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Results: 61 - 75 of 185
Janet Yale
View Janet Yale Profile
Janet Yale
2021-05-17 15:06
Thank you very much. I want to make just two or three quick points.
The first is that programs aren't regulated; undertakings are. When Dr. Geist says that if it's a program, it's regulated, it's not a program unless it's offered by an undertaking. Online undertakings are the only ones that are subject to regulation. It's not people who make programs. It's really that clear. Point number one is that a program isn't regulated; only an undertaking is regulated, whether it's a streaming platform or a social media platform.
Secondly, on discoverability, the way Dr. Geist described it would have you think that the algorithms that are operated by the likes of Amazon and Netflix are just mathematically pure, uncontaminated by commercial considerations, and that everything you see is driven completely in an agnostic way by consumer preferences. Well, I can tell you personally that when I've bought things on Amazon or I've chosen a show on Netflix, before I know it, I have pushed to me all kinds of things that have nothing to do with my preferences or taste but everything to do with the things that the provider in question is trying to push.
Once we acknowledge that algorithms are not agnostic, then it's really a question of whether cultural policy has a role to play in a world of so many choices and unlimited amounts of content in ensuring that we know what Canadian choices might be available. That's just the simple principle of discoverability, and it's not about interfering with freedom of choice. It's about promotion of Canadian choices. Nobody has to watch it if they don't want to watch it. There are actually no restrictions on freedom of choice whatsoever.
Those would be my thoughts, but I'm happy to answer any other questions you may have.
Pierre Trudel
View Pierre Trudel Profile
Pierre Trudel
2021-05-17 15:13
I believe that Bill C-10, which seeks to amend the Broadcasting Act, will ensure that the resulting legislation will better protect the rights of Canadian citizens and consumers. As for the possibility of allowing the CRTC to take a look at algorithmic processes, it's always important to remember that it's not a body that censors content behind closed doors. It's a body that regulates certain activities through a public process to which everyone is invited.
During these processes, the CRTC could invite the major platforms to explain how the algorithms and other processes they use to administer the flow of various content work. It could ask them to explain how these are compatible with Canadian values and how they are not likely to be subservient to undeclared commercial interests. It could also ask them to explain how consistent they are with Canadian values, which are different from American values. I"m thinking of equality and diversity, among other things. Most importantly, it could ask them to explain to what extent algorithms provide real proposals to Canadians and how they can be organized in such a way that they reflect the values found in the Broadcasting Act.
For example, they could give visibility to cultural productions from minority groups, as well as the rich production of Canada's indigenous peoples or racialized people. In short, with an amendment to the Broadcasting Act, such as the one proposed here, the act would promote freedom of expression rather than censorship. In a sense, it would encourage companies to promote Canadian creativity, while leaving consumers free to consume what they want.
Online, no one thinks for a second that you can force someone to watch what they don't want to watch. This issue has long been settled. However, what is often hard to find on platforms is cultural products that reflect Canadian creativity or the productions of creators from Canada's linguistic or cultural minorities. That is what is currently missing on the platforms. That's why Canada has managed to set up an audiovisual or media system that is very open to the world and that has never practised censorship, as some seem to claim.
On the contrary, not only do we have access to everything in the world, but we also have access to the productions of our creators. That's the difference. That's why I think it's an act that increases our fundamental rights—
View Martin Champoux Profile
BQ (QC)
View Martin Champoux Profile
2021-05-17 15:17
Mr. Trudel, I'm going to interrupt you because I want to bring you back to the issue you just raised, which is censorship.
Basically, the purpose of all of you being here today is to try to sweep this issue under the rug so that we can continue to do important work on this bill. I completely agree with you that it is absolutely necessary to protect culture. However, the fact that section 4.1 is no longer being created has raised concerns among some people and groups. Other amendments are coming, including section 2.1, which does not seem to be enough to convince people. Generally speaking, when you talk to us about Bill C-10, you see absolutely no risk to freedom of expression. However, let's suppose that, in an extrapolated scenario, the CRTC ends up making decisions that go against freedom of expression.
First, could such a scenario occur, and in what context? Second, what would be the remedies for it?
I think there are defence mechanisms, in all of this.
Pierre Trudel
View Pierre Trudel Profile
Pierre Trudel
2021-05-17 15:18
Absolutely.
If the CRTC made such a decision, it would be done through a public process. There would be a call for public comment. It would invite all Canadians to come and give their views on the action it was considering. Then it would take those actions. It would issue an order or a regulation. This regulation or order could be challenged under the provisions that are already in the Broadcasting Act.
One of the first challenges that would come to mind is that the CRTC would have interpreted the act in a way that contradicts freedom of expression. This seems to me to be a particularly remote or unthinkable hypothesis, since, for this to happen, the CRTC would have to have ignored all of these provisions.
View Paul Manly Profile
GP (BC)
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to the witnesses for appearing today. This is a very interesting debate on a very important bill. I've worked in the broadcasting industry in multiple different ways. I was a professional musician as well, so this is very near and dear to me.
To start, I want to ask Mr. Trudel if he approved of the removal of proposed section 4.1.
Then I would like to ask you, Mr. Trudel, about net neutrality and how the algorithms affect the concept of net neutrality in terms of the Canadian law on net neutrality. I understand the concepts of throttling, but how do the algorithms affect the law on net neutrality?
Pierre Trudel
View Pierre Trudel Profile
Pierre Trudel
2021-05-17 15:28
I am among those who believe that section 4.1 was unnecessary. It was confusing because the act already provides all the necessary safeguards to ensure that the regulation of the broadcasting system in Canada is done in full respect of freedom of expression. In addition, the CRTC is obliged to limit its action to those undertakings whose activities and actions have a discernible impact on the achievement of Canadian broadcasting policy. Therefore, section 4.1 was rightly removed as unnecessary, in my view. In fact, I wrote about it in an article in Le Devoir.
The algorithm is interesting. Algorithms, currently, regardless of how they work, determine which types of content will be more visible than others.
Whether it's traditional broadcasting or online broadcasting, a fundamental feature of broadcast media regulation in all countries is that there are laws that necessarily balance the commercial interests of companies with other interests that must be accommodated. In traditional broadcasting, this has taken the form of rules limiting the commercial activity of radio or television stations, limiting advertising time, for example. In the case of online broadcasting networks or undertakings, it is foreseeable that the CRTC will develop new ways of ensuring that balance between commercial imperatives and other objectives that broadcasting legislation has always sought to uphold throughout Canadian broadcasting history.
What sets Canada apart from many other countries in the world is that we have a radio and communications system that is more than just a conduit for the delivery of material based on strictly commercial or business logic. So it's this type of—
View Alain Rayes Profile
CPC (QC)
You mentioning the CRTC a lot, but CRTC actors raised a red flag this morning because they feel that they're seeing a one-size-fits-all discourse in the public realm. These people, who were enforcing this legislation, say that it's not working.
Excuse me, I want to finish my comment because my next question is for another witness. I only have five minutes.
I want to show you that there are different discourses. These people have the right to speak, and they have the right to have a voice in the Canadian Parliament.
With that said, I will allow Dr. Geist to explain to us the difference between section 2.1 and section 4.1. The Minister keeps telling us that under section 2.1, everything is protected and user content will not be put at risk. At the same time, Mr. Trudel refers to section 4.1 as a source of confusion, saying that ultimately it should not have existed.
Dr. Geist, as a law professor and a great defender of freedom of expression, can you give us your perspective on that?
Michael Geist
View Michael Geist Profile
Michael Geist
2021-05-17 15:36
Sure, I'd be happy to.
I find it quite remarkable that we get some witnesses saying that it doesn't mean anything at all and we get others saying that it should be removed. Presumably, then, there was a problem with it.
Here's the bottom-line reality as I see it, as many other experts see it and as the department saw it, including in comments made directly to this committee and in memos written to the heritage minister that are now available under the Access to Information Act.
First, proposed new section 2.1 speaks, as we've heard, directly to regulating online undertakings. It is true that we are not going to treat a million TikTok users as equivalent to CTV or other broadcasters. They won't have to appear before the CRTC, which makes a whole lot of sense, because they are not broadcasters.
However, there's been some concern even around that. Of course we had the heritage minister mention the number of viewers or followers you have might pull you into that scope, and some creator groups have suggested that this ought to be the standard that is used. It doesn't appear to me, however, that this is what proposed new section 2.1 would do.
What proposed new section 4.1 sought to do was ensure that the programs themselves, the content, would not be treated as something potentially subject to regulation by the CRTC.
There was not significant confusion. There were, to be sure, any number of different online services that would have to go before the CRTC to determine whether the content on their service was captured by this measure. These would include some of the YouTube services. It certainly was within the realm of possibility that those would be captured.
If we are such big fans of the CRTC's getting it right, I would have thought we would have confidence that we could both safeguard and protect user-generated content and that critical form of expression and also have confidence in the CRTC to get it right in determining where the application of the law might lie.
View Marci Ien Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Marci Ien Profile
2021-05-17 15:42
Thank you, Ms. Yale.
I have another question for you. Dr. Geist has said that with the removal of proposed section 4.1, the bill now threatens user-generated content and freedom of speech. In your expert opinion, what would you say to those Canadian citizens who are concerned about that?
Janet Yale
View Janet Yale Profile
Janet Yale
2021-05-17 15:42
First I would say that there is nothing in the bill as amended, with the exclusion of proposed section 4.1, that threatens free speech.
I've tried to make it clear in my comments thus far in this meeting that users put content on, say, a social media platform. For sure that content may be under the legal definition of a “program”, but as I've said before, programs aren't regulated, so if you are a blogger or someone who makes podcasts, that's content for sure, but how is it distributed? It's distributed because you do an arrangement with Spotify or you do an arrangement with YouTube, and it's carried on those platforms.
The platforms are the online undertakings that would be regulated, not the creators of the content, whether they're users or whether they're amateurs or professionals. You are free to put up anything you want, whether you monetize it or not, whether you get advertising or subscription revenues or not. It's not covered by Bill C-10. It's the online undertakings that are, and users are not operating online undertakings. They're not regulated.
In my view, there is no threat to freedom of speech, freedom of expression or the ability to put out anything you want on any platform you like without fear that your content could be moderated or regulated in any way.
View Martin Champoux Profile
BQ (QC)
View Martin Champoux Profile
2021-05-17 15:50
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'd like to ask Dr. Geist a question.
I see you have every reason in the world to oppose this bill.
With respect to the possible infringement on freedom of expression, which is the subject of our meeting today, is there any language that could be used in this bill that would reassure you and allow us to resolve the issue and continue our work?
Michael Geist
View Michael Geist Profile
Michael Geist
2021-05-17 15:51
Thanks for that.
On this specific issue, I don't think there is any doubt that we need to put proposed section 4.1 back in or exclude all scope of regulation of this kind of content. That would include discoverability, which does go, without question—as we've heard even from Professor Trudel—to choices and then ultimately to net neutrality.
View Tim Louis Profile
Lib. (ON)
I appreciate your saying that. I appreciate your bringing up playlists, because, as an artist, I understand how Canadian artists face challenges in competing with American conglomerates and resources. The Broadcasting Act has always ensured that Canadian artists have the resources to grow to become visible locally, nationally and internationally. I feel that when Canadians go online—for example, on YouTube or someplace that has a playlist—they have a hard time discovering any Canadian artists on these platforms. That's a concern for me. I know it's a concern for our Canadian artists and the whole culture sector. Our artists are the voices of Canadians. I don't think that those online should be solely exposed to American culture.
You have written, “As originally drafted, the Bill left open the possibility that some platforms, such as YouTube, might be able to avoid its obligations to make appropriate contributions. That oversight has now been remedied and we welcome that correction.”
Could you explain your comments in more detail? It's around proposed section 4.1, that balance between supporting our artists and protecting our own free speech.
Janet Yale
View Janet Yale Profile
Janet Yale
2021-05-17 16:07
Exactly, and I think the removal of proposed section 4.1 makes it clear that social media platforms are within the scope of Bill C-10, which might have been unclear before that.
As I've said, it is my view that because the user-generated content, which is still covered by clause 2.1, is exempt from regulation, I believe there is no threat to freedom of speech and that users will continue to be as free, once Bill C-10 is passed, to put whatever content they want online or on social media platforms as they are today.
View Anthony Housefather Profile
Lib. (QC)
Thank you, Mr. Chair. It's been a pleasure to listen to the witnesses today and to the vibrant debate.
I also want to say that some people have been heralded as champions of freedom of expression. I believe each and every one of the witnesses is a champion of freedom of expression, as are Canadian artists and as are all of the members of the committee. We are all devoted to and care about freedom of expression.
I would point out that at the meeting we had with Department of Justice officials and Minister Guilbeault last week, I was the only member who asked about whether or not there was interplay with section 1 and section 2(b) of the charter when it came to discoverability, which is one of the issues that was raised today by Dr. Geist.
I want to walk through with Maître Yale—as I'm going to call her because I'm from Quebec—a couple of the issues that I have, as questions.
We're going to start from the premise that I think we all agree that users are not governed by proposed new section 2.1. The users themselves are not governed. If a user's content is governed, it's solely governed through the online undertaking, which would be governed to a lesser extent in very specific ways, provided that Ms. Dabrusin's amendment is adopted by the committee.
Those specific ways would be, number one, that they would have to disclose their revenues in Canada. I can't imagine that this would be a freedom of expression issue. Number two, they would be required to contribute to Canadian culture. I can't imagine that this would be a freedom of expression issue. The only freedom of expression issue, in my view, could lie with a third factor, which is discoverability, which is the only other thing that could be regulated if Ms. Dabrusin's amendment is adopted.
Maître Yale, would it be true, in your perspective right now, that online undertakings such as social media platforms—and I will use Facebook as an example—can actually censor the content of user posts based on their own documented rules and regulations?
Results: 61 - 75 of 185 | Page: 5 of 13

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