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Chapter 1 | Fernand Harvey (continued) In Canada, one can find a diversity of cultural policies, not only because of the size of this country, its history, its cultural diversity, but also because of the relationship between these policies and their relationships with the dimensions of culture mentioned above, that is identity culture, instituted culture and mass culture. The three levels of government have put up their cultural policies: the federal government, the provinces and municipalities. It is for the time being almost impossible of having an overall picture of those policies, as they are so numerous and often water tight; this gives and idea of the amplitude of the field they cover. A first reconnoitring of the field shows five main categories of cultural policies: 1. policies devoted to the promoting of identity, 2. policies supporting literary and artistic creation, 3. policies supporting cultural industries, 4. policies trying to have a control over telecommunications and 5. policies of cultural leisure activities. Can be integrated with cultural policies, policies of touristic development which have more and more a cultural flavour, and foreign policies which are henceforth including an angle of cultural diplomacy whose purpose is to make known abroad our cultural productions. In Canada, policies related to the promoting of identity are referring to the anthropological and inclusive definition of culture; they are based on the valorization of identity patrimonies of the First Nations, of ethnocultural communities and of Francophone minorities, but above all those specific communities, the Canadian and Québec cultural policies are inspired by what we convene to call nation building. On the other hand, policies supporting literary and artistic creation are looked at with less controversy and with, generally speaking, unanimity in their respective spheres, especially when there are increases in budgets, whatever the level of government. But those supportive policies are not directed only towards isolated artists such as painters, they can be also for groups or enterprises as in the case of cinema. This is why policies supporting creation and policies supporting cultural industries intermingle. This is the case of Cirque du Soleil, born out of a regrouping of artists originating from the Charlevoix region, east of Québec, which has become an international cultural enterprise; this is an example of how interdependent now can be a small scale sector of creation emanating from a locality and cultural industries. Those policies devoted to supporting cinema, book, song, public television and other national cultural industries are the ones more in danger of being challenged in the future, under headings like free trade, “unfair competition,” rather than the ones meant for theatrical companies playing on local or regional scenes. Can one see in the implicit support of the Canadian and Québec governments for the building up of large national multimedia groups a sort of replacement solution for the future? One can be doubtful about that as those private firms, in spite of their declarations on the diversity of cultural supply they intend to pursuit, are driven by the economic rationality, which is far from the search for meaning, which is the essential of a real cultural process. And this is without saying about the possibility that those firms, Canadian, French or else, could be taken over by foreign interests. That those firms are trying themselves to penetrate the American market and to find allies over there through acquisitions or mergers shows that their interests are not national any more. When looking at the policies of telecommunications which are supposed to guaranty a minimal Canadian content, we can see they are less and less efficient and realistic, when technology of satellites and Internet makes it possible for consumers to overrun the control measures. We should look more closely to the channels used for the handing down of culture — be them traditional or new —, which may orientate the individual choices. But this would mean that the actual cultural policies — in particular those of the federal government — should climb down from their pedestal and examine what is going on at the ground level. This ground can be found at the local and regional levels, where are unfolded policies of public services touching cultural leisure activities and accessibility to culture. Public libraries, leisure centres, local cultural festivals and the other local cultural institutions, including schools, could supply revealing indications on what sorts of cultural activities can be found within the civil society, and on the future degree of cultural autonomy of communities in the new context of globalization. Canada is made, apart from the Québec specificity, of a mosaic of cultural regions that have been largely underestimated in favour of a disembodied nation building. ... |
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