Canadian Cultural Policy 101 September 2006
Featured from September 2006 to December 2006. Canadian Cultural Policy 101: An Overview of the Federal Role in the Cultural Ecosystem Read more...
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Table of Contents
- Section 1: Canadian Cultural Policy 101: An Overview of the Federal Role in the Cultural Ecosystem
- Fundamental Values and Ideals
- Section 3: Developing and Sustaining Cultural Expression and Shelf Space
- Benchmarking Cultural Policy
Strengthening the Sector
Partners
Section 5: All Resources
Special thanks to Keith Kelly, the Canadian Conference of the Arts, the International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies, and the Strategic Policy, Planning and Research Branch of the Department of Canadian Heritage for their cooperation in the development of Canadian Cultural Policy 101 In Focus.
For a more complete examination of Canadian cultural policies, please refer to the Observatory's Timeline of Federal Cultural Policy Milestones and the Compendium of Cultural Policies and Trends in Europe and Canada.
Section 1: Canadian Cultural Policy 101: An Overview of the Federal Role in the Cultural Ecosystem
Federal Canadian cultural policy is founded on legislative instruments created through the consultative advice of provincial and territorial governments, municipalities, the private sector, civil society, and finally the creative sector itself, all of which remain key partners in cultural policy’s continued development and implementation. The common elements of the many dimensions of Canadian cultural policy include the following:
Each of these elements will be examined to assess where Canadians have been, where we are now and what the shape of Canadian cultural policy may be in the future.
Fundamental Values and Ideals
The exploration of federal cultural policy in Canada begins by examining the British North America Act (1867) and other components of the Canadian Constitution. The essence of Canadian cultural self-awareness is embedded in this legislation, the key elements of which recognize:
Throughout its history, Canada has placed a special value on a distinct multicultural Canadian identity and ensuring maximum cultural choice. Federal support for these ideals can be found in the 1947 Canadian Citizenship Act, the establishment of the 1963 Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism that issued a six-volume report between 1967 and 1970, and the Canadian Multiculturalism Act and the Official Languages Act, which were enacted in 1985. The government has sought to ensure these values not only domestically, but also internationally. In 2005, Canada became the first nation to accede to UNESCO’s Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Contents and Artistic Expressions, in whose conception and development of which Canada had played a catalyzing role.
As a defined key group within Canadian society that plays an integral role in the development and sustenance of Canadian cultural expression, policy makers have created specific initiatives attempting to safeguard Aboriginal peoples’ interests. Cultural participation for Aboriginal people is quite high relative to the overall Canadian population and a variety of specific measures have been designed to enable wide distribution and maximize the contributions of Aboriginal creators and their creative expressions. These include the Northern Native Broadcast Access Program, the Aboriginal Languages Initiative, and the Aboriginal Peoples Collaborative Exchange composed of the National and International Grant Program, the Aboriginal Peoples Music Program, the Aboriginal Media Arts Program, and the Artists and Community Collaboration Fund.
The Supreme Court has also played an important role in redefining and defending some of the aforementioned constitutional components of the Canadian cultural framework. The Judiciary has been called upon to decide the acceptable limits on freedom of expression (Butler decision and the Sharp decision), the rights of intellectual property owners and rights of official language minority communities.