House of Commons
Ottawa
K1A 0A6

March 23, 2010

Dear Mr. Angus,

Members of the Writers’ Union of Canada were dismayed to learn that you have made a notice of motion to amend the “fair dealing” provisions of the Copyright Act.

Like you, we want copyright legislation that provides an appropriate balance between reasonable payment to creators and access to consumers, but we believe that access to copyright work can be provided more efficiently and fairly through collective licensing than by expansion of fair dealing. The Writers’ Union has opposed the expansion of fair dealing consistently and vociferously.

Expanding the fair dealing provisions by adding “such as” to the list of purposes covered by fair dealing will deprive creators of remuneration that they are now entitled to receive for uses of their works and confuse users as to what uses of works are permissible in a variety of other settings. Additionally, contrary to what you have said about your proposed motion, an amendment such as you suggest would cover commercial as well as non-commercial uses.

Canada’s Copyright Act already has broad and flexible fair dealing provisions that cover research or private study, criticism or review, and news reporting and, in addition, contains specific exceptions for educational institutions and libraries and archives. We therefore respectfully request that you reconsider your notice of motion and not proceed with a motion that will hurt Canadian creators.

Yours sincerely,

Erna Paris
Chair Writers’ Union of Canada

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