Industry Committee on May 10th, 2018

[Camille Callison]

I know that I said this earlier, and Lynn Lavallee did as well. I support a really strong mandate for the Copyright Board, but I also support having indigenous representation on that board.

I guess the other thing for me is that you mentioned timely decisions. In this regard, many of the people going before the Copyright Board are authors, performers, and other artistic holders of copyright. The disadvantage for them is, number one, that the time it takes is so long and that they have to obtain legal counsel. If we could make it more accessible, I think that would be important.

I think those are really crucial. I would love to see a really strong Copyright Board in Canada, making decisions and having the funding to be able to make those in a timely manner.

[Dr. Lynn Lavallee]

I might just emphasize the inclusion piece and ensuring that there is indigenous representation. As you can see, we differed in our opinions on many things, but I think that representation is critical, especially with respect to whatever issue might be coming forward. There's not one person, or even two or three people, who will be able to give you all of the knowledge you need. You have to really seek out the right person, which depends on the issue the board is looking at, to have a strong understanding.

Also, maybe there could be some sort of education given to indigenous people. I don't know the status of Joseph Boyden, and I don't expect us to have a conversation about that, but I know the community feels that this knowledge was taken inappropriately. These are the types of stories.... If he was going to write about this, the person telling the story should have known that. Teaching communities what the Copyright Board is, how it can help them, and how to go about that would be a huge undertaking, but I think it needs to be done.

[Alexis Kinloch]

No, I decline.

[Dominic Lloyd]

I'll just say that if it continues to work, then great, but that has to be monitored. Also, as I think we've heard from this fine group of people beside me here, context is really important. What works in one particular scenario today may not be the ideal thing tomorrow, so having some flexibility, and of course representation, is really important.

[The Chair, Liberal, Dan Ruimy]

Thank you very much.

I'll take a moment to make a comment. In my riding I have the Katzie First Nation and Kwantlen First Nation. A couple of years ago the chief invited us to a couple of different ceremonies in the longhouse. They were amazing to see. The first reaction in this day and age is to pull out your phone and videorecord it. We didn't. In that situation, when we're talking about performances—although I don't know if it's labelled a performance—that's the culture and history, and I think there's a tendency to want to do this. This is something that we're going to have to keep asking questions about to really understand that this is your copyright. I think that's where the awareness has to start happening.

That said, this is just a first step. As we move into the second phase, we will have an indigenous section. This is giving us a platform that we could build on.

Our wonderful and amazing analysts are over here. One amazing thing to note is that when witnesses say something pertinent, you see them go crazy on their laptops.

[Francis Lord, Committee Researcher]

Everything is pertinent.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Chair, Liberal, Dan Ruimy]

Yes, but when they get excited, that means you've said something really good.

We're looking forward to tearing this piece apart as we consider copyright.

I want to thank you all for coming today and sharing your knowledge and expertise with us as we move our way through this.

We're going to adjourn for the day, and we'll be back at seven o'clock tonight for the open microphone session, assuming that people aren't going to watch the hockey game. Thank you all very much.

The meeting is adjourned.