That the Minister of Culture and Communications designates jigging and know-how associated with fisheries as intangible cultural property constitutes nothing better than “window dressing,” according to Antoine Gauthier, general director of the Conseil québécois du patrimoine vivant (CQPV), the national grouping for intangible heritage and living traditions.
“For more than ten years”, these designations “have been of no use”, he confides to the Dutythe day after serial heritage designations by the minister in Quebec. “Not only is it useless, but it lies to the population. We have the impression that […] Quebec will support something, provide funds. This is not true. »
The CQPV affirms that it had indicated “in advance to the minister that it did not support the announcement of heritage designations presented as an end in themselves”.
How have such designations changed in the past? “Nothing,” replies the director of the CQPV without hesitation. That Quebec designates “le fléché”, this finger weaving technique inherited from traditional crafts, has changed nothing. Same for “Inuit throat singing” And the designation for “accordion? Nothing at all. Milling on a national scale? Nothing. »
For the CQPV, “it is difficult to see where the minister wants to go with this. […] We’ve been hearing about “aid strategy” for a long time. We’re still waiting! There was already talk of this before the pandemic… We’ll believe it when we see it. »
In interview with The dutyMinister Lacombe affirmed Tuesday “to have ideas for the jig”, but without saying more.
“Powder in the eyes”
In the meantime, the director of the CQPV does not mince his words. For him, these symbolic designations, made for several years by the Ministry of Culture, are just “window dressing”. “If you find just one person jumping for joy at the jig, you’ll mentor them!” And for fishing, it makes people believe that Quebec has any power in matters of fisheries…”
The CQPV pushes it even further. In his opinion, the illusion of action manifested by these successive designations “goes completely against the 2003 UNESCO convention. The objective is to do something! A symbolic designation simply has no significance. It’s simply smoke and mirrors! »
A “bad policy”
Is Quebec doing better by officially designating events and individuals for their historical character? Many people wonder. On Tuesday, the State said it recognized Julien-Édouard-Alfred Dubuc, Ludger Duvernay and Jos Montferrand by registering them in the Cultural Heritage Register.
Since the beginning of these designations, the director of policies at Héritage Montréal, Dinu Bumbaru has been doubtful. Adding individual names to a list won’t change anything, he has previously said. In interview at Duty, he says today that “commemorative designations can be interesting if they fit into broader perspectives. Does it come with toponymic changes, conferences, exhibitions, presentations in libraries? » No, he notes regretfully.
The stated objective of these designations was “to bring the place of these great figures into the collective memory”, affirmed in 2017 the minister responsible at the time, Luc Fortin. On that date, the Ministry of Culture had granted an average amount of $195 to “remember the memory” of the people registered in this Cultural Heritage Register. The policy remains essentially the same.
The historian and professor emeritus Yvan Lamonde, specialist in the intellectual history of Quebec, is also very critical. “Not only is there no money, but the politics are bad!” »
In Yvan Lamonde’s opinion, these designations in favor of historical figures appear out of nowhere, without the public being able to understand their meaning or interest. There is no follow-up or explanation for such recognition, he deplores. In other words, affirms the distinguished historian, “it’s like not even having the means for your bad policy”.