Industry committee  I'd like to add that I think it's a matter of equality here. We can go as people who are sighted and get a book. We've provided Braille copies to all MPs. I don't expect, as a witness, that you are all going to now give it to your assistants and say, “Take this Braille copy and g

Industry committee  I have this one and I have this one.

Industry committee  Increasingly it's much cheaper than what it has been. I don't have that number offhand, but there's new technology coming out that would enable the production of Braille quicker, in large quantities and cheaper.

Industry committee  Correct. You can also have electronic Braille as well. If you have a refreshable Braille display—that's about this big—it will refresh the Braille for you so you're not then wasting paper. It's cheaper to produce as well.

Industry committee  The economic potential of persons with disabilities who are unemployed, should they become employed, is in the millions. To get there, we need to ensure that persons with print disabilities have access and the right to reading and information.

Industry committee  This is a Victor Reader. It plays a DAISY book, which is a navigable audiobook.

Industry committee  Our creation of subsection 3(2) would ensure that if a copyright is to be issued for literary work, it must be published in an accessible format.

Industry committee  I would say to that point, as well, that as our society ages and people live longer, most of you in this room probably will also have sight loss affecting you in some capacity, so at some point you may also have a barrier when trying to access printed works if we don't do anythin

Industry committee  CNIB recently did a study, which we've also commissioned internationally, to compare levels of employment for persons with sight loss. Our findings, which we hope to publish shortly, indicate that in Canada a person who is blind or partially sighted has a full-time employment rat

Industry committee  To be honest, I would assume that a lot of Canadians probably don't know the intricacies of the Copyright Act, so the limitations are probably somewhat problematic. We as an organization haven't looked into those. As we've discussed, our primary focus is in sharing. If a copyrigh

Industry committee  That's double-sided. That is four single-sided pages.

Industry committee  Yes.

Industry committee  There's also a definition of “print disabilities” within the copyright legislation that is probably just as good as or better than “perceptual disabilities.” That was why our recommendation was to continue to use the term “print disabilities.”

Industry committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. My name is Thomas Simpson. I'm the head of public affairs for CNIB. Joining with me today is my colleague Lui Greco, who is national manager of advocacy. We've ensured that we have a brief in Braille that should be sent to each member of the committee. I

Industry committee  According to the Association of Canadian Publishers, more than 10,000 books are published in Canada each year. However, under Canada's current copyright requirements, publishers are not required by law or regulation to make these books accessible. Even with incentive programs thr