OTTAWA – After studying the impact of emerging and digital media environment in Canada over the past two years, the federal government’s Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage has recommended that yet another panel be created. This one to propose a new national policy on digital media – which is sort of already under way.
Sigh…
The committee noted that the vast majority of witnesses who appeared before it agreed that Canada needs a national digital strategy. Just what that strategy should and shouldn’t contain proved to be a highly divisive issue (and it’s something Industry Minister Tony Clement says he is working on as part of the overall digital economy strategy).
But the committee says it is moving forward the recommendation made by Astral Media that an independent expert panel should be mandated with reviewing broadcasting policies in order to propose a “new national policy that is adapted to the reality of our global and multi-platform environment.”
That’s recommendation 19, which is buried among 26 other recommendations such as “ratify the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Copyright Treaty and Performances and Phonograms Treaty.”
Including a pre-study phase, the committee held a total of 13 meetings, during which it heard from 43 groups and individuals. Last year the committee presented to the House of Commons an interim report summarizing the evidence it had heard. In October and November, the Committee held four more meetings on the study, during which it heard from 13 more groups and individuals.
The committee heard about ways in which emerging and digital media are changing the media environment and about ways in which Canadians are finding success in this new environment. The committee also heard about a number of areas in which emerging and digital media pose challenges for Canadian cultural industries and institutions.
The final report builds on the interim report by incorporating the testimony heard during the four additional meetings. The report includes these 26 recommendations which says the federal government should:
1. support efforts by federal institutions to digitize Canada’s documentary heritage and make it available to Canadians.
2. develop a government-wide digital preservation policy.
3. assist in developing a Canadian network of trusted digital repositories.
4. examine ways of supporting libraries in their efforts to digitize everything that is free of copyright.
5. continue to make efforts to ensure that all Canadians have access to high-speed broadband internet.
6. extend the Broadband Canada: Connecting Rural Canadians program of Industry Canada.
7. work with provincial authorities to support programs that encourage the development of a digitally literate population.
8. examine the proposal of the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS) for the establishment of community operated multimedia centres and access to its material online as a way of encouraging people to develop digital skills.
9. and the Department of Human Resources and Skills Development review its policies and programs in order to ensure that priority is given to training in digital skills.
10. take measures to protect creative works from copyright piracy.
11. ratify the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Copyright Treaty and Performances and Phonograms Treaty.
12. examine ways of supporting new digital enterprises (start-ups) as they develop their business models.
13. review the system of grants and contributions for digital media companies in order to identify ways in which the processes could be speeded up.
14. review the system of grants and contributions in order to encourage innovation in the digital media sector.
15. strengthen the digital media components of its programs for arts and culture.
16. create a tax credit for digital media production.
17. reinvest some of the money it receives from the next spectrum auction in a digital strategy.
18. that the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission ensure that net neutrality be respected.
19. The Committee encourages the Government of Canada to proceed as quickly as possible with the development of a national digital economy strategy.
20. that the national digital economy strategy be reviewed every five years.
21. examine ways to remove barriers, such as those relating to permits and visa processes, to bringing in foreign workers in digital media sectors.
22. increase funding to the Canada Media Fund.
23. that the Canada Media Fund consider approaches to allow producers to access funding without having a pre?sale from a Canadian broadcaster.
24. The Committee encourages Telefilm Canada to revise its coproduction treaties to include interactive content and interactive platforms.
25. ensure that trade agreements do not include the right to sue regulator agencies.
26. continue to ensure that the Canadian broadcasting sector remains under Canadian ownership.
Full 66-page report that few will ever read can be found here.
