in other parts of Canada to dance to a jig. This is a Graham Townsend tune. Graham Townsend was a great Ontario fiddler and composer. This tune is called "My Dungannon Sweetheart." I will play this jig for you. After that, I'm going to ask Calvin to swing into a bit of a reel so I can demonstrate a bit of Ottawa Valley step dancing as well.
[Live Presentation]
Hon. Senators: Hear, hear!
Calvin Vollrath, Fiddler, as an individual: I come from St. Paul, Alberta and I'm a third-generation fiddle player. My father was a fiddle player and his father was a fiddle player. There were 10 kids. My dad had nine brothers and sisters and they all played the fiddle. He passed it on to me and I have passed it on to my three children; I hope they pass it on to their children. I'm doing my part in trying to inspire the grandchildren as well.
In 1988, I was hired to teach at the first fiddle camp in Canada, in Emma Lake, Saskatchewan. I just play by ear; I'm not a trained musician. I learned in the kitchen from my dad. I said, "I don't think I can teach because I don't know how to do it; I just do it by ear," but they convinced me to do it. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
The great story about the fiddle camps now is that they've spread all over the country; there are many of them. In 1996, a fellow from Sherridon, Manitoba, was teaching in a one-room schoolhouse, Grade 1 to Grade 8, 24 students, and he thought it would be wonderful to teach fiddle to the kids. He didn't play himself, but he knew lots of the kids came from troubled homes and lives. So he came to the Emma Lake Fiddle Camp in 1996. He stopped and bought a fiddle on the way and took the beginner class. At the end of the week, he stopped at the music store in Prince Albert, on his way back to Manitoba, and bought 24 fiddles to go teach the kids in northern Manitoba. After teaching them for a couple of months, he invited me to come up for a week and do what I could to help with the kids. He then got a fellow from Winnipeg to come up and teach the kids for a week.
The kids' lives started to change. It wasn't just about the fiddle music. They would take the kids out to play for different communities in the area. The kids learned confidence and all about being social. The other schools started seeing what was going on.
In the Frontier School Division in northern Manitoba, this program has caught on and it is being taught in every school in northern Manitoba. There are 5,000 kids being taught in northern Manitoba. It's absolutely wonderful. They have a jamboree at the end of May every year and they pick probably 500 of the most advanced students because they can only hold that many in one school. This year it was held in Norway House. They had 500 kids and 37 instructors from all across Canada. Of the 37 instructors, 12 or 15 of them were former students in the program. It has really changed their lives and it's nice to see.
When I was young and you went to a fiddle contest or to something involving the fiddle, it was all older people and not very many young ones. In today's world, however, we're not in any jeopardy of losing our culture with the fiddle. That makes me happy.
Lots of the kids in northern Manitoba are from the Metis culture, so I'm going to play an old Metis tune — probably the oldest tune in the culture — called the "Red River Jig." This is what they call their Metis national anthem. Kelli talked about how you sit and clog; that was the old Metis way. I will sit on a chair over there with the board and clog my feet.
[Live Presentation]
Hon. Senators: Hear, hear!
Mr. Vollrath: When we grew up, as Ivan said, the Don Messer music was all across Canada, so that was part of our life — Andy DeJarlis, Don Messer, Graham Townsend and Al Cherney — but Metis was a regional style that was played all across Western Canada as well. The Ukrainian people settled in Western Canada so there was lots of Ukrainian music. When you went to weddings, there would be Ukrainian bands. On the radio every Saturday night would be the Ukrainian hour and we would hear lots of Ukrainian music and still do to this day. I will do my best to play a Ukrainian style — dance, if you wish!
[Live Presentation]
Hon. Senators: Hear, hear!
Mr. Vollrath: At this time, I think it would be wonderful if we three fiddle players grabbed our fiddles and had a jam session and some step dancing. If there are any fiddlers out here who would like to grab their fiddles and join us, by all means! Let's play a bit of "St. Anne's Reel."
[Live Presentation]
Hon. Senators: Hear, hear!
The Chair: Please return to the table. We are still in committee, may I remind you, senators!
[Laughter]
At this stage in the meeting, after we have had the presentations from witnesses, the chair opens the floor up for questions. We have senators who already have indicated they wish to ask questions. I will go then to the deputy chair.
Senator Eggleton: I was going to ask the question "Is there a Toronto style?" but I won't ask. I never heard them play the fiddle on Bay Street. They fiddle around but. . .
Anyway, I'm very impressed. This is the first time that music as opposed to words has convinced me to vote for a bill. I just think it's terrific. Thank you.
I don't have a question.
The Chair: That's good, on this day, because we are under some constraints here.
Senator Merchant: I, too, don't have a question.
Calvin, you gave us a taste of Metis music. I come from Saskatchewan and we have John Arcand. He is a well-known fiddler and I thought I would be remiss if I didn't mention him. I know that he has received many awards and that he also is a third generation fiddler of Metis background. I know he received the Order of Canada and a variety of things.
In 2013, James Steele won the grand master concert.
I just wanted to make mention of Saskatchewan, but in the meantime you demonstrated the Metis music. Thank you very much.
Mr. Vollrath: They are dear friends of mine.
Senator Eaton: I wish all our committee meetings were like this.
Educate a poor city girl. What is the difference between a violin and a fiddle?
Mr. Hicks: I guess just the way they're played. The two are the same, basically. A violin is classical and the fiddle is more parochial or local.
Senator Eaton: It's just the way they are played and what you play?
Mr. Vollrath: It's the same. Itzhak Perlman, who is probably the most renowned violinist in the world, calls it a fiddle and a stick.
Senator Cordy: I guess that's the difference between growing up in Cape Breton and Toronto because in Cape Breton it was always a fiddle. I don't know how old I was before I realized that it was actually a violin. At the Cruise Pavilion in Sydney, where the cruise ships land, there's an art gallery and restaurant. It's a lovely place, and outside of it is a huge fiddle. It has now become a marker for people as to where they meet. It's not in Cape Breton, no. It's a marker, so people will say, "I'll meet you down by the fiddle," or "How far away is that hotel from the fiddle?" It has really become a big marker. Of course Celtic Colours has really revitalized Scottish music and fiddle music in Cape Breton.
As you said earlier, people from Scotland are actually coming back to Cape Breton to learn the historical parts of playing the fiddle. I remember going to Scotland and arriving home and seeing that Cape Breton is actually more Scottish than Scotland. The President of the Gaelic College is a former premier and fiddler, Rodney MacDonald. Certainly, we have a long history.
If we pass this bill really fast, would we have time for them to play another tune?
The Chair: We will move towards that objective, with the cooperation of my colleagues.
Senator Enverga: Thank you very much for that great presentation. I wish all committees could be like this. I'm pretty sure this day will open up a whole new kind of multicultural event that will not only go from east to west but go around the world. Congratulations to our sponsors. I wish that you could fiddle all day today.
Senator Seth: I must say I enjoyed it very much. After a long session, we can laugh and dance a little bit. It's wonderful.
How does this merge with non-Anglo Saxon styles? How do you present in non-Anglo Saxon fiddle styles? Any music is music; any dance is dance; any fiddling is fiddling; but again, how do you merge into that?
Senator Eggleton: The Indian fiddle.
Ms. Johnson: There is a lot of collaboration between different multicultural groups, particularly in urban centres where Celtic and Indian are mixing together or African rhythms with Celtic. This kind of merging is happening all over now.
Senator Seth: Music is music, whatever the style of fiddling. Dance is dance. So you enjoy. I love this. Thank you. I love dancing.
Senator Chaput: I want to thank the sponsors and also the witnesses for this experience today. It brings back so many memories. I'm from Manitoba where we have a large Metis community, from St. Laurent and other places; and when we go there, this is what we hear. One of those Metis was the lieutenant-governor of the province of Manitoba for quite a few years. I can tell you that in that white house in Manitoba, there was fiddling when he was there. Thank you again.
Senator Stewart Olsen: I wanted to add one thing. I'm not sure everyone knows, and this is more for television, but at the end, the senator who is sponsoring the bill actually joined the fiddlers and is a fiddler herself, and well known. I think that's the inception. We enjoyed you as well.
The Chair: I'm going to invite our guests to stay where they are for the next part of our meeting, which is clause-by-clause consideration of the bill. Before I do, I want to say to you that I, too, have enjoyed this greatly. I'm from rural Nova Scotia. All my cousins on my father's side are fiddling all the time at jams continuously. It has been a part of our family experience and enjoyment since as long as I can remember. This has been a remarkable event here in the Senate. I consider myself to be extremely fortunate to be a country kid who has had a chance to chair this amazing meeting in the Senate of Canada.
With that, is it agreed that the committee proceed to clause-by-clause consideration of Bill S-218, An Act respecting National Fiddling Day?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
The Chair: I will alert the committee that a minor amendment needs to be introduced to correct a certain aspect of the bill. It will be introduced at the appropriate time.
Shall the title stand postponed? Agreed or not?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
The Chair: Shall the preamble stand postponed? Agreed?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
The Chair: Shall the short title in clause 1 stand postponed? Agreed or not?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
The Chair: Shall clause 2 carry?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
The Chair: Carried.
Shall clause 3 carry?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
The Chair: Carried.
Shall clause 1 carry?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
The Chair: Carried.
Shall the preamble carry? Senator Stewart Olsen?
Senator Stewart Olsen: I have one small amendment, a correction. I move:
That Bill S-218 be amended in the preamble, on page 1, by replacing line 14 with the following:
"history of fiddle music, and in honour of Antonio".
The Chair: We have that in both official languages. You're moving that amendment, senator?
Senator Stewart Olsen: Yes, I am.
The Chair: That amendment is on the floor. Is there discussion?
Senator Eggleton: It's a spelling correction.
The Chair: That's correct.
Are there any further questions or comments? Are you ready for the question?
An Hon. Senator: Question.
The Chair: All in favour signify?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
The Chair: Any contrary? Any abstentions?
That's unanimous. Thank you very much.
Shall the preamble carry as amended?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
The Chair: Carried, as amended.
Shall the title carry?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
The Chair: Carried.
Shall the bill carry?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
The Chair: Carried.
Does the committee wish to consider appending observations to the report?
Hearing none, is it agreed that I report this bill, as amended, to the Senate?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
The Chair: Thank you very much, colleagues.
I am now going to move to the final act of the formal committee meeting. I understand that some people will be able to stay for a bit and that we will go into an informal use of this room, shall we say, following the official use.
(The committee adjourned.)