OTTAWA – Lobby group OpenMedia.ca took centre stage Tuesday at the House of Commons Committee on Canadian Heritage concerning the future of media.
In an effort to “ignite Canada’s digital media revolution”, OpenMedia.ca said in a statement that it brought “citizen voices to Ottawa” on issues such as net neutrality, media ownership, independent media, and broadband access.
The Committee on Canadian Heritage is exploring the developments in emerging and digital media, how these developments are affecting Canadian cultural industries, and what federal institutions could do to assist Canadians and Canadian cultural industries.
The group is also scheduled to appear at the CRTC community TV policy hearing Thursday, where it will argue that the CRTC should “liberate” the over $100,000,000 a year community media trust from cable companies to local media innovation hubs across the country.
“If this public fund was to be liberated from the pockets of the cable monopolies, we would have independent community media centres across the country that among other things, would act as incubators for job creation, empowerment and skills-based learning, and media innovation”, the group said in a statement.
OpenMedia.ca is a national, non-partisan, non-profit organization working to advance and support an open and innovative communications system in Canada. Its primary goal is to increase public awareness and informed participation in Canadian media, cultural, information, and telecommunication policy formation.
