QUESTION PERIOD — Canadian Heritage
Museums Assistance Program
June 13, 2024
Senator Gold, the federal funding for the approximately 2,700 existing museums throughout Canada has decreased, even though the need for that funding is higher than ever. Budget 2024 did not include the specific funding levels that the Canadian Museums Association recommended for the MAP, the Museums Assistance Program. Senator Gold, will you raise this serious oversight with the Minister of Canadian Heritage?
Please understand that I’m not talking about the large, mainly Ottawa-based, national museums. I’m speaking about the smaller museums that are very important to the knowledge of our history and who we are as Canadians, and about the critical need for increased funding for the Museums Assistance Program.
Well, thank you for your question. Museums are an important part of our cultural landscape. They help Canadians of all generations learn about our history and our culture. I now live in a very small rural community, but it has a local museum. There are actually many local museums in the area, and it is fascinating to learn the stories from very much the ground up in terms of, in my case, the history of Loyalist immigration, settlement and change.
I will certainly raise that question with the minister at the first opportunity.
Thank you. It being National Indigenous History Month, I also want to highlight the growing call for the repatriation of more than 1.6 million artifacts taken from this land that are now scattered throughout the world.
Why did the government decide not to increase the funding for existing museums that they’ve called for? Do you know of any plans related to funding the repatriation of Indigenous artifacts?
Thank you for this question. Advancing reconciliation has many facets and dimensions. One of them, of course, is working with First Nations and other Indigenous communities to help them celebrate and use their artifacts and art as they see fit in the transmission of their culture within their communities and beyond.
I cannot speculate on future funding. I will certainly raise it with the minister when I meet with him.
