Hello. Thank you for inviting us to this committee.
My name is Gilles Herman. I am the CEO of Les éditions du Septentrion and the vice-chair of Copibec. With me is Christian Laforce, the executive director of Copibec.
Copyright is enshrined in article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. However, striking a balance between access to knowledge and respect for the work done by the people who produce it is a delicate operation. This is no trivial exercise: freedom of expression can only exist when authors are able to make a living from their work. In some fragile democracies, the creation and development of copyright collective societies is one of the structuring levers that contribute to ensuring political stability.
A collective rights society is a not-for-profit organization that is responsible for administering the rights assigned to it, collecting royalties based on various models established, and redistributing that money to the rights holders. Copibec is the Quebec collective rights society that operates in the print media sector and represents authors, publishers, journalists, newspapers, magazines and visual artists. Copibec also manages agreements with over 30 foreign rights societies, thereby ensuring reciprocity in the protection of works in all those jurisdictions.
The copyright regime is the cornerstone that for over two centuries has enabled this sector of the economy to grow. Today, Canadian publishers generate a gross domestic product of approximately $750 million and employ almost 10,000 people. The copyright regime enables creators to make a living from their work, and publishers to find new outlets for the works for which they are the agents. In 2018‑2019, the export market for Canadian titles amounted to almost $100 million, $7 million of which came solely from sales of rights.
Copyright is also an engine of social development. People have the right to access works in which they see themselves. Students have the right to access works throughout their education that refer to their immediate environment. In return, creators have to be able to make a living from those works. The educational world has always been a major consumer of cultural and intellectual content. It is intrinsically connected with the development of the print media sector. As access to education has improved, the needs of the schools have grown. This means that growing numbers of creators are able to make a living from their work, thanks in part to the royalties they are paid by rights societies.
In 2012, when the Copyright Act was modernized, Parliament added a number of exceptions under which intellectual property could be circumvented, in particular by introducing the concept of fair dealing for educational purposes, but without specifying limits on its application. Since then, educational institutions have withdrawn in large numbers from the copyright regime. The financial losses directly attributable to this gaping hole in our legislation, on the order of $200 million in ten years, threaten an entire sector and interfere with its sound economic development.
What entrepreneur today, whether Canadian or foreign, would want to invest money in a field in which one of the main outlets is now without the legal protection that does exist in a vast majority of our economic partners? The damage caused by Canada's Copyright act is in fact a cause for concern in numerous countries, and voices of international players have often been raised to criticize it.
In their mandate letters, the Minister of Canadian Heritage and the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry were both given the mission of remedying this unfairness. The 2022 federal budget also mentioned the government's commitment to ensuring fair remuneration for creators and copyright holders. Still, nothing has happened.
Knowing full well what it is doing, the Canadian government has shown itself to be negligent in this matter. It is time to take strong and courageous action and to put an end to this injustice. The legislative framework must be changed to encourage the commercialization of copyright, ensure that the book and publishing industry is sustainable, and, at the same time, protect Canadian culture.
Thank you for listening. Of course, we are prepared to answer your questions.