By Sara Bannerman and Charnjot Shokar
FACEBOOK'S APOLOGY TOUR made a stop in Europe last week, but did little to soothe concerns about the threats that social media platforms pose to privacy and election integrity.
Compared to other regions like Europe that have proposed relatively robust measures, the Canadian response has been, so far, lacklustre.
The European Union’s tough new privacy laws came into effect last week. The United States government has introduced the Honest Ads Act to address social media election manipulation. Australia is investigating Google for tracking Android users’ location and web histories.
Meanwhile in Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is reaching out to tech…
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TORONTO – Canadian entrepreneur and broadcaster Evan Kosiner wants the Feds and the CRTC to use the National Alert Aggregation & Dissemination System (NAAD System) to urge Canadians to vote in their upcoming provincial and municipal elections.
In a statement Wednesday, Kosiner said that he wrote a letter to Prime Minister Trudeau, Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly and the Commission asking them to “use their power” to promote civic engagement.
"If due to government bureaucracy it doesn't fall into the "emergency" category, the innovator in me suggests it perhaps it could be conveniently another test day that happens to mention to "Get out…
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OTTAWA – The Senate Standing Committee on Transport and Communications this week met representatives from the Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA), Canadian Heritage and the Department of Finance to talk about the deductibility of foreign internet advertising, as raised by the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting in a new report which suggest closing a certain loophole.
Cartt.ca reported on this last week, where Friends suggests advertising on foreign online platforms like Facebook and Google should not be tax deductible, bringing it in line with how purchasing ad time on American TV and radio stations is not deductible for…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – On Thursday morning, the CRTC will release its new report into the future distribution models for content in Canada, which it was asked to do by the Governor-in-Council in September 2017.
The report, called “Harnessing Change: The Future of Programming Distribution in Canada,” is meant to aid an overhaul of the Broadcasting and Telecom Acts by answering the three main questions which were posed by the Order-in-Council from Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly:
the distribution model or models of programming that are likely to exist in the future
how and through whom Canadians…
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GATINEAU – Christianne M. Laizner is the new full-time telecommunications vice-chairperson at the CRTC, a role that she has held on interim basis since last July.
Canadian Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly announced Laizner’s appointment early Thursday. Her five year term will officially begin on July 17, 2018, making her the first female vice-chairperson of telecommunications in the CRTC’s 50-year history.
Laizner (pictured) first joined the CRTC in 2010 as general counsel, telecommunications before being named the Commission’s senior general counsel in 2013, and then executive director of the CRTC legal sector. She was called to the Ontario Bar in 1982…
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TORONTO – Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages Mélanie Joly will kick off the 2018 Banff World Media Festival this year with a keynote speech Sunday, June 10th at 4:30 p.m.
Now in its 39th year, the Banff Fest is recognized globally as a one of the most important markets for executives working in the content industry.
In addition, Banff hosts The Rockie Awards Program Competition, juried by a panel of 115 international industry professionals and covering all major genres, and the Rockie Awards Gala, which recognizes outstanding talent and celebrates some of the entertainment industry’s biggest names.
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OTTAWA – The federal government has pledged over $200,000 towards a new initiative designed to help Canada’s arts sector provide safe workplaces free from discrimination, harassment and sexual misconduct.
On Wednesday, Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly and the Canada Council for the Arts awarded close to $552,000 to the Cultural Human Resources Council (CHRC), earmarked for a series of initiatives to equip the cultural sector with the tools, practices and training for building and maintaining respectful workplaces under the title ‘Respectful Workplaces in the Arts’.
The Department of Canadian Heritage is providing $252,000, and the Canada Council for the Arts will be…
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WILLIAMS LAKE, BC – The Tŝilhqot'in National Government will receive $180,500 in funding from the federal government this year to support its Community Radio Project, a new platform for the Tŝilhqot'in Nation to assist in the revitalization of their language and culture.
Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada Jody Wilson-Raybould made the announcement Monday on behalf of Canadian Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly.
Tŝilhqot'in Community Radio, based in Williams Lake, said that it will offer programs in Tŝilhqot'in, Carrier, Nuxalk and English, such as language lessons and interviews; news and community updates; traditional stories and songs; music and comedy…
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TORONTO – CBC must stop destroying its “irreplaceable” original radio and television programming after digitizing them, says the Canadian Broadcast Museum Foundation (CBMF).
According to the charitable foundation, CBC’s English Services has trashed almost a million acetate transcriptions, audio and video tapes, and other legacy master-recordings – or eight decades of Canada’s English-language radio and television history – since the beginning of April, despite pleas from stakeholders such as ACTRA, Actra Fraternal Benefits Society, and Friends of Canadian Broadcasting seeking to preserve them.
The CBMF says the move flies in the face of internationally accepted standards and best practices of audiovisual…
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OTTAWA – As part of the pending review of the Copyright Act, the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage will study remuneration models for artists and creative industries.
In a brief statement, the Committee said that it “welcomed this invitation” from the House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology to review remuneration models and the opportunities from new access points for artists and creative industries in the context of the Copyright Act.
The Committee added that it will begin the study this spring by calling upon “a broad range of stakeholders and experts on these matters”.
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