Ottawa continues to maintain a vagueness about the presence of Russian and Belarusian artists in the country. Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez sent a letter Tuesday to cultural organizations warning them that no group that has projects in collaboration with Russia would receive a grant. But what constitutes a partnership or not with the Russian state in the eyes of the federal government remains ambiguous.
In his missive, of which The duty obtained a copy, Minister Rodriguez clearly indicates that the measure concerns Canadian projects in which an organization or an artist who has a direct or indirect link with Russia is involved. It is the same with Belarus, a faithful ally of the Kremlin in the war in Ukraine. Tours by Canadian artists in these two countries are also in the sights of the Minister of Heritage.
That said, the Minister makes no mention in his letter of Russian and Belarusian artists who are settled or visiting the country, but who do not have citizenship or permanent residence. Does this mean that Canadian cultural organizations that hire artists who have benefited at one time or another in their career from assistance from one of these two states could lose their subsidy? Some perceived it that way, at least.
” [Le gouvernement fédéral] confuses the Putin regime and the artists. And there is a drift here which seems to me extremely dangerous. And that stems from a disturbing reasoning: are we to believe that Canadian and Quebec artists who receive funding from the Canadian state are subject to Canadian values, to Canadian propaganda, to Canadian multiculturalism if they want money ? If it’s no here, we can think that artists who would have one form or another of support in Russia are not necessarily the bearers of the propaganda of the Russian regime either, “reacted Thursday morning the leader of the Bloc Québécois, Yves-Francois Blanchet.
Upon leaving the Council of Ministers, Pablo Rodriguez was called upon to clarify his thinking. “It’s really not a witch hunt. It’s just that there are obvious cases where there are ties to the Russian state. […] The Red Army Choir, for example, that would be one there. And there are many others too where there is a direct link to Putin’s state, which could be used as an instrument of propaganda,” he said.
A contested approach
However, some questions remain unanswered.
The Orchester symphonique de Montréal (OSM), for example, will welcome Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov and Belarusian cellist Ivan Karizna in April and May. Asked whether the presence of these two artists was maintained despite Minister Rodriguez’s warning, the OSM did not respond to our interview request.
Earlier this month, the orchestra caused controversy by canceling the visit of a 20-year-old Russian prodigy, Alexander Malofeev, even though the latter had no clear connection to the Kremlin and even disapproved the war a few days before on social networks.
The Canada Council for the Arts (CAC), one of the largest funders of the cultural industry, had just published a letter similar to the one sent Tuesday by the Minister of Heritage. With the difference that it was clearly indicated, in the case of the CAC, that no project with Russian and Belarusian artists would receive funding.
The director of the CAC, Simon Brault, had subsequently qualified his position in an interview with the Homeworkexplaining that the measure only concerned artists with obvious links to these two states, and not those who are not connected to these two regimes, such as Alexander Malofeev.