Thank you, Chair.
My name is Mark Ramsankar. I'm the President of the Canadian Teachers' Federation, but first and foremost, I'd like to suggest that I'm a schoolteacher. I've had the opportunity throughout my career to teach all grades and to also work as a consultant with the school board in Edmonton. I've been a special ed teacher as well as an administrator, so I'm speaking from the perspective of the entire K-to-12 education system over my 25 years in the classroom.
As the national voice for Canadian teachers, I represent here today a quarter of a million teachers in the K-to-12 system in every province and territory in the country. We have a part in and strong connection to Education International, which represents over 30 million teachers across the world. We are a long-standing member of the education coalition of national education organizations. We advocate for the rights of teachers and students in the federal government's copyright reform process. We work very closely with the education coalition partners to develop education materials for teachers on matters relating directly to copyright.
We believe very firmly in protecting the legitimate interests of creators and publishers by ensuring there is no copyright infringement when teachers are copying materials for use in their classrooms and for students. We also believe that the current fair dealing provisions maintain a very strong balance between user rights and creator rights. We view this as very strong public policy. Even our global organization, through Education International, holds that the Canadian Copyright Act as it stands is held in very high regard.
Teachers are professionals who respect copyright, and we also teach our students to respect copyright when they do research. Teachers will not copy materials if there is any doubt. They do not copy whole textbooks. It infuriates us throughout the profession when somebody says something such as this, that there is a teacher who is blatantly stepping on copyright rules.
Over the last decade there's been a dramatic shift from print-based materials and resources such as textbooks to digital resources. In our classrooms today, as challenging as they are, teachers find effective ways to teach through these evolving technologies. They are creating their own resources and materials. They're using collaborative approaches to content in creation and are engaging students so that they can learn through online resources as well as more traditional print material. As professionals in the K-to-12 system, teachers want their students to have access to the very best educational content available.
Speaking directly to copyright, it is an important issue, and it's a subject that has been raised with teachers by the Canadian Teachers' Federation. We speak about compliance, and we take part in the awareness of consequences to infringing on copyright. We also engage in a comprehensive awareness program in our efforts to ensure teachers are aware of copyright and the limits of the law when they are preparing for their classes.
Teachers are professionals. Anecdotal stories of whole textbooks being copied are isolated incidents. I speak directly for the K-to-12 system in education, and that is public education. I don't stand here to represent extended or private education. For the CTF, it's not about the money. From our view, it's about students. It's about providing the best for their learning experience in our system and for their futures.
I came today to witness for and represent Canadian teachers, and I'm urging the standing committee to maintain the current fair dealing provisions, which balance the protection of both creators and users.
I also ask you to consider your decisions. Consider the fact that a quarter of a million teachers work with children every day in this country. The decisions made as we go forward in regard to copyright will have very damning effects on classrooms across the country, and every student in the K-to-12 system will be affected by the decisions that are made in the outcome of these hearings.
Thank you very much, Chair.