Thank you, Mr. Chair and committee members.
I've been a full-time writer for 41 years. During that time, I've published hundreds of articles and poems and authored 26 books, which have received many awards regionally, nationally, and internationally. I have been granted an honorary doctorate of literature, and my writing is used at all levels of the Canadian education system, from elementary school to doctoral studies.
Let me tell you a little about my life as a writer. For four decades I have gone into my office at nine in the morning and emerged in the late afternoon, Monday to Friday, keeping the same hours as other full-time workers in the economy, contrary to the romantic image of a writer as an occasional labourer who waits upon inspiration. On deadline and as a self-employed business person—because that is what writers are—I have also spent many weekends and holidays working at my desk.
I think of my writing as work product. Unfortunately, because of the changes made to the Copyright Act in 2012, my work is no longer respected as such. Schools, colleges, and universities no longer pay for the use of my work in their institutions, saying the use of my writing for free is a matter of fair dealing.
Of course, this is an example of Orwellian doublespeak, for there is nothing at all fair about using someone's work product without compensation. What other class of worker in the Canadian economy is subject to such discrimination and exploitation? Who else do you know who would be happy to work without pay? Certainly not teachers, professors, or politicians.... No worker should be subject to such treatment by their government.
The technology of copying a writer's work has changed from publishing in book format, to mechanical copying, to retrieval in digital format. What has not changed and should not change—