Canadian Heritage committee  I don't qualify for CanCon, as it stands.

Canadian Heritage committee  I think if we had more people at the table, like digital content creators or people of colour, people who could better represent our needs, then maybe I would feel more confident about that. As it stands right now, I just don't have the confidence. If we can make those additions bring more people like me out there, then yes.

Canadian Heritage committee  Of course there is a concern about being excluded. I completely agree that should be addressed, but I think that's in curated content. We're talking about user-generated content and that's not restricted, so I'm not sure I understand the question.

Canadian Heritage committee  I have no opinion on how it should be improved, other than to say I should be explicitly protected in the legislation, as the minister says I am.

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you for the question. Ultimately I think you have to make good content that's interesting for people to watch. If people like the content, they'll watch it. I don't need help in order to do that. I study it, I learn it and then I create good content. Ultimately if I'm being regulated, that's going to restrict me, so yes, sure, I'd like some help from the platforms.

Canadian Heritage committee  I say that from experience. I'm saying it because it's happened to me over and over again. I've been written out of the story, and it happens. As a person of colour, I'm telling you that it happens to me and it still happens today. I don't trust that the CRTC is going to have my best interests at heart, and that's it.

Canadian Heritage committee  I want to be explicitly protected in the legislation as the minister says I am.

Canadian Heritage committee  Thanks for the question. I wanted to start by answering the last question. OUTtv, I believe, is Roku and the problem was with curated content, whereas they could be on TikTok or YouTube because that's user-generated content. That brings me to my answer, which is that I found a space on user-generated content.

Canadian Heritage committee  It's like cutting off my arms and then trying to skateboard. It's just going to make things a little bit harder. Although it is possible, it is just going to make things a little bit harder. Once people try to interfere with me telling my story, I get silenced—and I'm talking based on decades of experience.

Canadian Heritage committee  Here today and also on the CRTC, I look at the people on the panel, and I just don't think that there are a lot of people who look like me, and I just don't think that my views are going to be represented. People can stand here and talk about people of colour, but I'm a person of colour saying I don't feel that regulation is going to work in my favour, and that's based on a lot of experience.

Canadian Heritage committee  Yes, that is so exciting. I didn't start thinking that I was going to make a living off this, but platforms like TikTok have been very supportive of me. They've been helping me, and I've never in my life received that kind of help. That is coming from a user-generated content platform, and that's been helping me.

Canadian Heritage committee  I think it's proposed subsection 9.1(8) that talks about the outcomes. That's the algorithm, really. That video that had 7.2 million views created opportunities for me to get brand deals, so that will basically chop my views by 30%, because those views are going to go to CanCon content and that automatically directly affects my ability to get in front of people.

Canadian Heritage committee  So far, I haven't received any funding from anyone. I don't qualify. I'm an athlete, so I don't qualify as an artist. I'm not incorporated, so I don't qualify for CanCon. I haven't received any funding to date from anyone. I've been paid, but I haven't received any funding. I would like help.

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you for that question. I appreciate it. I think that was a plea for me to teach you how to skateboard, so I accept. To answer your question, I take my cues from the platform itself. There are trends that go on. There's a certain way that I find the algorithm works. You have to do hooks or a trending sound.

Canadian Heritage committee  Sure. I have brands that reach out to me. I either say yes or no to these brands to showcase their products in one of my videos. I try to be authentic in all of them, so I don't always say yes. They pay me based on the number of views I get. If I were a creator who has millions of followers, I would get paid more than a creator like me who has about 100,000 to 200,000 followers.