ADD YOUR VOICE

Let Ottawa know they must act now to save the livelihoods of Canadian creators.

Dear Minister St-Onge and Minister Champagne:

Canadian creators and publishers are indispensable chroniclers of our stories. In Canada, supporting them, and fostering and nurturing their creativity is a national priority and this means that our cultural policies must support our creators. 

Canada’s Copyright Act is one of the primary ways that they are paid for their work. 

For over a decade now, Canadian writers, visual artists and publishers have seen the education sector outside of Quebec exploit the education fair-dealing exception in the Act to copy portions of their published works for free. And, for over a decade now we have told the federal government that creators can’t wait any longer to be paid for the use of their work. 

The federal government has acknowledged that this is a problem of grave concern. Canada’s other major national political parties believe it is too.

In the 2022 budget, the federal government committed to amend the Copyright Act to protect creators and copyright holders and ensure a sustainable educational publishing industry.

As systemic, uncompensated copying of 600 million pages annually continues in our educational institutions outside of Quebec, we wait and wait for the government to take action. The crippling losses to Canadian creative community continue to mount, including $200 million and counting in unpaid royalties and the loss of key industry supports for the sector.  This now includes the ongoing downsizing of Access Copyright which means a greatly diminished voice left to stand up for creators and publishers. 

It is deeply troubling that the government has not done anything to fulfil its promise. What sort of legacy remains if we can no longer tell our stories for generations to come.

There is so much at stake.

We cannot be kicked down the path any longer. 

It’s time to live up to your word and finally fix the problem. 

Sincerely,

I'm a:

Your Voice Is Needed Together, We Can Fix The Copyright Act.

ADD YOUR VOICE

Let Ottawa know they must act now to save the livelihoods of Canadian creators.

Share on social media and help spread the word about our campaign:

Your Voice Is Needed
Together, We Can Fix The Copyright Act.