Media Advisory: MPs to Discuss Digital Future with OpenMedia.ca on Parliament Hill

Glyn Lewis - Glyn Lewis is the Digital Action Coordinator of OpenMedia.ca. He helps facilitate online & online-to-offline citizen engagement for the vision of an open Internet in Canada. Glyn has spent time organizing for the Obama for America campaign, Canadian Parents for French BC & Yukon, & Canadians Advocating Political Participation (CAPP).

David Fewer - David Fewer leads advocacy on intellectual property-related matters at CIPPIC, Canada’s only technology law clinic.  Mr. Fewer joined CIPPIC in November, 2004, as staff counsel, and became CIPPIC’s Director in 2009.  He has also clerked with the Federal Court of Canada, where he had the opportunity to work with a number of judges at both the Court of Appeal and Trial Division on intellectual property cases and related regulatory matters. Mr. Fewer’s work at CIPPIC focuses on training students in effective advocacy, producing relevant online resources, and articulating a public interest perspective in government policy development and law-making processes.

WHAT:      

OpenMedia.ca recently released a thoroughly researched 150-page report that puts forward recommendations for Canada’s digital policy, and makes an indisputable case against closed, costly communications. In order to advance and protect an open and affordable Internet in Canada, and prevent large uncompetitive telecom companies from gouging citizens, OpenMedia.ca requested meetings with every MP who had declared themselves a “pro-Internet candidate” during the 2011 election.

OpenMedia.ca will meet with following pro-Internet Members of Parliament:

• Bruce Hyer (NDP, Thunder Bay Superior North)
• Frank Valeriote (Liberal, Guelph)
• Andrew Cash (NDP, Davenport)
• Joyce Murray (Liberal, Vancouver Quadra)
• Geoff Regan (Liberal, Halifax West, Critic for Industry and Consumer Affairs)
• Scott Brison (Liberal, Kings-Hants)
• Libby Davies (NDP, Vancouver East)
• Hedy Fry (Liberal, Vancouver Centre)

WHEN:  

Meetings will take place from Wednesday, June 15 at 12:00 PM EDT until Thursday, June 16 at 4:00 PM EDT. If you are a member of the press and would like to attend one of these meetings, please contact Shea Sinnott ([email protected]) for details.

Reilly Yeo and Glyn Lewis are available for comment after 4:00 PM EDT on Wednesday and Thursday, or by appointment.

WHERE:

Various Locations on Parliament Hill
Ottawa, ON

WHY:

The report Casting an Open Net demonstrated that Canadians pay unnecessarily high fees for Internet use. OpenMedia.ca found that there is no technical or economic justification for putting a pay-meter on our Internet use and restricting access to online services of our choice, and that these measures are causing Canada to fall behind the rest of the industrialized world in terms of Internet openness and accessibility.

OpenMedia.ca will meet with MPs on behalf of the Canadian citizens who helped create and disseminate the report, in order to help develop an action plan for a connected Canada.

BACKGROUND:

OpenMedia.ca is a national, non-partisan, non-profit organization working to advance and support an open and innovative communications system in Canada. Our primary goal is to increase public awareness and informed participation in Canadian media, cultural, information, and telecommunication policy formation. We strive to make media and telecommunications more transparent, with broader and more representative public participation. Our job is to shine a spotlight on key media policy developments, and provide essential tools and information for citizen engagement.

For more information please contact:

Shea Sinnott – 604.785.0791 – [email protected]

You can also visit www.OpenMedia.ca