The report follows the Heritage Committee’s work on the remuneration models for artists and creative industries and includes 22 recommendations. IPA member, the Association of Canadian Publishers (ACP) noted that the report makes the following recommendations:

  • Amend the Act to clarify that fair dealing should not apply to educational institutions when the work is commercially available;
  • Promote a return to licensing through collective management organisations;
  • Review, harmonize and improve the enforcement of the statutory damages for infringement for non-commercial use in section 38.1 (1) of the Copyright Act;
  • Harmonize remedies for collective management organisations under the Copyright Act.

ACP President Glenn Rollans said: Canadian publishers welcome the Committee’s recommendations, and appreciate the time and energy members from all political parties devoted to hearing from a broad range of stakeholders over the course of the review. The Committee’s recommendations come after many years damage to the livelihoods of professional publishers and authors, so we encourage the next Parliament to act quickly on these recommendations.

The President of IPA member, l’Association nationale des éditeurs de livres (ANEL), Arnaud Foulon (HMH Group), added: The report of the committee chaired by MP Julie Dabrusin made 22 recommendations aimed at restoring a balance between creators and users that were seriously undermined by adoption of the Canadian Copyright Act in 2012. The publishers in ANEL want the legislator to take these recommendations into account and amend the copyright law to curb the haemorrhaging of income in the cultural sector. ANEL now wants the members of the INDU Committee to go in the same direction as their Heritage Committee colleagues.

The IPA has supported its three Canadian members (ACP, ANEL and the Canadian Publishers’ Council) by making a number of submissions to the current review, as well as giving evidence before parliamentary committees and sending a senior delegation to Ottawa to speak to parliamentarians and their advisers there.

You can read the full report here.

As we went to press the Industry, Science and Technology Committee published its report: https://www.ourcommons.ca/Content/Committee/421/INDU/Reports/RP10537003/indurp16/indurp16-e.pdf