Good morning, Mr. Chair. I'd like to thank you and the committee for the opportunity to appear before you today.
The Canadian Association of University Teachers represents 65,000 academic staff at more than 120 universities and colleges across the country. Our members include both creators and users of copyright material. We have had to deal with both sides of some of the controversies that have come before your committee. While we realize it is unlikely the committee will be able to satisfy the wishes of all Canadians, we are hopeful that our presentation will help the committee find a proper balance in this difficult area.
We'd like to begin by recognizing the efforts of successive governments to modernize Canada's copyright law. In particular we'd like to acknowledge the generally open and meaningful consultation process leading up to Bill C-32. The consultation, in perhaps the strongest way yet, heard and seriously considered the interests and concerns of all Canadians.
With respect to Bill C-32 itself, it contains some elements that disappoint us, and we have several amendments to suggest. Nonetheless, CAUT supports the overall direction of the legislation and recognizes it as a good-faith attempt to create balance in copyright law. In these brief opening remarks, we will address two particular issues: digital locks and educational fair dealing.
On digital locks, CAUT believes the efforts of balance found elsewhere in Bill C-32 are absent. The bill's overbroad lock-breaking prohibition will not deter digital pirates; it will only inhibit honest Canadians from engaging in otherwise lawful activity to a very great detriment of free expression, research, and education. Bill C-60 got it right when it banned breaking locks to violate copyright but permitted the activity for lawful purposes such as fair dealing. That is the balanced way to proceed, and we urge the committee to recommend that.
With respect to educational fair dealing, Bill C-32 will allow Canadians to take advantage of teaching and learning opportunities more fully. For example, fair dealing for the purpose of education would permit Canadians to fairly incorporate excerpts from works into individual presentations, lessons, lectures, and academic articles and fairly distribute copies of material that meets a spontaneous in-class educational need such as a poem or song lyric in remembrance of a special event, or a news clipping on a world crisis.
Importantly, educational fair dealing will comply with our international obligations under the Berne three-step test. We know this because the Supreme Court's test for fair dealing itself addresses the Berne requirements. We also know this because Canadian educational fair dealing does not exceed the U.S. fair use practices, the gold standard for copyright compliance.
Equally important, because we have heard suggestions that it will cause the sky to fall, we want to emphasize that educational fair dealing will not cause entire books to be copied or distributed, will not replace the need to purchase course packs, will not significantly reduce the millions and millions of taxpayers' dollars the education sector currently spends annually on copyright material. In this particular regard, CAUT agrees that if there are any savings associated with educational fair dealing, they should be used for additional library acquisitions and site licences.
As well, fair dealing will not unleash a flood of litigation. There will be no litigation storm because the Supreme Court's CCH decision has defined fair dealings parameters. These familiar parameters will not change if new purposes such as parody, satire, or education are added and there will be no need endlessly to relitigate them.
Finally, on the issue of educational fair dealing, there has been discussion about whether or not it should be narrowly defined. CAUT believes educational fair dealing must not just encompass formal educational institutions as defined by the Copyright Act. The beauty of fair dealing is that it is a right for all Canadians, not a special exemption for a privileged few. It should be available in a wide range of settings, including public libraries, galleries, and museums. It should also be available to a girl scout troop learning about trees, a Sunday school class studying the geography of the Holy Land, a photographer teaching a photography class, a hockey coach explaining skating techniques, a Kiwanis club presenting a speaker on the emerging economic power of China. Learning occurs inside and outside educational institutions and from youth into old age. The Copyright Act must recognize and respect this.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. My colleague Paul Jones and I will be happy to answer any questions the committee may have.