Corus Quay Dockside Drive, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5A 0B5 T 416.479.7000 F 416.960.5437 www.nelvana.com www.corusent.com November 17, 2022 Standing Committee on Transport and Communications Senate of Canada Ottawa, ON K1A 0A4 trcm@sen.parl.gc.ca Dear Honourable Senators, Re. Study of Bill C-11 Nelvana is a world-leading, award-winning producer and distributor of children’s animated and live-action content.

We create globally renowned comedy, preschool and action programs like Franklin, Max & Ruby, Babar, The Hardy Boys, and Agent Binky, which appear on television screens in Canada and in over countries around the world. We are especially proud to be a Canadian company that currently employs in excess of Canadian animators, design artists, development coordinators, line producers, and other creative professionals. In the coming years, we have ambitious plans to expand further our live action original slate, European co-productions, and other new markets.

With our talented team, we are confident we can achieve these goals and more. Nelvana recently celebrated its 50-year anniversary. Over the last five decades, the media industry has changed dramatically, but two things have remained constant: the unrivalled quality of Canadian creators and stories, and the support of the Canadian broadcasting system. For much of Nelvana’s history, the Canadian broadcasting system has provided us a domestic base on which to build an international business, and that system has been preserved by the Broadcasting Act.

However, as the committee has heard, the broadcasting industry has evolved beyond the closed system of old, and the legislation that oversaw it. Digital platforms have entered Canada at a rapid clip and established a dominant foothold in the market, but they operate outside of broadcasting regulations.

If these Internet ‘streamers’ continue DocuSign Envelope ID: FF08F415-28F0-4C7E-B3FD-E415F22E05AA Corus Quay Dockside Drive, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5A 0B5 T 416.479.7000 F 416.960.5437 www.nelvana.com www.corusent.com to circumvent the regulated system they will place that system, and the Canadian creative businesses who depend on it, at risk. That is why Nelvana strongly supports Bill C-11. It would bring foreign streaming services into the same regulatory framework as Canadian broadcasters and distributors and require them to invest in Canadian productions.

It would place Canadian production companies in a stronger position to maintain intellectual property in their works and help support a new generation of Canadian creators. The Bill would also enshrine an important principle in Canadian broadcasting policy: all Canadian productions are important and deserve public support. This includes projects from both Canadian independent production companies and production companies affiliated with Canadian broadcasters. Nelvana was acquired by Corus Entertainment in 2000.

Our partnership has greatly benefitted both companies and the Canadian creative professionals we employ. Corus’ investment has enabled Nelvana to grow, and create more Canadian content, using more Canadian resources, than we ever could have alone.

In this way, the relationship promotes Canadian broadcasting policy objectives, which encourage: “the development of Canadian expression”; contributions to the “creation and presentation of Canadian programming”; the use of “Canadian creative and other resources”; and the creation of programming “of high standard.” The next generation of broadcasting policy should ensure the most successful Canadian production sector possible. This entails supporting all Canadian productions, from all Canadian production companies.

Bill C-11 would accomplish this (see section 3(1)(i)(v)), and we strongly urge the Senate to pass it in its current form. Nelvana thanks the members of the committee for the opportunity to share our perspective. Sincerely, Pam Westman President, Nelvana DocuSign Envelope ID: FF08F415-28F0-4C7E-B3FD-E415F22E05AA