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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VANCOUVER – The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) has inked two new deals in the People’s Republic of China which will see Canadian animation and documentaries titles available on CCTV-10, the science and education channel of China Central Television, as well as the Bilibili web portal.
The agreements include more than 70 NFB titles, including new and classic films alike, with the bulk of NFB works available online on Bilibili for a five-year period. The deal with CCTV-10 was arranged through the Hubu Media Group.
The two deals are the latest agreements between the NFB and China, and…
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OTTAWA – Heritage Minister Melanie Joly has embarked upon Canada’s first creative industries trade mission to China.
She is accompanied by a delegation of almost 60 Canadian companies and organizations representing several sectors of creative industries, after issuing an open invitation last October for those seeking to build partnerships and business-to-business relationships in China.
Canadian Heritage said that the objective of the trade mission, which is scheduled for April 8 – 13, is to facilitate new market entry, leverage existing networks and renew partnerships.
“Additionally, it will serve as a platform for participating organizations to explore new business opportunities, advance ongoing…
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Goldbloom named new chair; three new board members added
OTTAWA – Long time film, television and digital content maker Catherine Tait has been named president and CEO of CBC/Radio-Canada, Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly announced this morning. She will be the first woman to hold the top job at Canada’s public broadcaster.
She replaces Hubert Lacroix, who has been CEO since 2008.
Tait has a long and successful track record in film, television and digital-content in Canada and beyond. She was a co-founder and has been president of independent content producer Duopoly for 15 years and in 2006, she also founded iThentic, an…
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OTTAWA – The Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology last week announced a work plan under which it will conduct the statutorily mandated review of the Copyright Act (it’s required every five years).
The committee will conduct the review in three phases and hear testimony from:
Witnesses representing specific sectors of activity, including publishing, visual arts, software and telecommunications (phase I);
Witnesses representing a range of stakeholders involved in multiple sectors of activity, such as Indigenous communities and various interest groups (phase II); and
Legal experts, including individual lawyers and academics, along with professional associations (phase III).
The Committee will also travel…
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