To:  _______________, M.P.
House of Commons
Parliament Buildings
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6

 

As an author and a Canadian, I am writing to state my support for the proposed amendments to the Copyright Act announced in Budget 2022. An update to the Copyright Act is long overdue.

For the last decade, authors and creators have been negatively impacted by the changes made to copyright law in 2012, changes which prevent creators from being paid fairly for the use of their work. Since 2012, copying royalties to writers have decreased 75%, three major publishers have exited the K-12 market, one major publisher has left the post-secondary market, and jobs in the book industry have declined by 30%. The average income for authors in 2017 was $9,380 – a decline of 78% from 1998. In fact, the Writers Union of Canada calculates that the changes to copyright law in 2012 has resulted in $200 million in lost earned income for Canadian creators.

It is absolutely critical to the survival of our cultural sector that Canadian creators get paid for their work. This means clarifying the educational purposes fair dealing exception in the Copyright Act and making tariffs mandatory, as well as increasing the general term of copyright protection to 70 years after the life of the author.

Now is the time for change.

As your constituent, I urge you to uphold and advance the government’s commitment to amend the Copyright Act, not just for the sake of current Canadian authors and creators, but also for future creators, who deserve to enter a viable Canadian marketplace. Furthermore, it is not just creators, but all Canadians, present and future, who deserve to live in a country that celebrates and supports our literary culture and heritage.