The House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage met on May 6 and decided to study Canadian history and how Canadians acquire knowledge of our past.
Here are the terms of reference for this study, as decided on by the committee at that May 6 meeting:
That the Committee undertake a thorough and comprehensive review of significant aspects in Canadian history including the following subjects and themes:
- A review of federal, provincial and municipal programs designed to preserve our history and heritage;and
- A focus on Canadian history including but not limited to pre-confederation, early confederation, suffrage, World War I, with an emphasis on battles such as Vimy Ridge, World War II including the Liberation of Holland, the Battle of Ortona, Battle of the Atlantic, the Korean conflict, peacekeeping missions, constitutional development, the Afghanistan conflict, early 20th century Canada, post-war Canada, and the late 20th century.
And that emphasis be placed on Canadians’ access to historical information and education, by studying the following topics:
- How Hansard can be used as a means of preserving important witness testimony and part of the permanent public record;
- The tools and methods available for Canadians to access and preserve historical content; and
- The tools and methods available to Canadians to increase their knowledge of Canadian history.
And that the Committee utilize the following information sources in order to undertake this study:
- Witnesses testimony including firsthand accounts of significant periods;
- The Committee visit relevant national museums to better understand their efforts at preserving our history and how decisions are made to display our history; and
- The Committee invite the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the National Film Board and other public ad private broadcasters to discuss their role in preserving important accounts of Canadian history that may be within their collection.
And that the report highlight best practices, new methods and potential opportunities to preserve, protect and enhance Canadians’ knowledge of our history while recommending ways of improving access to our historical collections.
Some context for these discussions: The Conservatives have a majority in the House of Commons and so they have a majority at every Commons committee including this CHPC (the short-form for the Heritage Committee which stands for Canadian Heritage-Patrimonie Canadien). If you read the minutes of this particular meeting, you will see that the NDP tried to kill this study and then tried to modify its terms of reference. Liberal Scott Simms thought it would be great to have Liberal Senator Romeo Dallaire reflect on his experiences as part of this study. The Conservative chair of this committee, New Brunswick’s Rob Moore, nixed Simms’ idea and the Conservatives on the committee voted down every suggestion put forward by the NDP.