Canadian Heritage committee  I'll simply say thank you. My time is short, but I want to thank you and all the witnesses for being here today.

Canadian Heritage committee  What would you have liked to see to be better equipped to negotiate the contracts? What systems would have helped you to make sure you were protected?

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you, Madam Chair. I'll ask all the questions through the chair. I want to start by thanking everyone for being here, including those who are telling their personal stories. I would just say—I'm sure I speak on behalf of the whole committee—that it takes courage to be here and it is important that your voices are being heard.

Canadian Heritage committee  I do appreciate that. You are at this committee. I imagine there are other parents watching who have younger children. What kind of message do you have? From your unfortunate experiences, is there something you can share with both the committee and other parents—let's say, of younger children?

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you for that. Mr. Walter, we have heard much testimony, but I do not believe we have yet heard the term “exploited financially”, so I want to shed some more light on that. You mentioned scholarships and how you weren't aware of the terms. You talked about the players' rights and safety and making sure those are protected.

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you very much, Chair. I want to thank all of our witnesses for being here for this important testimony. We're hearing a lot of themes, and they're chilling. I'd start with My Voice, My Choice. Ms. Favro, just out of respect, I want you to finish your comment, if you will, where you were saying that no matter how small a complaint or issue is, it should be recorded.

Canadian Heritage committee  I appreciate that. The format allows us to move quickly, but these are important conversations that take much longer. You can see how long this study is. One of the challenges we've run into here at the federal level is that this is a multi-jurisdictional issue, so we have to work with provinces and territories as well.

Canadian Heritage committee  I appreciate that. Thank you. I would like to bring in Ms. Khoury to this discussion, because it sounds like you have a lot of expertise in that as well. What is the best way of setting up that pan-Canadian complaint system? How can we work together? If abusers are allowed to move from province to province, that's absolutely unacceptable.

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you, Chair. I appreciate another chance to talk again. Minister, you mentioned the idea in the mandate of holding a national summit of the arts, culture and heritage. You did that, and I was very appreciative. It was a few months ago, and I was very glad to be part of it.

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you. One thing I took out of it was that there are larger organizations and then there are smaller organizations, lots of self-employed and small companies, theatre companies, that all need support at the same time. I was very happy to hear that discussion happening at all levels.

Canadian Heritage committee  I appreciate that. Thank you, Minister. I believe that's my time.

Canadian Heritage committee  I'll take it. I can do that. I want to thank you. I've been working through this since it was Bill C-10. Coming up with ideas creatively from all sides of the House, all of the Senate and the House itself, and having contributions from the ministry have been very helpful. I look forward to being involved in the next steps.

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you, Chair. I appreciate that. Thank you, Minister, for being here. To the other witnesses, thank you for being here. I appreciate your time, your energy and your efforts, especially throughout the pandemic. The artists, the creators and the producers are the ones sharing our stories, and they're our stories.

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you very much for that answer. Yes, you're talking about how these other companies from other countries have to play by the rules, and that's going to help to protect our culture, but the work is not done. The legislation has passed. It's gone through the House and through the Senate and it's received royal assent.

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you. You used the word “coordinating” a few times. I think that's important. Recently I hosted a round table with the Minister of Rural Economic Development. We had rural mayors, businesses and other stakeholders discussing the issues that face our small communities, many of which we've heard today in committee.