Heritage minister asked to step in amid staff departures from National Gallery

A parliamentary committee memberis calling for transparency from Canada's premier art institution following recent and very public staff turmoil and he'simploring Canadian Heritage MinisterPablo Rodriguez to step in.

"It's important that the minister, because [he] has an overseeing role for our cultural institutions, get the answers to questions that many people are asking," saidPeter Julian, the NDP MP for New Westminster-Burnabyand a member of the standing committee on Canadian heritage, in an interview Monday with Radio-Canada.

Earlier this month, the National Gallery of Canada told its employees viaa brief internal memo that four senior staffers including its long-servingsenior curator of Indigenous art, Greg A. Hill were leaving due to "a restructuring within the organization."

In the memo, which surfaced on social mediathe gallery's interim director and CEOAngela Cassie said the "workforce changes" would help the publicly funded arts institution "better align the gallery's leadership team with the organization's new strategic plans."

News about the four staff exitscameless than six months after the departure ofSasha Suda, who left her role as the Ottawa institution's chief operating officerand director in July.

In addition to Hill, the gallery's chief curator the first woman to permanently hold the position its director of conservation and technical research, and its senior manager of communications were also said to be affected by the restructuring.

Hill told CBChe felt he was pushed out for asking questions about the gallery's approach toIndigenous ways and decolonization.

The gallery declined a request last week to provide more information about the staff departures and stated in the memo that it could not discuss personnel matters for privacy reasons.

7 ex-staffers pen letter to minister

Julian called on Rodriguez to become involvedafter seven former gallery employees expressed their concerns about the recent staff changes. They co-signed aletterto Rodriguezlast week that was also sent to the media andthe chair of the gallery's board of trustees.

The letter stated that, combined with at least 10 prior "dismissals,"mostly under Suda's tenure, the recent departures left a number of key positions vacant andcreated a "high degree of internal uncertainty and instability" within the gallery.

It also complains about money allegedly spent on consultants,retirement packages for people who took early retirement in 2022, and non-disclosure agreements for dismissed employees, saying the alleged expenditures represent "a significant burden for a Crown corporation."

None of the allegations hasbeen proven.

A spokesperson for the gallery told CBC on Saturday that it was still reviewing the contents of the letter and that an interview would not be immediately available. On Tuesday, a spokesperson said that the gallery was still not able to comment.

The ministry said it, too, was reviewing the letterbut that the gallery, like other Crown corporations, operates at arms-length,is responsible for its own day-to-day operations and has its own oversight board.

"Canadians have high expectations of their cultural institutions. We expect the galleryand all Crown corporations to be inclusive, safe, and reflect the best of Canada," a ministry spokesperson said via email.

"I cannot get involved in those things," Rodriguez told CBC Tuesday.

Worries about attrition

Charles Hill, who signed the letter, said the situation raises doubts about the gallery's ability to recruit new blood.

"Does somebody want to come within the current climate at the National Gallery?" he asked in an interview.

DianaNemiroff also signed the letter. In a separate interview, she said she wants the affected positions to remain protected and be filled quickly.

"There's been attrition in various levels in various areas of the gallery, either through early departures or simply people leaving of their own accord or layoffs that have potentially weakened the research capacity of the gallery," she said.

"When we weaken the research capacity, we also weaken the gallery'sability to put on important public programming."

Both expressed concern with the loss of a Greg A. Hill from whatCharles Hill called"a very important position in the current climate."

Overshadowing positive steps

Gabrielle Moser, an art historian at York University, agreed that Hill's departure was surprising, pointing to the creation of his roleas a groundbreaking moment for the gallery.

But she said talk of his exit has overshadowedrecent positive developments, including the launch earlier this yearof the gallery'sdepartment of Indigenous ways and decolonization.

"Two newly hired people are still there directing that work," Mosersaid, adding that the gallery just hired an associate curator who is Inuk and hails from Nunavut.

"I worry that the big, big reaction [the staff departures are]getting is from an old guard who wants to keep things the way they were, and that folks are not willing to see that this might be a necessary stage in changing the gallery so that it is more meaningful to a greater number of people."

Read the seven former gallery staffers' letter below.