Taking your message on Bill C-11 straight to the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage

We took your voices to Parliament, will they act now?

On May 24, 2022, OpenMedia testified before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage on the potential impact of Bill C-11, the Online Streaming Act. Our key message was simple: treating the Internet as it if were broadcasting is a serious mistake. The Internet is a space for user choice and expression, and legislation must respect that role, not limit it. You can watch our full testimony on our Youtube channel here. 

Before the Heritage Committee, we spoke about the issues that most impact YOU. We reminded the committee that respecting user choice should be the government's highest priority. Canadians deserve to freely view the content they want, follow the influencers they like, and post and share the content we make. 

In our testimony, we highlighted the enormity of the new power the CRTC is being given in regulating our user audiovisual content online. We asked for user-generated content to be clearly, plainly, and EXPLICITLY removed from Bill C-11, so that everyday users don't live in fear of having their content regulated. And we asked MPs to amend the bill so that in a bid to make officially recognized Canadian Content - “CanCon” - more prominent, the CRTC not be given the power to edit our feeds and search results to show less of the content we’re actually looking for.  We emphasized that any attempt to promote CanCon must come from an opt-in system where users can choose to see more CanCon when we want to, or have our regular search results when we don’t. You can read more about these and other issues we’ve flagged about Bill C-11 here. 

All of this couldn't be done without you. With your support, our community has sent over 76,000 messages to the government on both Bill C-11, and its predecessor, Bill C-10. Your hard work and commitment to keeping the Internet open and protecting freedom of expression shaped our testimony and will be an influence in the Heritage Committees' analysis and recommendations to the House of Commons on what to do with Bill C-11 moving forward. 

The Heritage Committee is still considering Bill C-11 and we need to keep up the momentum. If you haven't already,  will sign our petition to demand that your MP vote NO on Bill C-11? Already taken action? You can keep up the fight by sharing our message with everyone you know on Facebook, or Twitter! 

You can also read our full opening remarks to the committee here. 

Image Credit: Jacques Savoye via Pixabay