SHOW YOUR SUPPORT for Artist’s Resale Right and EXPRESS your concern for the Education Exemption. Margaret Witschl (Alberta Representative, CARFAC) wrote two letters that you can use as templates to write your Members of Parliament. Here is some wording for letters or e-mails to Federal Members of Parliament that our VAAA and CARFAC members can use to show their support for the Artist’s Resale Right and to express concern for the way the wording of the proposed Bill C-11 explains the Educational Exemption.

The name of the appropriate Member of Parliament and the constituency name can befound on the Government of Canada website.

Letter #1 is in support of the Artist’s Resale Right

 

 

Dear Mr/Ms , MP (add your constituency name)

I am a professional visual artist resident in your constituency.

The Artist’s Resale Right, would give a 5% royalty payment to artists when theirartwork is resold on the public market. This right is provided in 59 countries around the world, but not yet in Canada. The economic benefit of the Artist’s Resale Right to visual artists is considerable including helping to reduce dependency on public support. I wish to add my name to those who support the Artist’s Resale Right and want to see it included as an amendment to Bill C-11 the Copyright Revisions.

Detailed information about the Artist’s Resale Right is available from CARFAC, our national organization of professional visual and media artists. www.carfac.ca

Sincerely,

 Letter #2 is to express concern for the way that “Educational Exemption” is described in Bill C -11, the current Copyright Revisions.

Dear Mr/Ms , MP (add your constituency name)

I am a professional visual artist resident in your constituency.

The current proposal for revisions to the Copyright Act, Bill C -11 includes an “educational exemption” from the normal payment of royalties for the use of artists’ images. Visual artists receive a considerable proportion of their incomes from the use of their images and the loss of this income would be disastrous. The problem is that the wording of this exemption is unclear as to who is considered “educational.”

I wish to register my concern about this possible loss of income and request that the wording of this exemption be clarified in order to protect artists’ rights.

Information about the Educational Exemption and its effect on professional visual artists is available from CARFAC, our national organization of professional visual and media artists. www.carfac.ca

Sincerely,