Good evening.
My name is Denis Amirault. Tonight, I'm here to talk about the impact that fair dealing has on my post-secondary education, as I'm both a second-year marketing student at Saint Mary's University here in Halifax and a musician as well.
The inclusion of education as a component of fair dealing in the 2012 Copyright Modernization Act has affected my post-secondary education and experience in many ways.
It has allowed my professors to offer additional learning materials in class through excerpts of academic texts and videos. This has brought in a perspective, as a student, on many different topics, depending on the class. It has also allowed me creativity in my group projects and presentations, as I often use a variety of resources, including videos and music, to enhance my work. These expanded learning opportunities have enhanced my time in post-secondary education thus far.
Not only has fair dealing allowed for a variety of new sources and materials to be used directly for learning, it has also enhanced my extracurricular experience at Saint Mary's. My passion outside of the classroom is music. I sing and play acoustic guitar. Every week, I play at the campus bar and other venues around the city. I mostly play covers and mash-ups of popular songs, as my friends, colleagues, and students sing along.
I've been posting my performances on YouTube, Facebook, and social media. I'm trying to build an audience, allowing my family to watch from home as well. Fair dealing is one of the mechanisms that makes this possible for me; otherwise, I would not be able to afford the expensive rights for songs.
Fair dealing is instrumental, pun intended, to my post-secondary experience. It raises the quality of my classroom experience by allowing my professors to provide a variety of perspectives on topics, and it saves money by allowing my professors to provide small sections of otherwise costly academic materials for study. Fair dealing also allows me to pursue and share my passion for music with my family, friends, fellow students, and online audience.
Thank you very much for your time.