Hon. Diane Bellemare: I want to add, equally, my voice in favour of Bill S-208 because I believe the arts are necessary in our individual and collective lives.

[Translation]

Dear colleagues,

Artists . . . are indispensable for the survival of humanity in this electronic age, which, through technology, overloads the senses, creating a maelstrom. Art serves as radar, penetrating the indiscernible.

Unfortunately, this quote, which was reported by journalist Marie-Ève Charron in Le Devoir, does not come from me, but from Baruch Gottlieb, the guest curator of an exhibit being held at Montreal’s Fonderie Darling, which brings artists and thinkers together on the subject of media theorist Marshall McLuhan.

This idea of art being vital to the survival of humanity gives us something to think about today, in the era of climate threats and international conflict.

It touches on the essence of the concerns expressed by our colleague, Senator Bovey, who has presented a very important bill to foster the artistic expression of Canadians in all forms.

I would like to thank Senator Bovey for all the work she has done on Bill S-208. The depth of the bill attests to the extensive consultations she undertook and her reflections over a professional lifetime dedicated to artistic expression.

I encourage you to carefully read her bill and the extraordinary speech that she gave in this place on December 9.

This bill deserves our full attention.

Art, in all its forms, is essential to humanity, and Senator Bovey’s remarks addressed many different aspects of this truth, which some people tend to forget or overlook in favour of pragmatic concerns about effectiveness and efficiency.

I will not repeat her remarks, which were so beautifully presented. I invite you to go back and read her speech.

I rise today in support of this bill and urge you to pass it at second reading so that it can be studied in committee.

My speech will be brief. I simply want to share some reflections for consideration at second reading.

I encourage the committee to study this bill seriously and to invite witnesses from a variety of backgrounds. To use a theatre expression, this bill needs to have a spotlight shone on it. I am on the fence at the moment as to whether it needs to be amended. I am certain of one thing, however: The effectiveness of this bill depends in part on the light it receives in the public sphere.

Allow me to explain.

While many are aware of the importance of art in our lives on a personal, psychological, social, economic and political level, there is certainly no consensus on how to encourage artistic expression and give artists an economic status that allows them to devote themselves to their art.

At a time when our economy is much more focused on the individual, many people believe that art must have commercial value to exist. That was not true in the past and cannot be true today or tomorrow. If commercial transactions were behind all the forms of artistic expression around us, we would not be able to appreciate the many sculptures and works of art adorning our parks and cities. We would not be able to appreciate the songs, poems or even films and live shows that move us. Philanthropists have played a major role everywhere and at all times in helping art flourish. However, the sector cannot rely solely on philanthropy or on commercial transactions. Art is more than just a thing to be bought or sold. Art is also at the heart of our cultural identity. This is one more reason to support this bill, which explicitly recognizes that the status of art and artists must be a collective concern and that governments have a role to play.

Bill S-208 is very ingenious. It has three parts: a preamble, a declaration on the essential role of artists and creative expression in Canada, and an action plan for the Government of Canada’s implementation of the declaration.

What is novel about this bill is the fact that adopting the action plan will help confer legal status on the Declaration on the Essential Role of Artists and Creative Expression in Canada.

[English]