Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the committee.
I am Glenn Rollans, President of the Association of Canadian Publishers, known as ACP, and co-owner and publisher of Brush Education in Edmonton. I am joined by Kate Edwards, Executive Director of ACP. We acknowledge that we're meeting today on the unceded traditional lands of the Algonquin Anishinabe people.
ACP represents almost 120 Canadian-owned English-language book publishers across Canada, active in print and digital, in all genres, for audiences around the world. Canadian-owned publishers publish roughly 80% of the new books by Canadian authors each year. We are risk investors and creative partners in books. We fill the role in the book world that film producers fill in the film world.
Copyright has immense importance to our businesses, to Canadian creators and creative industries, and to our shared project of being a unique and important country on the earth.
We've been damaged by the Copyright Modernization Act. We're not asking you to turn back the clock. We're asking you now to unleash the unique contributions to Canada that come from our sector. It won't happen if you don't fix our marketplace. That means, first, clarify fair dealing for education by ending unfair copying. Adding education as a purpose for fair dealing crashed an inexpensive, smoothly functioning system. Second, promote a return to collective licensing in the education sector. It works; it's simple. Third, increase statutory damages to discourage systematic infringement. Fourth, ensure that Canada meets its international treaty obligations, and fifth, promote the effective operations of the Copyright Board.
I want to impress on you that this is not a zero-sum contest between copyright creators and copyright users. The rights you protect for me and my colleagues are not taken away from anyone. They are protected for everyone. We want readers, and readers want the works we create and publish. Real balance is when both sides win. That's what's desirable and attainable.
The evidence of what actually gets copied in the education system came before the Federal Court in Access Copyright v. York University. It's come before the Copyright Board. The facts are the facts. Canada's schools, universities, and colleges pay for some of the things they copy beyond legal limits, but not all. Changing practices in classrooms have not changed the fact that they use our works far beyond legal limits, without paying for them beyond those limits. That creates a free zone that we simply can't compete with.
The evidence of whether Canadian publishers are damaged by unfair copying has been tested in Federal Court, and the decision is that we have been damaged. Those facts will not change on appeal.
I need to say as clearly and as bluntly as I can that if you don't intend for there to be damage, you need to take a leadership role in stopping it and reversing it. As a working publisher I'm disappointed that the damage we predicted before the amendment in 2012 came to pass. I'm disappointed that our government then asked us to prove the damage through studies, and when we did, they asked us to await the decision in Access Copyright v. York. And when we did that, they asked us to wait for the results of an appeal. Now we're asked to wait for the results of this review, and we may then be asked to wait for the results of an election.
My colleagues and I are suffering real-time damage triggered by this act. Graduates of Canadian colleges and universities are losing opportunities to make a living in creative professions.
The necessary changes are completely in your power. Much good and no harm will come from them. Fair payment for valuable contributions to their education does not harm Canadian students. It helps secure their future success. Published resources are not driving the high cost of education. Collective licensing, in particular, is probably the biggest bargain in education. It offers the whole world of copyright-protected works for a few dollars a year, avoiding all kinds of other costs.
One more important topic.... I don't have the time or the community authority to properly address the topic of indigenous copyright, but it's important for this group to recognize that indigenous peoples in Canada stress the importance of compensation when it comes to using traditional or community knowledge.
Last, I encourage you to think of Canada's copyright-reliant industries and professions as a sector that should grow and thrive and make its unique contributions to our national project, our national character. We create IP. We support community, culture, and education. We're part of the future. Support us, and we'll contribute far more than we cost.
We look forward to your questions.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.