I will now take a few moments to tell you a little bit about Claude Robinson, who is very well known in Quebec. He is an artist, a creator, who, some 20 years ago now, created a character named Robinson Curiosité. His idea was stolen by a large company, Cinar, a multinational based in Quebec and that produces animation films. You have probably heard of Cinar because of the pseudonym man scandal that exploded here, in Ottawa. And this pseudonym man scandal, it is precisely Claude Robinson who brought it to light because he was himself investigating into Cinar in order to prove that his idea had been stolen.
Claude Robinson no longer creates; he wears the title of artist, but he has not done anything for the last 14 years. He evolved into a lawyer, an investigator to defend his copyright. He has devoted himself full time to defending his copyright and he won before the Court of First Instance in September 2009 when a judge ordered Cinar and other large international corporations to pay him more than $5 million. These large corporations, that have a lot of money, appealed and Claude Robinson, 14 years later, once again finds himself defending the same cause, with the same duty to prepare, to investigate and to defend his rights, but without any money. In Quebec, a spontaneous fundraising effort gathered $260,000. Each member of the Bloc québécois donated $2,000.
There you have it. That is the story of Claude Robinson, who is the symbol of copyright and copyright royalties in Quebec, and I believe that he could become so for all of Canada, because these are Canadian rules that he defends day after day. I believe that the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage could salute his courage and his determination.