Madam Speaker, the hon. member for Longueuil urges the government to take all measures necessary to encourage, facilitate and actively support the right to communication for the deaf and hearing impaired. I am pleased to speak to the importance of closed captioning for hundreds of thousands of Canadians and to inform the House of some of the steps being taken to meet their needs.
It may interest members to learn that while service to the hearing impaired community was the impetus for closed captioning, it is not the only community that benefits from the service. Educators have discovered that captioning can help children learn to read by assisting them in word recognition and comprehension. In addition, for the nearly five million Canadians who are functionally illiterate the service is a valuable tool in helping them learn to read. For many new Canadians for whom neither English nor French is their native tongue, closed captioning is an exceptionally useful tool in learning the idioms of the language as well as pop culture.
It is a tribute to previous members of the House that subsection 3(1) of the Broadcasting Act sets out that:
(p) programming accessible by disabled persons should be provided within the Canadian broadcasting system as resources become available for the purpose--
Section 3 of the act also indicates that the needs and circumstances of all Canadians should be taken into account by the broadcasting industry through its programming and through the employment opportunities that arise out of its operations. Broadcasters' actions as they relate to employment equity and closed captioning must reflect this policy objective.
In the past four years there has been a requirement for all television stations with more than $10 million in annual advertising revenue and network payments to provide closed captioning on all local news including live segments. This is relatively recent. It is a clear indication of the importance of continuing to expand and improve this service. It is no easy task. Our broadcasters should be commended for the efforts they make to fulfill this requirement.
When a program is produced well in advance and the actors or performers use a script it is relatively easy to take the words and time their appearance on the screen so it corresponds with what is seen. This is often called off-line or post production. For much of the programming produced for the mass market this can be done with relative ease.
However the challenge facing local or live action broadcasters is very different. They must do what is called real time captioning. This involves stenographers who transcribe live programs such as news or sports events as they are broadcast. It is a tremendous challenge as well as a wonderful achievement.
Some programs use what is called live display. This is a subset of real time. It allows scripted portions of a program to be fed into a computer for translation into captions but omits any spontaneous or unscripted segments.
In short, steps are being taken to ensure that as technologies evolve and opportunities arrive so too will services to Canadians with hearing impairment evolve and improve.
The quality of the services being provided to Canadians is a source of pride to all of us, but that does not mean we can rest on our laurels. As we know, the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage is currently studying the relevance of the Broadcasting Act. It is a most opportune time to revisit the quality of the services being provided and examine ways they can be improved. I therefore applaud the initiative to discuss the important issue of closed captioning. I urge all who are concerned to let their concerns be known to the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage.
In my own community I spent seven years with the independent living centre as a puppeteer with Kids on the Block. One of the puppets was hearing impaired. At the time I was able to do sign language. It struck me what an important communication tool it was and how important it was to we make sure that when we provide services in Canada they benefit all Canadians.