1 Union des artistes Montreal, July 27, 2022 Via email: trcm@sen.parl.gc.ca Vincent Labrosse Clerk Standing Senate Committee on Transport and Communications Senate of Canada Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A4 Subject: Meeting request – Removal of online undertakings from inclusion under the Status of the Artist Act (Bill C-11) Dear Mr. Labrosse, The Union des Artistes (UDA) is a professional trade union representing nearly 13,000 artists grouped into four categories of artistic practices : actors, singers, dancers and other performers . These artists work in French in Que bec and elsewhere in Canada.

Our mission is to stand up for their social, economic and moral interests by negotiating their working conditions as well as defending and promoting arts and culture. We are writing to you today regarding an amendment that we would like to see removed from Bill C-11. We cannot overstate how important Bill C-11 is for the arts and culture community. However, we were very surprised recently to learn about an amendment, which was proposed by a member of the governing party and adopted at third reading, to remove online undertakings from inclusion under the Status of the Artist Act (S.C. 1992, c. 33) (“the SAA”).

We are concerned about the implications of this amendment, since it would considerably narrow the scope of the legislation and perhaps even seriously undermine its effectiveness, now and in the future. The UDA is of the opinion that the rationale given to support this amendment, namely, the need to respect the division of powers—and more specifically to not encroach on areas of exclusive provincial jurisdiction— is unfounded considering the principles of constitutional law in question and their application in the present context. The UDA therefore believes that this amendment must be withdrawn.

We believe that this is the simplest solution so as to avoid the devastating effects this amendment will have if the provision remains in the bill. First of all, Bill C-11 adds the new concept of “online undertaking”, which it defines as follows: An undertaking for the transmission or retransmission of programs over the Internet for reception by the public by means of broadcasting receiving apparatus. In our view, the scope of application for online undertakings is extremely broad, since it would include any broadcasting undertaking that transmits programs over the Internet, regardless of scale.

This amendment could therefore interfere with the application of the SAA. 2 From our reading of Bill C-11, the definition covers “traditional” broadcasting undertakings that also carry out “the transmission or retransmission of programs over the Internet,” but it also means that any broadcasting undertaking—including “traditional” broadcasting undertakings—that carry out the transmission or retransmission of programs over the Internet would be considered an “ online undertaking.” We can only imagine that the number of online undertakings will increase in the future, which is why it will be important to ensure that any gains made in terms of basic working conditions and wages for artists are maintained, and that those gains do not apply only to businesses that are not online.

With respect to the jurisdictional argument, in order for the Broadcasting Act (“the BA”) as amended by Bill C-11 to regulate online undertakings, they must be considered as a federal work, undertaking or business under constitutional law. If one might reasonably conclude that these online undertakings are not one of the above, the BA, as amended by C-11, would not apply to them. The very fact that C-11 applies to online undertakings means that online undertakings must be considered as a federal work, undertaking or business.

The UDA therefore believes that the argument that the amendment is necessary, or even useful, to ensure respect for the federal -provincial division of legislative powers —and more specifically to not encroach on areas of provincial jurisdiction—is unfounded. For all these reasons, the UDA is calling for the removal of clause 31.1 from Bill C-11. Allowing the amendment to stand will set us back several years in terms of working con ditions for artists.

We would therefore like to be invited to appear as witnesses before the Standing Senate Committee on T ransport and Communications to speak with its members regarding this situation before Parliament resumes. We thank you in advance for considering our request. Yours sincerely, Sophie Prégent President Union des artistes info@uda.ca • www.uda.ca 5445, avenue De Gaspé, bureau 1005, Montréal (Québec) H2T 3B2 • 514-288-6682 • 1-877-288-6682 (au Canada) 520, rue De Saint-Vallier Est, Québec (Québec) G1K 9G4 • 418-523-4241 • 1-877-523-4299 (au Canada)