Encouraging development in the file of the reform of the laws on the status of the artist: the Minister of Culture and Communications, Nathalie Roy, will meet with associations in the arts and culture sector in January in order to clarify the changes to be made to the texts. These meetings should make it possible to complete the drafting of the bill for this long-awaited reform.
Associations representing artists and artisans in the arts and culture sector were convened by Minister Roy’s office a few days ago, we learn in a letter sent this Thursday to members of organizations, including Press got a copy.
The end of the parliamentary session in Quebec last week left a certain taste of disappointment in the Quebec cultural sector. It marked another year that ended without the modernization of the laws on the status of the artist taking concrete action, although this was an election promise of the CAQ in 2018.
The invitation to meet Minister Nathalie Roy and representatives of the Ministry at the beginning of January was however received as a “happy surprise”, we read in the letter sent to members of ten cultural organizations, including the Union des artistes, la Society of Radio, Television and Cinema Authors, the Union of Quebec Writers and Writers and the Association of Quebec Performing Arts Professionals.
At the minister’s office, it is specified that these individual or group interviews with each association will make it possible to answer specific, technical and legal questions on the amendments to be made to these laws in force for 30 years.
Representatives of the various artistic sectors had submitted, during recent consultations, some fifty briefs addressing the desired changes. We are therefore now “making sure that when we introduce the bill, it will really meet everyone’s demands and needs on the ground”, indicates Élizabeth Lemay, press secretary to Minister Nathalie Roy, joined by Press.
The reform of these laws adopted in 1987 and 1988 has been demanded by artists for several years already. We ask that the development of the arts and culture industry and the labor market in general be taken into account. This would mainly make it possible to counter the precariousness faced by the artistic community and to offer it more adequate social protection.
Opposition support
In the community, we are delighted with this step forward, while remaining somewhat worried to see the end of the CAQ’s mandate approaching. There is only one parliamentary session left for the government of François Legault to keep its promise. In his press briefing highlighting the end of the autumn session last Friday, the head of government however renewed his commitment to reform by the end of the current mandate.
“We would have strongly preferred that a bill is already under discussion in the National Assembly”, indicate the signatories of the internal letter.
For over a year we have worked together to develop common demands to strengthen the capacity of status of the artist laws to improve our socioeconomic conditions.
Extract from the internal letter
They have also met with the opposition parties in turn in recent months to ensure their support. “Not only did they tell us that they wanted the necessary parliamentary time to be devoted to it, but they also supported the foundations of our demands concerning the many holes in the law that must be closed. ”
The bill, the drafting of which has already begun, “will be tabled before the end of the mandate”, we are again assured the Ministry of Culture and Communications. Minister Nathalie Roy’s attaché insists that the task is “complex” and takes time since it is necessary to thoroughly review these antiquated laws. However, she indicates that there is good hope that the project will be completed on time, “with the collaboration of the opposition parties”.