November 30, 2023 is an organized Day of Action to highlight the broken market for educational copying in Canada. The Union is working with I Value Canadian Stories, calling on the federal government to fulfil its promise to repair Canada’s Copyright Act.
Over 600 million pages of published content are copied for free annually by educational institutions outside of Quebec. Those copies have been ruled unfair by Federal Court, but lack of strong government regulation means the amount of unfair copying is only growing.
Government inaction on this problem is hastening the disappearance of great Canadian content for Canadian students and teachers, and impoverishing cultural workers. In the past eleven years, Canadian creators and publishers have been deprived of over $200 million in copying royalties.
Access Copyright has suffered extreme losses and is being downsized, which means vital infrastructure and a strong champion for Canadian creators and publishers will be significantly weakened. The Union and our advocacy partners have proven our case to government again and again, and extracted promises for repair to our market. Now we need the government to fulfil those promises.
We urge all Union members to add their voice and make sure our message is heard. Send a letter to government today.
Join the conversation, share on social media, and help spread the word about the campaign:
Today, I wrote to @PascaleStOnge_ & @fp_champagne to tell them that that Canadian creators and publishers are counting on them to fix the Copyright Act & stop great Canadian content from disappearing. Please join me! ivaluecanadianstories.ca/creators.php #cdnpoli #IValueCdnStories #FixCopyright
Stronger Together
TWUC’s advocacy is most effective as the collective voice of Canada’s professional authors. We are stronger together. If you are not already a member of TWUC and are working as a writer, consider joining the Union. If you wish to support TWUC’s advocacy outside of membership, consider donating to the Union.
TWUC’s advocacy is most effective as the collective voice of Canada’s professional authors. We are stronger together. If you are not already a member of TWUC and are working as a writer, consider joining the Union. If you wish to support TWUC’s advocacy outside of membership, consider donating to the Union.