Evidence of meeting #11 for Canadian Heritage in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was artists.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Executive Director, Digital First Canada
No, there wasn't an election to my position. Our organization is generally about three months old, and we're working through all of that now. We're new here.
Executive Director, Digital First Canada
I just didn't realize that I had to register as a lobbyist.
Liberal
Chris Bittle Liberal St. Catharines, ON
Will your members be allowed to vote on positions that the organization takes?
Executive Director, Digital First Canada
When we formalize the board, yes. That paperwork is currently sitting with PR departments of different organizations.
We don't have functional members. We're not making people pay to join our organization.
Executive Director, Digital First Canada
We're really just providing information as best we can back to the creators themselves because, like I said, they don't have a lobby group.
Liberal
Chris Bittle Liberal St. Catharines, ON
As an advocate for them, have you advocated for better compensation for digital first creators?
Liberal
Chris Bittle Liberal St. Catharines, ON
I don't see that on your websites or on your Twitter account.
Have you advocated for more funding for production for digital first creators?
Liberal
Chris Bittle Liberal St. Catharines, ON
I don't see that on your website either, or on your Twitter account.
Liberal
Chris Bittle Liberal St. Catharines, ON
I'll keep going.
Have you advocated for better training and development for online creators?
Executive Director, Digital First Canada
Yes. We run workshops all the time. In fact, we did a program called “Road to Freedom”, where we went into indigenous communities and trained young indigenous voices on how to be digital creators. We left behind gear, information and infrastructure for them to continue to be Canadian storytellers. We run workshops every year for digital first creators. We have another organization called “Buffer Festival”, which is an arts festival.
Digital First Canada didn't exist because it didn't need to until Bill C-10.
Liberal
Chris Bittle Liberal St. Catharines, ON
From some your comments, I guess I'm concerned that your organization is more of an anti-Bill C-10, anti-Bill C-11, organization than a pro-creator artist organization.
My concern is that these platforms have incredible unchecked power over creators. These are some of the largest companies in the world, and in looking at your website and your Twitter account, both for you personally and for your organization, they are absent anything except for C-10.
My question is whether everything is hunky-dory with these major corporations and no changes are required, because that's what's coming through loud and clear from your silence on social media and on the Internet.
Executive Director, Digital First Canada
No, absolutely not, and if you would like to have a separate hearing on all of our issues with the platforms, I'm happy to have it. Right now, we seem to be aligned on an issue, which is crazy. I'm normally arguing with platforms on behalf of digital first creators and have been for 10 years. I'm happy to have that conversation with you. Any time you want to give me call or send me an email, we'll have a meeting.
Liberal
Chris Bittle Liberal St. Catharines, ON
Well, I'm happy to have that meeting. It's been fairly combative between you and me the last few days or so.
This is a purely volunteer organization, your part in this...? You're not receiving any funding from tech companies in regard to this organization...?
Executive Director, Digital First Canada
Is it called “volunteer” if you're actually sinking your own money into the organization?
Executive Director, Digital First Canada
I don't know...I'm kind of paying to run the organization.
Buffer Festival started 10 years ago out of the Canadian Film Centre. We started a not-for-profit called the “Buffer Foundation” to train indigenous youth on reservations and teach them how to become storytellers. Coming out of that, COVID hit, and then Bill C-10 hit, and we realized that there needed to be an organization to speak for digital first creators because they were about to get railroaded, so we built Digital First Canada—
Liberal
Chris Bittle Liberal St. Catharines, ON
—and it's incredible work for only three months in having done that, but again, where is all this advocacy that you're talking about? I can't find online any the work you're doing, the criticisms you have about the inequity that exists.
Even in speaking with Mr. Michael and Ms. Roy, there were significant differences in the compensation models they were experiencing, and you seem silent. Again, it just seems to be an anti-Bill C-11 platform that you're coming here on.
Executive Director, Digital First Canada
Right now, this piece of legislation will have a dramatic effect on almost every creator who earns a living online, so yes, we are absolutely laser-focused on Bill C-11. It is a problem.
By the way, I also have a day job. This is something that I'm doing for passion, and something I believe in, which is why I'm doing it. I don't have lawyers. We don't have lobby groups or associations or paying members. We're just trying to speak up for a bunch of entrepreneurs who have earned their money online and don't want to be regulated by the government.