I will give my presentation in French.
Mr. Chair, vice-chairs, members of the committee, to begin we would like to thank you for the opportunity to address you today and present the brief prepared by our association, which represents 1,650 writers in Quebec.
My name is Laurent Dubois and I am the General Manager of our association. With me is Ms. Suzanne Aubry, who in addition to being our association's President is also a writer and scriptwriter herself.
We will use the five minutes allotted to talk about the economic situation of professional writers in Canada, which we consider alarming. We will also alert you to how the situation has worsened as a result of the introduction of numerous exceptions in the 2012 Act.
In the brief we have submitted and that was provided to you, we make recommendations for the act to evolve in everyone's interest in the coming years. At the end of our presentation, we will of course be pleased to answer any questions you may have.
In our opinion, a copyright law should not be limited to technical aspects. It should above all be part of a clear political vision with specific goals. We would like the committee to use this opportunity to answer the questions that are on our minds.
Does the government want to foster Canadian cultural expression, encourage creativity, and offer its citizens access to a rich, diverse culture that enhances the quality of life of Canadians, their independence of thought, and their understanding of the world?
Or would the government rather reduce the quality of writing to the lowest common denominator, and let Canadians believe that they can access all cultural content free of charge, modify it as they wish, and allow the Hollywood and Silicon Valley steamroller to dictate their commercial laws to us while impoverishing local artists? We hope these questions will inform you in the difficult task that awaits you over the coming months.
It is important to remember that the concept of copyright is not merely an economic one. There is copyright and the economic right to royalties, but there is also the idea of moral rights that we would like to put on the table today. This concept seems to be missing from the current act. We would like to discuss it.
Moral rights refer to the idea that an artist has the right to grant or withhold permission for their work to be used, disseminated or even altered. With its many exceptions, the 2012 act has stripped many artists and writers of their income.
I do not want to be more dramatic than necessary, but I will just give you some figures. In Canada, the average annual income of a professional writer is $12,879. In Quebec, the median income was $2,450 in 2008, and about the same right now. As a result, professional writers in Canada could be an endangered species.