More than ever, fairness is essential with the closure of cultural venues in red zones

Coalition for Culture and Media
CONTINUITY—FAIRNESS—SUPPORT

MONTRÉAL, Oct. 1, 2020 /CNW Telbec/ - In the wake of the partial self-isolation of half of Québec's population and a potential tightening of public health measures in Ontario, the Coalition for Culture and Media (CCM) wishes to remind that including the major digital platforms to the Canadian legislation is more essential than ever for the culture and communications sector.

Movie theatres, concert venues and all the places of expression of living arts are once again forced to close in most of Québec. This situation is catastrophic for the cultural sector and we wish to express our solidarity with the artists and workers of the performing arts sector who are directly impacted by these new closures.

We must also acknowledge the fact that this situation forces citizens to turn to the Internet for entertainment. This contributes to the fact that Internet giants, generally foreign companies, load up on subscribers and revenue at the expense of our artists, technicians, producers and media. Sadly, those revenues are not always shared in an equitable manner with them.

The CCM is satisfied with the Federal Government's will to intervene that was expressed in the Speech from the Throne with the intent to end the preferential treatment granted to the Digital Giants by making them contribute to Canadian content and share their revenue. This echoes the commitment of the Minister of Canadian Heritage to table a bill to amend the Broadcasting Act, but time is now of the essence with the pause imposed on culture and part of our economy for a second time this year.

Treating national and foreign cultural and media companies equally is more essential now than it ever was. This includes collecting the GST on subscriptions to foreign online audiovisual services, an influx of revenue that could contribute to support this sector during this difficult period we are all going through.

Created in 2017, the Coalition for Culture and Media is a group of about forty organizations active in the cultural and media sector that represents hundreds of thousands of individuals in Canada.

Member organizations of the Coalition can be contacted on this issue:

Alliance des producteurs francophones du Canada (APFC)
Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA)
Alliance Québec Animation (AQA)
Alliance québécoise des techniciens et techniciennes de l'image et du son (AQTIS)
ARTISTI
Association acadienne des artistes professionnel.le.s du Nouveau-Brunswick (AAAPNB)
Association des professionnels de l'édition musicale (APEM)
Association des propriétaires de cinémas du Québec (APCQ)
Association des réalisateurs et réalisatrices du Québec (ARRQ)
Association nationale des éditeurs de livres (ANEL)
Association québécoise de la production médiatique (AQPM)
Association québécoise de l'industrie du disque, du spectacle et de la vidéo (ADISQ)
Association québécoise des cinémas d'art et d'essai (AQCAE)
Canadian union of public employees (CUPE) and its communications sector (CPSC)
Conseil québécois des arts médiatiques (CQAM)
Copibec
Directors Guild of Canada (DGC)
Documentary Organization of Canada and its Québec Chapter
Fédération culturelle canadienne-française (FCCF)
Fédération des travailleurs et travailleuses du Québec (FTQ)
Fédération nationale des communications et de la culture (FNCC-CSN)
Friends of Canadian Broadcasting
Front des réalisateurs indépendants du Canada (FRIC)
Guilde des musiciens et musiciennes du Québec (GMMQ)
L'Observatoire du documentaire
Michèle Rioux, directrice du Centre d'études sur l'intégration et la mondialisation (CEIM)
Observatoire des réseaux et interconnexions de la société numérique (ORISON) - UQAM
On Screen Manitoba
Québec Cinéma
Quebec English-language Production Council (QEPC)
Regroupement des artisans de la musique (RAM)
Regroupement des distributeurs indépendants de films du Québec
Robert Armstrong, Broadcasting Consultant, Communications Médias
Screen Composers Guild of Canada (SCGC)
SOCAN
Société civile des auteurs multimédia (SCAM)
Société de gestion collective des droits des producteurs de phonogrammes et de vidéogrammes du Québec (SOPROQ)
Société des auteurs de radio, télévision et cinéma (SARTEC)
Société des auteurs et compositeurs dramatiques (SACD)
Internet Society Québec (ISOC – Québec)
Société professionnelle des auteurs et compositeurs du Québec (SPACQ)
Syndicat des employées et employés professionnels-les et de bureau (SEPB)
Table de concertation de l'industrie du cinéma et de la télévision de la Capitale-Nationale
Unifor
Union des artistes (UDA)
Union des écrivaines et des écrivains québécois (UNEQ)

http://www.coalitionculturemedias.ca 
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SOURCE Coalition pour la culture et les médias

Sébastien Goulet, 438-882-3756, ([email protected])