The Government of Canada presented its Fall Economic Statement yesterday, in which it announced its “intent to amend the Copyright Act to create an Artist’s Resale Right in Canada, ensuring Canadian visual artists benefit from future sales of their work.” The Coalition for the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (CDCE), whose fifty member organizations represent over 350,000 artists and 3000 cultural enterprises in Canada, welcomes this targeted amendment, which has been championed for decades by the visual arts sector and widely supported by all CDCE members.

Individuals and organizations in the music and book sectors, who were also hoping for key announcements, are disappointed to see their demands left unaddressed.

Throughout the summer and fall, the CDCE led a letter-writing campaign, giving Canadians the opportunity to show their support for the visual arts, book, and music sectors nationwide. This campaign highlighted four targeted, well-documented requests that have been known to the government since 2015. While they could have been implemented at no cost to the government, their impact would have been significant for our cultural ecosystems.

“This is a landmark day for visual artists. By announcing its intention to amend the Copyright Act to establish a resale right, Canada could join over 90 other countries and give thousands of artists an opportunity to improve their socio-economic conditions. We call on all elected officials to move quickly to make this amendment a reality,” said Bill Skolnik, Co-Chair of the CDCE and representative of the Screen Composers Guild of Canada.

The CDCE’s proposals that were not adopted included fair compensation for authors and publishers for the educational use of books, extending technological neutrality to private copying to restore royalties in the music sector, and clarifying the definition of sound recordings to include the audiovisual use of musical works.

“As we mark the 100th anniversary of our Copyright Act, it is disappointing that the government failed to seize this opportunity to address the challenges faced by rightsholders in the book and music sectors,” said Hélène Messier, Co-Chair of the CDCE and President and CEO of the AQPM.