Copyright-free material edging out Canadian educational texts

Are Canadian students being forced to learn from foreign textbooks?

That's the concern of John Degen, executive director of the Writers' Union of Canada.

"I hear again and again from professors and from teachers saying that they simply don't feel they have access to enough Canadian works right now," he told CBC News.

"And they have to go elsewhere. Their institutions are insisting that they use only free material, and a lot of free material is coming from outside of Canada."

The reason, according to Degen, is therecent changes made to Canada's copyright laws that exempt educational institutions from paying certain feesthey used to pay.

Those changes may have been great for shrinking school-board budgets, but they're hurting Canadian writers and publishers, some of which are getting out of the business altogetheror vastly reducing what they print.

As authors gathered this week for the first-ever Canadian Writers' Summit in Toronto, getting paid for their workwas on their minds.It was standing room only at one panel highlightingthat, in the age of the internet, the pressure to loosen copyright laws is growing worldwide.

"We want our TV, we want our movies, we want our musicand now we want our books as cheap as possible, if not free," Degen said.

As a result, writers in Canada are making less than ever, with 80 per centearning an income (from their writing) below the poverty line, according to a 2015 Writers' Unionsurvey of itsmembers and other writers'incomes.

"Nobody can afford to work for free," Degen said.

"If there's no economy for our work, then the work simply won't be done."

Sales drop like 'falling off a cliff'

The effect is not just beingfelt by writers.A few years ago, Emond Publishing sold more than $1 million worth of books to high schools annually. Now, said presidentPaulEmond,it's dropped to about $100,000.

"That's what falling off a cliff in the publishing business looks like," he said.

Schools that formerly bought a class set of 20 to 30 books for use by perhaps hundreds of kids started buying just a single copy of the same book, Emond explained. Theythen scanned or photocopied portions to distribute to students.

When sales plummeted, Emond madethe tough decision to stoppublishing books for the high school market.

"It was simply not sustainable," hesaid.

He's not alone in his struggle to survive inthe changing educational market. Oxford University Press ended its Canadian textbook publishing program in 2014. Last year, Nelson Education, Canada's largest educational publisher,sought bankruptcy protection and had to restructure.

'Not what the government intended'

The issuedates back to2012, when Canada's Copyright Act was updated andeducation was added to the list of fair dealing exemptions from paying copyright royalties.A Supreme Court ruling the same year specified that "short excerpts" for educational purposes could be copied without payment.

That allowed schools and universities to stop paying fees to copy and use excerpts of authors' works. Educational associations have defined "short" to include up to 10 per centof a work, a chapter of a bookor an article from a periodical.

Degen disagrees with that interpretation.

"We think it's a real overreach and not what the government intended when they added education as a category," he said.

An age of disruption

However, some feel blaming the copyright laws for the pinch that writers and publishers are feeling is unfair.

"I have some sympathy for book publishers who are living in an age of disruption," said Paul Davidson,president of Universities Canada, anorganization that has advised universities on what the changed copyright laws allow.

"But to put all the blame on fair dealing seems misplaced."

According to Davidson, library acquisition budgets have actually risen.

"We've seen a 40 per centincrease in spending on intellectual property. Now that doesn't strike me as being a difficult circumstance."

What's important is making sure the balance is right between the needs of students, researchers and the copyright holders, he added.

There may be hope on the horizon forwriters and publisherswho would like to see the legislation fixed:the federal government is scheduledto review Canada's Copyright Act next year.