The most recent chapter in the legal series opposing the Théâtre du Rideau Vert (TRV) to the Canada Council for the Arts (CAC) ended on April 19, when the Federal Court ruled in favor of the theatrical institution, which denounces the operation of a grant program administered by the arts fund. But a new chapter could soon open.
Posted at 1:19 p.m.
Recall that in December 2020, the Rideau Vert filed a motion in Federal Court to invalidate the subsidy program Inspire and root of the Canada Council for the Arts. The theater criticizes the organization for its weighting system, which it considers unfair and discriminatory.
In April 2021, the Attorney General of Canada, who represents the CAC, asked that the motion be struck, in other words, that it not be heard. Almost a year later, to the day, the Federal Court ruled in favor of Rideau Vert, so that the motion be heard on the merits.
But, according to what the director general of the Théâtre du Rideau Vert, Céline Marcotte, learned from the theatre’s lawyers, the Canada Council for the Arts intends to appeal this decision (information that the CAC refused to confirm to The Pressclaiming that it is an “ongoing legal case”).
“It took us a year to obtain this judgment, we said to ourselves: “Finally we will be able to proceed on the merits”, and there, we learn that the Council wants to appeal. It seems to be in The twelve labors of Asterix. It’s incomprehensible, it’s odious, ”commented the general manager, reached by telephone on Tuesday.
In the spring of 2020, 344 players in the Quebec cultural community expressed their regret in an open letter in support of the artistic director, Denise Filiatrault, that the Rideau Vert had suffered a seventh refusal in ten years to obtain an operating grant from the CAC. . The Montreal theater founded in 1948 also receives grants from the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec and the Conseil des arts de Montréal.
In a statement released on Monday, TRV reiterates that the program’s weighting system Inspire and root “discriminates against a large number of arts institutions”, in that it “favors applicants who have already received funding to the detriment of newcomers, which the Canada Council for the Arts Act does not allow “. According to Rideau Vert, an applicant with a lower grade, but who has already received a grant, would take precedence over an applicant who has never received aid.
“The Council saves time with all these impossible delays, regrets Céline Marcotte. We have been living in exasperation for several years, we can’t take it anymore, we want the Council to be accountable. »