CCA BULLETIN / BULLETIN DE LA CCA
Where Things Stand in the House of Commons
Ottawa , May 27th 2004 - The dissolution of Parliament for an election means that several pieces of legislation that impact Canada 's arts and culture communities fall from the order paper.
C-12
CCA has been very active over the last year arguing against the removal of the artistic merit defence in Bill C-12, an Act to amend the Criminal Code for the protection of children and other vulnerable persons and the Canada Evidence Act . Unfortunately, the Bill passed in the House of Commons on Wednesday May 12th when 154 Members voted in favour and 56 voted against. The CCA is dismayed that this damaging clause in an otherwise laudable piece of legislation was neither deleted nor adequately amended during the legislative process, as the threat this change to the Criminal Code poses to free expression and existing creative works is great. However, it is some small consolation that the Bill has died in the Senate with news of the election call.
C-8
Bill C-8, an Act to establish the Library and Archives of Canada , to amend the Copyright Act, and to amend certain other acts in consequence, was given Royal Assent on April 22nd.
Under Bill C-8:
• a new institution, the Library and Archives of Canada, is created by merging the National Library of Canada and the National Archives of Canada into one body. This unified institution now has a wider mandate than the two previously existing bodies, with the stated goal of "better providing easy and integrated access to Canada 's knowledge, information and documentary heritage".
• Copyright: as originally dr af ted, Bill C-8's predecessor (Bill C-36) proposed extending the term of protection for unpublished works whose authors died af ter 1929 but before 1949. This was commonly referred to as the "L.M. Montgomery clause", as the heirs to her estate were vocal in their support of this amendment. This aspect of the bill, however, generated a great deal of debate and proved contentious enough to imperil what many felt was an otherwise laudable bill. A compromise was reached, resulting in an amendment made immediately prior to the Bill being read a third time in the House of Commons. This amendment provides for a single term of protection — until the end of 2006 — for all works that were unpublished on 31 December 1998 and whose authors died at least 50 years before that date; that is, who died before 31 December 1948 . This means that no unpublished works will fall into the public domain by the end of 2003. Copyright will now subsist in such works until the end of 2006, irrespective of whether the author died before 31 December 1929 or between 31 December 1929 and 1 January 1949 , and irrespective of whether or not the work has since been published. Once this revised term of protection expires, the works will fall into the public domain.
C-10
On a higher note, Bill C-10, an Act to amend the Contraventions Act and the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, did not pass into law. Commonly referred to as the "marijuana bill", the proposed legislation would have decriminalized the possession of small and intermediate amounts of cannabis, through designating such possession as a contravention, and would have reformed criminal punishments related to the production of marijuana. It remains hazy whether this Bill will return in another form in the 38th Parliament.
Interim Report on Copyright Reform
Finally, the Interim Report on Copyright Reform, released by the Standing Commitee on Canadian Heritage in the final days of the 37th Parliament, warrants a mention. It makes several strong recommendations, including that Canada should introduce legislation before this coming November 15th to permit the ratification of two World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) treaties from 1996. A government news release about the report, including a link to ordering an electronic copy, can be found at: http://www.parl.gc.ca/InfoCom/PubDocument.asp?Language=E&DocumentID=1346953
The current Minister of Canadian Heritage has stated publicly on more than one occassion in the past month that, following the landmark court decision in late March that upheld the legality of online file-sharing, she and the Department will work hard to table legislation that better protects creators' interests. Obviously, an election call puts this agenda in limbo, as it remains uncertain whether Madame Scherrer will even be re-elected, let alone re-appointed as Minister.
ELECTION ASSISTANCE - HELPING YOU MAKE THE CASE FOR THE ARTS
CCA has had excellent response so far to its 2004 federal election advocacy materials, from both our members and the general public. More information is being added week by week, so don't forget to check in for the latest updates. (If you do not receive CCA bulletins, you might want to take out a membership immediately in order not to miss any important information during this election campaign - go to www.ccarts.ca .)
The CBC's website has a new section called "Canada Votes", devoted to election coverage with a special section on the arts ( http://www.cbc.ca/canadavotes/politicalcanada/redbook/arts.html ),
part of which refers to CCA 's 2003 pre-Budget submission "Feeding the Canadian Spirit".
Canada Council for the Arts will be launching a new advocacy section next Monday on its recently renovated website. Under "Making the Case", Council will provide insight and reality checks into the current situation in the arts and heritage sub-sectors and the cultural indust. More material will be added over the coming days and weeks.
Clarification
Bulletin 24/04 stated that " CCA can provide you with information regarding cultural grants that have been awarded in your riding over the past year (using the old riding boundaries)". Missing from this statement was the caveat that this refers only to grants awarded by the Canada Council for the Arts in the first three-quarters of the 2003-04 fiscal year. CCA apologizes for any confusion this may have caused. Please continue to direct your enquiries to James Missen or Philippa Borgal .
Stay tuned for CCA 's comprehensive analysis of the major parties' 2004 cultural platforms as they're released in the coming weeks!
For more information:
Kevin Desjardins
Communications and Public Relations Manager
(613) 238 3561 ext.11
Fax (613) 238 4849
25/04
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