The Copyright Act review process in Canada: Advocacy takeaways

In 2017 a statutory review of Canada’s Copyright Act was launched. The Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology received 192 written briefs and heard from 263 stakeholder witnesses in meetings. In June 2019 the committee released its report with 36 recommendations; however an election was then called and no changes to the Copyright Act were implemented. The next Copyright Act review is scheduled to begin by the end of 2022.

We have spent the past three years analyzing stakeholder participation in the review. In this session, we will provide an overview of the review process in Canada. We will share our findings about the participating stakeholder groups and the top stakeholder recommendations for changes to the Copyright Act, as well as the committee’s own recommendations. We will highlight recommendations from higher education and libraries, which emphasized user rights and flexibility, and will touch on those addressing open access and Crown copyright. We will conclude with our thoughts on what stakeholders should consider in future advocacy.

Attendees will leave with an understanding of the Canadian copyright review process, focusing on the role and impact of stakeholders, as well as ideas for future advocacy in copyright reform.