International Trade committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Canadian Federation of Musicians is a Canadian division of the American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada with a membership of 90,000 people across North America, 17,000 of whom are Canadian. The AFM-CFM is the leading professio

International Trade committee  I'm sure glad I printed this out before I came.

International Trade committee  The Beijing treaty is on audiovisual performances. It was adopted by the Diplomatic Conference on the Protection of Audiovisual Performances, which took place in Beijing in June 2012. It grants four kinds of economic rights: the right of reproduction, the right of distribution, t

International Trade committee  I'll forward that.

International Trade committee  I think it is a benefit. It's a step in the right direction. We would like to see even more solidification with reference to the things in the Beijing treaty that are not covered.

International Trade committee  I am not sure if Canada signed off on it. It hasn't been adopted yet.

International Trade committee  I don't believe so, but I'm not sure.

International Trade committee  I would agree with that, specifically on the fact that there's not parity. If you look at Canadian musicians trying to go to the U.S., for example, our closest neighbour, it's a lot more difficult. The P2 process has become laborious, and what's supposed to take 25 days is taking

International Trade committee  With respect to our industry, you can't protect the creator enough. We represent the creators. We are the creators. When someone makes their living at creating content and it's not protected, how can you not protect that enough? That's the way they make their living.

International Trade committee  “New use” is a phrase that's used in the industry. You create something and you sell it, and it's used for a particular subject. Somewhere along the way in the future, someone wants to use it for something else. We want to make sure that those things are protected and people are

International Trade committee  Sure. It's a very delicate subject, and there are definitely two sides of the coin. You get creative with more creative people around you, and there's a benefit to that. If we look at the entry-level jobs in the bars and the clubs where musicians are playing, especially in cross-

International Trade committee  I will speak specifically about the U.S. because that is what I am most familiar with. Currently, there are pretty good specific requirements for Canadian artists to go across to the U.S. The P2 visa process can include support crews. There is some credibility to go through, but

International Trade committee  Anybody. We would like to be involved in the control aspect, the legislation of it. I will give you an example. It's a little bit of a stretch, but the government offers tax credits for movie companies coming into the country to film movies here. For us, the accountability doesn'

International Trade committee  Not that I'm aware of. There is an organization called FIM, the International Federation of Musicians, and the gentleman who I wish was here today is actually on a plane to Geneva to be a part of that. That's where the Beijing treaty came out of, so there is a worldwide organiza

International Trade committee  I think the biggest advocacy we can do is to advocate to our neighbours to the south to make the restrictions on going there as—