Action on Copyright – Statutory Review of the Copyright Act
CAUT is calling on its membership to participate in the upcoming hearings of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology as part of its statutory review of the Copyright Act. The Committee will be travelling May 7-11 to Halifax, Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg and Vancouver.
The Committee will make its final decision to invite witnesses this week, so it is important to get your request in today or tomorrow morning at the latest.
Copyright law regulates an essential part of academic life – the creation, ownership and use of literary and artistic works. CAUT and other educators worked hard to make sure the changes made to the law in 2012 helped protect both the creators and users of material and allow ready access to learning and research content. We need to defend fair dealing for its importance to research and education.
Any witness invited would make a 5 minute statement as part of a 15 or 20 minute panel with 2 or 3 other witnesses. This would then be followed by a 90 minute Q&A to all witnesses. The Committee has also announced there would be an open mic session in the evening, but we do not have the details about this segment.
If your association is interested and able to take part, this may be of particular interest to librarian members; you will need to send a request to appear as a witness directly to the Committee ([email protected]) with your justification.
Please note that CAUT testified before the Committee in April to advocate for fair copyright and we will support you in making your request to appear and with your appearance if needed.
Please find the release from the Committee about the hearings in the attached CAUT memo. The Committee’s travel schedule is listed below for your reference:
| Monday, May 7 | Halifax, Nova Scotia |
| Tuesday, May 8 | Montreal, Quebec |
| Wednesday, May 9 | Toronto, Ontario |
| Thursday, May 10 | Winnipeg, Manitoba |
| Friday, May 11 | Vancouver, British Columbia |