Bill C-47 (Historical)

Olympic and Paralympic Marks Act

An Act respecting the protection of marks related to the Olympic Games and the Paralympic Games and protection against certain misleading business associations and making a related amendment to the Trade-marks Act

This enactment provides for the protection of Olympic and Paralympic marks and protection against certain misleading business associations between a business and the Olympic Games, the Paralympic Games or certain committees associated with those Games.
This enactment also makes a related amendment to the Trade-marks Act to preclude the registration of a trade-mark whose adoption is prohibited by this enactment.

[Luc Malo, Bloc, Verchères—Les Patriotes, QC]

You said that after speaking to VANOC officials, you were sufficiently reassured that athletes would not be adversely affected by the passage of Bill C-47.

Could you please expand on this statement so that we can continue the discussion we started with Ms. Northcott and Ms. Rowden?

[Luc Malo, Bloc, Verchères—Les Patriotes, QC]

How exactly would you like to see Bill C-47 amended? Could you provide us with any examples of what you would like to see amended?

[Dan McTeague, Liberal, Pickering—Scarborough East, ON]

Fair enough.

I'm wondering if you could also perhaps comment on your first section here, “Are all the provisions of Bill C-47 necessary?” You point out that many Olympic trademarks are already protected in Canada. We have a list, obviously, in the act that is far more extensive than that. You've called for sunsetting of the clause of the bill, that the bill would terminate immediately after, I take it you believe, the Olympics and the Paralympics as well. I think you said that.

[Jasmine Northcott, Athlete Forums Director and Operations Manager, AthletesCAN]

Good morning, Mr. Chairman, committee members. On behalf of Canada's national team athletes, the board of directors of AthletesCAN, our chief executive officer, and myself, thank you for this opportunity to sit with you this morning to share our collective concerns and feedback regarding Bill C-47.

AthletesCAN is the collective voice of national team athletes in Canada, and we represent over 2,500 active national team athletes, including Olympic, Paralympic, Commonwealth Games, Pan-American Games, and aboriginal athletes. We work diligently on their behalf to provide these athletes with programs of leadership, advocacy, and education to ensure a fair, responsive, and supportive sports system.

AthletesCAN has extensively reviewed the content of Bill C-47 and consulted with our athletes and partners, and as a result we are here today to support the government's efforts to better high-performance sport in Canada.

We recognize the need to support the sponsors and licensees who have contributed and will contribute significant resources to the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games. However, we bring to the committee's attention the need to entrench athlete rights within this bill.

The opportunity to create and foster an environment for sponsors and licensees that protects their right to associate themselves with the Olympic and Paralympic Games is a great step forward for the Canadian sports system. However, we need to address the direct legislative implications that this legislation will have on the individuals who are central to our country's sporting success: our athletes.

We believe it is possible to create an environment that protects both the rights of the sponsors and licensees and the rights of the athletes. It's our recommendation to the committee that the protection of athletes can be provided under Bill C-47 with the adoption of a simple amendment, which we have identified as the protection of identity for Olympians and Paralympians. Olympians and Paralympians are those athletes who have competed at Olympic and Paralympic Games. These athletes have earned the right to refer to themselves and their sponsors as Olympians and Paralympians.

However, there is concern among the athlete community that their ability to foster relationships with businesses and communities could be adversely affected by this legislation, as this type of support and endorsement could fall under the commercial parameters of this legislation.

Unlike companies that use the Olympic and Paralympic marks for ambush gains, athletes who are successful in garnering the support of businesses and communities do so to support the significant costs of training and competition at an international level. We've looked to the committee to provide provisions within Bill C-47 to protect the rights of athletes. In Australia, where similar legislation exists, provisions were made to protect the rights of athletes. Canadian athletes deserve this same right.

It is the recommendation of AthletesCAN that Bill C-47 include a provision by way of amendment to protect the rights of athletes to identify themselves as Olympians and Paralympians who have participated at past Olympic and Paralympic Games, to be able to speak to their accomplishments, and the right to reference as factual experience to either promote themselves or be promoted by their sponsors without penalty.

We would like to thank the industry committee for this opportunity to provide the collective concerns of Canada's national team athletes and offer a simple suggestion that could be easily implemented to protect the rights of athletes.

Thank you. I welcome the opportunity for questions from the committee.

[Roger Jackson, Chief Executive Officer, Own the Podium 2010]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Good morning, everybody. It's a pleasure to appear before you this morning and to offer unequivocal support for Bill C-47, on behalf of Own the Podium 2010.

In my prior experience as president of the Canadian Olympic Committee and as a leader of the 1988 Olympic Winter Games, I understand the importance of official Olympic sponsors contributing to the games. I'm also very much aware of the need to ensure that the value of these sponsorships, namely the exclusivity of association with the Olympic brand, is adequately protected.

This understanding has only deepened in my current role as chief executive officer of Own the Podium 2010. Launched in January 2005, Own the Podium is a national collaborative initiative, supported by all 13 of the winter sports in Canada, both Olympic and Paralympic, the Canadian Olympic Committee, the Canadian Paralympic Committee, the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, the Government of Canada, and several corporate sponsors.

There will be 80 countries participating in the Olympic Games in Vancouver and the Paralympic Games. Own the Podium 2010's goal is ambitious but obtainable: to win the greatest number of medals of any country in the world at the Olympic Winter Games, and to finish third at the Paralympic Winter Games.

Own the Podium 2010 partners believe that we can make this goal a reality. Together they have committed $110 million over five years to support the national sports organizations and their athletes. Of our total funding, half—or $55 million—comes from the Government of Canada, and $5 million comes from the Government of British Columbia. The remaining $50 million comes from the VANOC corporate sponsors, including corporations such as Bell Canada, General Motors, Hudson's Bay Company, McDonald's, Petro-Canada, RONA, and the RBC Financial Group.

Make no mistake, these organizations were not contractually obligated to support Own the Podium 2010, and thus Canada's Olympic and Paralympic athletes, as part of their agreements with VANOC. Instead, they did so voluntarily to help Canada's athletes succeed during our games.

With this in mind, I respectfully submit to the committee that Bill C-47 will serve Canadian sports extremely well. In protecting the investment made by Olympic and Paralympic sponsors, Bill C-47 will encourage ongoing support and new partnerships between Canadian sports and the private sector. Indeed, without the protection of Bill C-47, the interest of the corporate sponsors to generate funding for Canadian athletes is dramatically reduced, and our Canadian goals will certainly not be met.

For the 2010 winter games to be successful in the eyes of Canadians, our athletes must be adequately supported to rise to their full potential and be able to win at home. Through their generosity, our corporate sponsors have demonstrated their commitment to this end. In return, they deserve nothing short of the protection that Bill C-47 provides.

Thank you.

[Brian MacPherson, Chief Operating Officer, Canadian Paralympic Committee]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for this opportunity to speak to you this morning. I'll start with a brief statement and then be more than happy to answer any questions you may have.

The Canadian Paralympic Committee supports any initiative that benefits Paralympic athletes, and Bill C-47 benefits Paralympic athletes. Let me explain.

It's no secret that historically Paralympic athletes have not enjoyed the same level of support as Olympic athletes. In fact, up to the 2000 Paralympic Games, Paralympic athletes had to pay out of their own pockets to represent this country. The primary reason for this lack of Paralympic support was lack of corporate sponsorships.

Today, the Canada Paralympic Committee has eight major corporate sponsors. It fully supports and funds Canadians athletes to the Paralympic Games. In addition, the Canadian Paralympic Committee now delivers numerous athlete-support programs between the games.

The Canadian Paralympic Committee has corporate sponsors today because it has successfully cultivated, and grows, the Paralympic brand, a brand that corporate Canada now wants to be associated with and is willing to pay for that association. Integral to that association is the explicit understanding that the Canadian Paralympic Committee will take every measure possible to protect the brand. Bill C-47 has an opportunity to increase that level of brand protection, thereby increasing brand value and financial support from the corporate Canada sector to the Paralympic sports and to the Paralympic athletes.

Another example of how increased corporate Canada financial support is already helping Paralympic athletes is through the Own the Podium program. Through this program, our winter Paralympic athletes are enjoying unprecedented levels of support.

Let me read you an excerpt from an article that appeared in the Edmonton Journal on February 22. This article is an interview with Para-Nordic skier and multi-gold Paralympic medallist Shauna Maria Whyte. Shauna says:

In the past, I had only a few people helping me get to the podium. Now there's like an army, and that's a big help. The support is an amazing feeling.... When an athlete does get on the podium, yes I'm the one who's standing on the podium but it's a team effort getting us there...the team nutritionist, physiotherapist, psychologist, our head coach, my personal coach and all the Canadian taxpayers. That's an awesome feeling for me now, to realize that when I stand on the podium, it's for my country.

Looking forward, the more financially successful the 2010 games are, the more stories like Shauna's will be made possible. This is because the majority of any 2010 games operating-budget surplus will be placed into an amateur sport legacy fund, a fund solely dedicated to supporting athletes and coach development programs. Also, a successful 2010 games will make it easier for the Canadian Paralympic Committee to renew its sponsorships and recruit additional sponsors.

Benefits to Canada's Paralympic athletes--this is why the Canadian Paralympic Committee supports Bill C-47.

Thank you.

[Jeff Bean, Olympian, Freestyle Skiing, Canadian Olympic Ski Team, As an Individual]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair and committee, for letting me speak here today in support of Bill C-47.

For the past 12 years, I have been a member of the Canadian free style national team. In that time, I have had the honour to represent Canada in competition at the past three Olympic Winter Games—Nagano 1998, Salt Lake City 2002 and most recently Turin 2006. However, I have made the important decision to retire at the end of this season. I would really like to be able to do that at 30. I'm going to retire from hurling myself in the air to do quadruple twisting triple back flips.

Looking back at my career, I will be forever grateful for my Olympic experiences, and I know that none of them would have been possible without significant contributions of official Olympic sponsors. That is why I am here today to support the passage of Bill C-47, which protects the Olympics investment of corporate sponsors, and in doing so, encourages ongoing support of Canadian sport and Canadian Olympic athletes like me.

At my first winter games in Nagano, I was taken aback at the sheer size and scale of the event. The venues were filled with tens of thousands of spectators and the village was a small city unto itself, with every modern amenity one could imagine. They ranged from dentists to haircuts. Basically anything you would see in a normal little village, that's what happens in an Olympic village. As I continued on to Salt Lake City and to Reno, the villages and the services and amenities offered in those villages just grew.

All that is to say I've had, first-hand, an enormous amount of knowledge of the resources required to host a successful winter games. I cannot believe for a minute that they could happen without the hundreds of millions of dollars contributed by Olympic sponsors.

Beyond simply investing in the Vancouver winter games, official Olympic sponsors here in Canada are supporting the success of Canadian athletes. For example, through support provided by Own the Podium 2010, the Canadian freestyle ski team has been able to hire three new coaches, install a leading-edge video playback system at our summer water out-training facility, and host a first-ever physical conditioning camp for the entire team for six weeks, which was held in Whistler this spring. I know similar improvements have been made across other Canadian winter sports and I know Canada's results at the 2010 winter games will reflect all of this crucial support.

On a personal note, I'm what is known as an RBC Olympian. RBC has developed this program, which not only supports athletes financially, but also offers an opportunity for athletes to gain real-world work experience while still training and competing. At this point in my life, the skills and experiences I am acquiring will be invaluable in my non-sporting career.

All this being said, when I first read Bill C-47 I did have some reservations regarding the ability of athletes to promote themselves as Olympians and Paralympians. I was contacted by AthletesCAN and we shared some of these same concerns. However, after posing these questions to VANOC, I've been adequately reassured that the spirit of this legislation does not impede the rights of the athletes. Furthermore, I'm encouraged in hearing that VANOC is willing to support any amendment agreed necessary by committee that will formalize the abilities of athletes to refer to themselves as Olympians and Paralympians.

With all the contributions official Olympic sponsors have made to the Vancouver winter games and to Canadian athletes, I feel that at the very least Canada owes them the sufficient protection for their investment provided in Bill C-47.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would be happy to answer any questions you or the other members of the committee may have.

Thank you very much for your time.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

I'd like to call the meeting to order.

We have before us a number of witnesses, so I'll try to get to things as quickly as possible.

We have two sessions today. The first session has a number of witnesses on Bill C-47, and then hopefully we can move to clause-by-clause consideration of Bill C-47 at 10 a.m.

Today is the 66th meeting of the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology. Pursuant to order of reference of May 17, 2007, we are studying Bill C-47, an act respecting the protection of marks related to the Olympic Games and the Paralympic Games and protection against certain misleading business associations and making a related amendment to the Trade-marks Act.

We have a number of witnesses before us. I'll go in the order I have them here. First of all, from the Intellectual Property Institute of Canada, we have Ms. Cynthia Rowden, the past-president.

We have, appearing as an individual, an Olympian, Mr. Jeff Bean, from freestyle skiing, the Canadian Olympic Ski Team.

From the Canadian Paralympic Committee, we have Mr. Brian MacPherson, chief operating officer.

From Own the Podium 2020, we have Mr. Roger Jackson, CEO.

From Athletes Canada, I believe we have two individuals: Mr. Guy Tanguay, the CEO; and Ms. Jasmine Northcott, athlete forums director and operations manager.

Finally, we have Mr. Lou Ragagnin, chief operating officer, from the Canadian Olympic Committee. Is that correct?

[Gerry Byrne, Liberal, Humber—St. Barbe—Baie Verte, NL]

Okay, it sounds like a really good point. The Olympic committee seems like a pretty sophisticated organization as well that could do a fair bit of policing without new laws.

Anyway, I'll move to the next point, which is to John. We really appreciate the fact that you've given to the committee some commitments that you will not react with a heavy hand on some of this. I guess one of the questions I have is that you stated to the committee that you haven't released your voluntary guidelines on the basis that you do not know exactly where this legislation is going to go, what final form it's going to take. Are you anticipating that the Parliament of Canada will significantly amend this legislation you've read, Bill C-47?

[Gerry Byrne, Liberal, Humber—St. Barbe—Baie Verte, NL]

How do you protect that? You do not currently have Bill C-47. Obviously the Stanley Cup right now is a lot of hype, a lot of momentary enthusiasm, which will last forever when the Sens take the cup.

[André Arthur, Independent, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Good afternoon, sir.

The introduction of Bill C-47 before the House is a promise made to the IOC. Could you explain to us what was asked of you by the IOC? What was promised by you to the IOC? What exactly is the deal we are trying to honour here by adopting Bill C-47?

[Bill Cooper]

I want to emphasize that if and when Bill C-47 is passed, we will not be starting from scratch with the guidelines. I want to put you at ease there. There's been an enormous body of work done already on the guidelines—as much as we thought was reasonable and sensible, given how much impact this committee process must have on the law. Ultimately, that law will dictate to a large extent how those guidelines look.

What I can tell you is that we've done a lot of work. We've worked with the IOC and the COC and the CPC already. We've worked with the athlete groups and worked with the national sport organization groups to make sure that the core, the heart and soul of the guidelines we have, the architecture, already adequately reflects their concerns.

I can also tell you that as it pertains to education, we are already in the marketplace, to the extent that we can be in the absence of Bill C-47, educating the public as best we can. As to mechanisms, we are basically using industry segments, working with our partners, who might know their own industry segment well, and in addition working with their respective agencies and suppliers to make sure we can penetrate relevant sectors.

For instance, we're getting in front of agencies, communications and PR companies, to make sure that before they plan the communications platforms of their respective clients—in the pre-Beijing phase, as an example—they're informed of what allowable thresholds are with respect to aligning with the Olympic and Paralympic brands.

We're obviously quite well equipped already to launch our website. We have some material there already and we're quite keen, with this process coming to a close, on being able to make it more robust and to have more material available. We will also engage in above-the-line advertising, wherein we will actively communicate to the consumer what's real and what's not and why it's important to buy real and thereby fund athletes and not take money from athletes. In that sense, consumer awareness is a growing concern for us and a growing priority on our website as well.

Finally, I just want to emphasize that in our meetings thus far with athlete groups and sponsors with significant international experience, such as VISA and all the NSOs, we've had very positive feedback on our personality and our mechanisms for interpreting thresholds thus far.

[Luc Malo, Bloc, Verchères—Les Patriotes, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I would like to thank our witnesses for coming.

My first question is for you, Ms. Chandan. I imagine that the current Trade-marks Act works quite well for your company at present. How should this legislation be improved? Why is Bill C-47 so important for your company if you are currently able to do a certain amount of business under the current Trade-marks Act?

[John Furlong]

Thank you for the question. Let me deal with the second part first and come back to the harm.

On the guidelines, they'll come out as soon as this passes, because we haven't seen the final document yet. We'll make those guidelines public quickly and we will move to distribute them in every way we can, through small business associations, on our website, everywhere we can. We think in and of themselves they will provide a balance as to how we act in respect to Bill C-47. The more the public knows, the better chance we have of having no problems. Frankly, I think we've tried to take the position that most organizations don't really want to take advantage. In many cases, it's inadvertence or simply a mistake.

On the harm, as I think it was answered earlier—and I'll have my colleague speak to it a little—I think the concern we have is the time. It's being in a situation where we have no other way to remedy. The games are coming quickly; we're in a very narrow window, and we have no way. This is why it's designed this way. I think other countries have had that experience, where time is not your friend sometimes. I think if we were here for 20 or 30 years, it would be different, but we aren't. We need to be able to take action quickly.

We have given our word to many organizations. We're concerned that someone who has not acquired these rights or been given these rights, and they've been given to someone else, and that someone else is protected—that we live up to our commitment to them. We need to be able to do that.

Do you want to comment further on that?

[Anita Chandan, Vice-President, Hunter Licensed Sports Distribution Corporation, Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games]

Sure.

First of all, thank you very much, Mr. Chair, for the opportunity to speak.

I'd like to speak on the part of small business. There are many different partners in the Olympic movement. There are large companies like Bell Canada who have invested in this movement, but there are also very small companies like our own.

Hunter Canada is a small company established in Montreal. We have an office in Montreal and another one in Toronto, which is now the address for our new licence. We also have a distribution and sales centre in Vancouver.

We were very pleased recently to be chosen by the Vancouver Olympic Committee to produce novelty items and souvenir items using the Olympic marks. We are perhaps, then, your official T-shirt company that you were talking about.

While the eyes are going to be on Canada during the Olympic Games, our mandate is to give every Canadian and every visitor to the games the opportunity to take home a souvenir, a souvenir representing the quality of what Canadian companies can represent.

We are firmly based in Canada. We do over 80% of our production in Canada. We're a Canadian company, offering Canadian products, believing in the Canadian movement.

I have to say that our Olympic licence represents a significant strategic investment on behalf of a company of our size. We're a small company, doing approximately $5 million in sales.

In undertaking this venture we had to make a commitment to pay the guarantees in the sales, guarantees of over actually a half million dollars, which is not a small amount for a company of our size. However, this is dwarfed, really, in comparison with the funds that we're going to invest in this program over the course of the next three years.

We invested because we're confident that this investment will be sound and that our business will grow, and it will give a positive legacy to our firm.

My journey to Vancouver began in Lillehammer in 1992 as a licensee of the Canadian Olympic movement, and we were thrilled when VANOC decided to choose us to be a part of this amazing event. However exciting the opportunity was, we really had to think, as a small company, what this investment would do to us. If we managed it properly internally, and if we were given the protection that we needed from our licensor, this could be an opportunity to raise our company to the next level, doubling our sales staff, doubling our sales in general. However, if it wasn't managed properly internally and if we didn't have protection and were faced with other companies that didn't make these kinds of investments, then it could ruin us as a company, following the games. This is the type of investment that is make or break for companies of our size.

We are concerned about the losses that we could incur should adequate legal protection not exist to effectively address the sale of cheap counterfeit Olympic goods. We've already begun production on merchandise based on forecasted sales, and this will result in a large amount of inventory that we're going to carry leading up to the 2010 games. If passed, Bill C-47 will offer our business the assurance that our exclusive rights to produce officially licensed merchandise will be protected and that the value of its significant investment will not compromised by the saturation of counterfeit products in the marketplace.

As a Canadian company, Hunter is proud of our association with the 2010 games. We feel that our licence is just one important legacy that the games will deliver to Canadians and Canadian businesses.

We do feel, I'd like to say, that VANOC has made it a point to make this Canada's games—not just Vancouver's and not just B.C.'s. The group of licensees ranges from Montreal to Quebec City to Toronto to London to Winnipeg—all across the country—with the same goal in mind: to be part of this program.

We intend to increase our jobs in Canada—increase our marketing team, our sales team, warehouse team, as well as production staff. Our company is a reflection of Canada, with the ethnic and cultural diversity within our own company.

Whether a small company like ours or Bell Canada, I think that we all have the same aim in mind: to be a part of this program and to make a commitment to the Olympic movement, as well as to athletes. The royalties that we pay to VANOC go to athletes, so companies like retailers or consumers buying from outside the licensee base don't have to pay the royalties, which again, goes back to the Olympic movement.

So on behalf of Hunter Canada and other official licensees, I would ask the committee to support the smooth passage of this bill.