TORONTO – The badly flawed Status Of Ontario Artists Act has to be changed, ACTRA said again today.
ACTRA Toronto President, Karl Pruner, presenting at the Ontario Budget hearings was speaking to The Status of the Ontario Artist Act which was introduced on March 22, 2007, as Schedule 39 of the Budget.
“This Act, as presented, gets a failing grade,” said Pruner. “After years of hard work by the Culture Minister’s own sub-committee on Status of the Artist, all this empty Act contains is a weekend to celebrate artists.”
‘‘Artists are among the most underpaid workers in our economy and they are without many of the protections and benefits that other workers rely on. In the 2003 election the Liberals promised to bring in Status of the Artist legislation to address these concerns. The Act, as presented, acknowledges the substantial contribution of artists to the economic and social well being of the province but fails to provide any solutions to the challenges they face. It fails to include any of the Culture Minister’s own sub-committee’s recommendations on Status,’’ reads the ACTRA release.
“This is a sorry attempt by the government to check something off their to-do list before the next election. This is not a promise kept. This Act needs fundamental changes,” said Pruner.
ACTRA along with other arts organizations is calling for legislative amendments that include protections for children, income averaging, access to training funds, housing support and a process to improve the collective bargaining process for artists.
ACTRA Toronto Performers is the largest organization within ACTRA, representing more than 13,000 of Canada’s 21,000 professional performers working in the English-language recorded media in Canada. As an advocate for Canadian culture since 1943, ACTRA is a member-driven organization that continues to secure the rights and respect for the work of professional performers.
