Madam Chair, ladies and gentlemen, we thank you for inviting us to take part in the review of the Copyright Act. My name is Élisabeth Schlittler and I am the General Delegate for Canada for the Société des auteurs et compositeurs dramatiques, or SACD, and the Société civile des auteurs multimédia, or SCAM.
SACD and SCAM — I apologize for the acronym, which may sound odd to anglophones, but that is the name of the organization — which have had offices in Montreal for over 30 years, are two societies that manage the rights of their Canadian and international members on a wide repertory of dramatic works and documentaries. They have been tasked by their author clients to negotiate, collect and distribute the royalties paid by those who use the audiovisual, radio, and stage repertories. They are both collective management societies within the meaning of the Copyright Act.
SACD represents authors of dramatic works, screenwriters, directors, playwrights, choreographers, composers and stage directors. SCAM represents, screenwriters, directors, and documentary directors. SACD-SCAM represents nearly 2,000 Canadian authors, francophones and anglophones, mainly screenwriters and directors of television series, feature films, cartoons, short films, and web and radio series. It also represents playwrights and choreographers.
By joining SACD or SCAM, the writers authorize us to share their works with the public through telecommunications. SACD's audiovisual repertory includes feature films such as The Fall of the American Empire, by Denys Arcand, and series such as District 31, by Luc Dionne. SCAM's repertory includes documentaries such as Roger Toupin, épicier variété, by Benoît Pilon, and Un pont entre deux mondes, by Pascal Gélinas.
In consideration of what authors' rights have contributed, SACD-SCAM engages with authors in negotiating the conditions for the licences it will issue, including to television channels and digital platforms that use the repertories. In Canada, SACD-SCAM has negotiated licences that cover six traditional channels, 20 specialized channels, one pay subscription channel, five digital platforms, one radio channel, and an agreement for cable rights. Thanks to the contracts negotiated by SACD-SCAM in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Monaco with television channels and digital platforms such as YouTube and Netflix, as well as its agreements with national authors societies in Switzerland, Italy, Spain, and Poland, Canadian members are guaranteed to receive royalties from the use of their work in those countries.
The remuneration principle that SACD-SCAM stands behind, including in francophone countries in Europe, and which is applied in Quebec, is quite simple: an author must be linked to the work for the duration of its economic life and must be remunerated for all forms of development of that work. In other words, an author must benefit from the success of his or her work and be remunerated fairly by all users of that work, including by television channels and digital platforms.
For that, collective management of rights remains indispensable, especially in the digital age. The current review of the Copyright Act must foster the creation of works and the fair remuneration of authors by better equipping collective management societies. We are calling on the government to ensure that the legislation recognizes the invaluable contribution that authors make to the Canada's economy and culture and establishes their remuneration. It is time to compensate for the many exemptions that were adopted in 2012 and to remember that this legislation is meant to protect the authors. The government has to end the looting of intellectual property resulting from the work done by authors. It has to send a clear message indicating that all work deserves to be paid and that people cannot get everything for free.
In the brief we submitted last May, you will find our recommendations in detail. I will provide a brief overview.
First, we recommend that the lack of legal clarity on the question of ownership of copyright in cinematographic works and audiovisual works be addressed. We believe it is necessary to clarify whether it is a collaborative work between a number of co-authors and to include a presumption of copyright ownership for the benefit of the screenwriter and the director.
This clarification will allow us to negotiate remuneration with Canadian channels and platforms for our members who are directors and who have not been remunerated so far.
Like most countries with a private copying regime, we recommend that the Canadian private copying regime be expanded to audiovisual works and that it apply to every medium used by consumers to reproduce them. This expansion of the audiovisual regime would rectify a situation that is impossible to justify for authors and sister societies with whom we have reciprocal agreements.
We recommend following the European Parliament model and having all digital intermediaries contribute to funding the cultural content that they deliver or provide access to and profit from. We commend the Minister of Finance for trying to find fiscal solutions to e-commerce, but we ask that all taxes that are collected by national companies also be collected by the foreign companies and that a portion of the money be set aside to fund Canadian culture.
We are pleased that Canada negotiated term of copyright in the United States, Mexico, Canada Agreement, finally changing it in Canada to 70 years in order to reflect the extended period of time during which works are being used and to harmonize Canadian legislation with modern foreign legislation.
On behalf of the members of SACD-SCAM, thank you for your attention. I am ready to take your questions.