Education Ministers Disappointed With Federal Copyright Legislation
Priority Issue — Educational Use Of The Internet — Not Addressed
“It is disheartening that the Government of Canada will not take a stand in support of education,” stated the Honourable Jamie Muir, Minister of Education for
Ministers of education and national organizations representing students, teachers, school boards, and parents have proposed to the federal government a copyright amendment safeguarding the educational use of the Internet in routine classroom activities such as saving and sharing publicly available texts or images. What troubles educators is that a parliamentary committee has proposed that new fees be imposed on the educational use of the Internet. The legislation introduced yesterday, however, does not address either proposal and leaves unanswered the question of what parameters will be placed around the educational use of the Internet and at what cost.
Minister Muir described the proposed copyright legislation as “very problematic. The Internet is an integral part of students’ learning experience in
Across the country, educational authorities rejected the suggestion by the federal government that more consultations were needed on the issue, noting that four years of consultations had already taken place. They pointed out that the Government of Canada and provinces and territories had invested millions of dollars in bringing high-speed Internet access to Canadian classrooms, and that it was in the public interest to amend copyright laws to protect the educational use of the Internet.
CMEC is an intergovernmental body composed of the ministers responsible for elementary-secondary and advanced education from the provinces and territories. Through the CMEC Copyright Consortium, ministers responsible for education in twelve provinces and territories share information on copyright and undertake joint activities.
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Information:
Chris George
Telephone: (905) 641-0800
E-mail: chris@cgacommunications.com
Web site: www.cmec.ca