Julianna Yau’s blog

I wonder when we’ll be able to start acting on improving things rather than reacting to bad decisions.

I started a Ma.gnolia group to keep track of all the literature on the recent arts budget cuts. It’s an open group, so please feel free to join and add relivant links. I’m hoping to keep it as a resource for people not only to stay informed about the issue, but for anyone doing research for a letter they’re writting to their MP.

If you’re on Facebook, please join or visit the Against cuts to foreign touring and Trade Routes programs, Save the CIFVF and Faceless groups for information on what the issues are and what you can do.

For those who aren’t on Facebook, here is some information from those groups. And remember that The Documentary Organization of Canada has a form letter you can use as a starting point (or use as-is). Margaret Dinsdale has graciously offered to accept feedback and questions directly.

Letters, especially “snail mail” letters, are logged and responded to, it is an obligation of elected members to do so. The more, the more clout we will have. Start by writing to The Rt. Hon. Stephen Harper and cc it to your MP and any or all of the list below. If you don’t know the name of your MP, go here, type in your postal code and it will tell you.
http://www2.parl.gc.ca/Parlinfo/Compilations/HouseOfCommons/MemberByPostalCode.aspx?Menu=HOC

TIPS on writing to Parliament
You do NOT need postage. However, to make sure your letter doesn’t get held up, write “No postage required” where the stamp would normally go. Write the name of the person you are writing to with the following address:
[Name]
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6

Remember to keep cool, keep on topic and keep it to one page. Don’t get personal, we have to give respect in order to receive it. And if you are writing on behalf of a group of people, state how many people you are representing. That is very important.

Who to contact:

Leaders
The Rt. Hon Stephen Harper
Hon. Stephan Dion (Lib)
Hon. Gilles Duceppe (Bloc)
Hon. Jack Layton (NDP)
Elizabeth May (Green) leader@greenparty.ca

Foreign Affairs – Minister and Critics
Hon. David Emerson
Hon. Bob Rae (Lib)
Guy Andre (Bloc)
Paul Dewar (NDP)
Eric Walton (Green) eric.walton@greenparty.ca

Canadian Heritage – Minister and Critics
Hon. Josee Verner
Hon. Denis Coderre (Lib)
Marike Finlay (Green) marikefinlay@greenparty.ca

Consider also cc-ing your correspondence to the Standing Committee on Heritage. Denis Coderre, listed above, is on this committee.
Gary Schellenberger schelg1@parl.gc.ca
Andy Scott Scott.A@parl.gc.ca
Jim Abbott Abbott.J@parl.gc.ca
Ed Fast faste@parl.gc.ca
Luc Malo Malo.L@parl.gc.ca
Bill Siksay Siksay.B@parl.gc.ca
Michael D. Chong Chong.M@parl.gc.ca
Dean Del Mastro delmad@parl.gc.ca
Hedy Fry fry.h@parl.gc.ca
Francis Scarpaleggia scarpf@parl.gc.ca
Jim Prentice Prentice.J@parl.gc.ca

Take time to write to your provincial cultural ministers. There is a federal/provincial/territorial conference with the cultural ministers being held in Quebec City at the end of September and the cultural cuts are on the agenda.

Related posts

• Faceless Until October 14 (0)
• Emergency meeting TODAY on Parliament Hill re: Arts Cuts (2)
• What’s On: An Update (0)
• What scares me about the 2008 federal election (0)
• The Morning After (not coyote ugly, but…) (0)

Just FYI, I’ve tweaked the anti-spam on the comments and the contact form, so they should be working now. I was wondering why no one was responding to anything…

(ed note: originally published August 22, 2008 at 7:24 pm but changed the timestamp so it wouldn’t be the last post of the night)

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Ma.gnolia bookmarks for August 21st, 2008 through August 22nd, 2008:

• Federal arts funding cuts upset Islanders -
• Alberta arts, culture funding safe: Blackett -
• globeandmail.com: Critics question focus, rationale behind arts cuts -
• TheStar.com - Politicians may want to take cover - After Verner's pr fiasco with the Genie awards, I'm interested to see how she'll handle the TIFF.
• Digital Media and Learning Competition - via academhack
• More bloodletting at Canadian Heritage -
• Canada’s $44-mil in arts cuts -
• johndegen.com: righteous babe in a pickle - A great article regarding righteous babe records's conundrum.
• johndegen.com: BCCLA response - The British Columbia Civil Liberties Association's puzzling response to John Degen's letter.
• johndegen.com: open letter - John Degen's open letter to the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association and Canadian Civil Liberties Association regarding his concerns of the position paper they adopted regarding C-61.
• A Call to Mobilize Against the Funding Cuts to the Arts! - The Documentary Organization of Canada - Includes a form letter and email addresses for relevant members of parliament.
• Conservative cuts to the arts create uncertain future for culture in Canada -
• globeandmail.com: Culture hung out to dry -
• Welsh local authorities to be legally required to promote culture - A stark comparison to what's happening in Canada.
• Cultural missionary man - The Irish Times -

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I was chatting with Coxsoft Art last week about the recent arts funding cuts in Canada and was told that Britain had some recent cuts, in part, because funds needed to be diverted to the 2012 games. I said I suspected this was also a driving force here in Canada because of the 2010 games.

And now the Globe & Mail reports that it’s true.

Thanks to Margaret of the Against cuts to foreign touring and Trade Routes programs Facebook group for sending that around.

I guess it would be asking too much for the athletes to stand in unison with the artists to protest the budget cuts.

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