NAFTA worries: Feds must retain culture exemption to prevent “catastrophic effects on cultural ecosystems”

MONTREAL - The Coalition for the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (a group comprised of the likes of the CMPA, ACTRA, the Director's Guild, SOCAN and others) is imploring the Canadian government to maintain the cultural exemption in NAFTA as it renegotiations the agreement.The cultural exemption, already included in NAFTA, recognizes Canada’s sovereign right to adopt measures and policies to protect and promote the diversity of cultural expressions within its territory, a right recognized in 2005 in the UNESCO Convention for the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, of which Canada was the first signatory.“Relinquishing the cultural exemption...