(Ottawa and Montreal) Minister Pablo Rodriguez on Thursday defended the new policy of the Department of Canadian Heritage to cut funding for artists in the country who have ties to the Russian government. Its officials have undertaken a review of activities allegedly linked to Russia or Belarus.
Posted yesterday at 1:43 p.m.
“I think you have to keep an open mind and give the benefit of the doubt. It’s really not a witch hunt, ”he said in a press scrum on Thursday.
The news of this funding review, first reported by Radio-Canada, has raised fears in the cultural community. Organizations have received a letter signed by the minister, which The Press obtained, asking them to “suspend until further notice” their activities involving Russian or Belarusian state organizations or their official representatives, failing which their funding will be withdrawn. This includes partnerships, tour funding, co-productions and festival participation.
In his letter, Pablo Rodriguez issues a warning. “Organizations found to have ties to the Russian state or [biélorusse] will not receive Ministry funding,” he wrote. Canadian citizens and permanent residents of Russian and Belarusian origin remain eligible for grants.
“We are only talking about artists who have a connection with the state, artists who could be used as propaganda by the state,” he said after leaving the Cabinet meeting. It has nothing to do with the Russian culture that brought us so much [sur le plan] music, [sur le plan] ballet or something. »
He gave the Red Army Choir as an example. “We’re not talking about an independent artist coming here to play music or anything like that,” he said.
The OSM maintains Daniil Trifonov’s concerts
The policy does not affect the Orchester symphonique de Montréal, for example, which has chosen to maintain the concerts of pianist Daniil Trifonov scheduled for April 20 and 21 at the Maison symphonique. And this, even if, three weeks ago, the management had chosen to cancel the concerts of the 20-year-old pianist Alexander Malofeev in reaction to the Russian invasion in Ukraine.
“We have of course heard the comments of a large number of people who, from various walks of life and in good faith, want music, despite the horrors of war, to continue to be a vector of peace and solidarity between nations,” OSM management said in a post on its social media.
The OSM’s position has thus been clarified. There is no question of inviting artists to Montreal who support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But neither is there any question of punishing artists who have nothing to do with this war, specified the OSM’s chief executive, Madeleine Careau, who believes that music “softens morals and bearer of hope”.
For meme Careau, this OSM approach is completely in line with the directive announced by Heritage Canada.
“This directive confirms the one we had a month ago from the CEO of the Canada Council for the Arts, Simon Brault, not to host artists who are emissaries of the Russian state, or not to use Canadian funds. to go play in Russia. But neither Simon Brault nor Minister Rodriguez is asking us to boycott all Russian artists, or those who have not spoken out against the war. We don’t need to put these people at risk, we need them to make music and come to warm our hearts. »
The cautious film industry
The director general of the Festival du nouveau cinema (FNC), Nicolas Girard Deltruc, confirmed having received the letter from Minister Rodriguez in the past few days. The 51and edition of the festival will take place in the fall. According to him, the baby should not be thrown out with the bathwater.
“For Russia, yes, we have films, but we are not going to throw everything in the trash,” he said. The idea is to have intelligent thinking. There is propagandist cinema in Russia or one that puts forward the grandiose aspect of the Russian army. But this one does not pierce the international market. In the festivals, we present independent directors who have an artistic work. And if they come from Russia, they are often dissidents. »
The fact remains that Russian cinema, like all national cinematographies, receives state funding. It is a reality with which one must live, according to the president of the distributor K-Films America, Louis Dussault.
“We had sold the film Leave Afghanistan by Russian filmmaker Pavel Loungine, dubbed in French, at Télé-Québec, he says. Mr Loungin is certainly not an admirer of Vladimir Putin. But as much this film asOnce upon a time in the Est (a film by Russian filmmaker Larissa Sadilova released in the summer of 2021 in Quebec) were financed by the Russian state. […] These filmmakers live in terror of a dictator and his police. We recently wrote to Larissa Sadilova to find out how she is doing and if we can help her, but we are very careful not to compromise her. »
At Télé-Québec, we are confirmed to have bought the film Leave Afghanistan of K-Films America, but that this purchase was made well before the invasion of Ukraine. As for its distribution, it is not planned in the short term. The film is not on the spring or summer schedule.
Canadian values?
The leader of the Bloc Québécois, Yves-François Blanchet, welcomes the new Canadian Heritage policy “with enormous unease”, accusing the department of confusing “the Putin regime and the artists”. He added that “punishing artists will not help the solution of the crisis and the war in Ukraine” and asked if artists “are subject to Canadian values” if they want to obtain funding from the Canadian government.
On the contrary, the Conservative MP for Ontario, John Nater, expects Canadian Heritage to grant “no subsidies” “to people or organizations that defend points of view incompatible with Canadian values. He believes that “taxpayers’ money should not be used in a way that conflicts with the sanctions that Canada imposes on Russia and Belarus.”
The New Democratic Party did not react Thursday.