Canadian Heritage committee  Lisa, do you know how many there are?

Canadian Heritage committee  To answer your question, I think it's an evolving situation, and rapidly evolving. The equivalent of ACTRA in the United States is SAG-AFTRA. They've just promulgated an influencer agreement in an effort to protect and cover people who make their living in that regard. Darcy

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you so much.

Canadian Heritage committee  It would make a huge difference. If you get that gig in a film and suddenly you make $80,000—which is a good day for an actor—you're in a different tax bracket and you're paying a lot of taxes. In the previous three years, the average you were making was around $18,000 or $19,000

Canadian Heritage committee  To be honest, I don't know how many have withdrawn. I do know that the amount of money that the Actra Fraternal Benefit Society manages on behalf of the performers who have contributed over the years is somewhere around $800 million, and it keeps growing. This is a safety net tha

Canadian Heritage committee  Yes. The Actra Fraternal Benefit Society is an arm's-length organization started a number of years ago by four actors who said, “We need a little extra something to take care of us, because there isn't anything there.”

Canadian Heritage committee  That's wonderful.

Canadian Heritage committee  I would think that, if it's put into place, you'll have a flourishing of the creative arts. You will have people fulfilling the best of their abilities and contributing to our society. In Ireland, income earned by creative artists is tax-exempt up to, I think, 50,000 euros. So t

Canadian Heritage committee  I know for a fact, from the many members I've spoken to, that when the pandemic hit on March 13 and the business just stopped, not only did their work as performing artists vanish, but their side gigs vanished. A lot of them work in restaurants, for example. It revealed a huge ga

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you, Chair. Thank you to the chair, vice-chairs, committee members and staff. I'm Keith Martin Gordey. I'm an actor and national vice-president of ACTRA. Lisa Blanchette is our director of public affairs and communications. Thank you for inviting the Alliance of Canadian