Public Affairs and Advocacy
Report on CARL’s 2013-2014 Public Affairs and
Advocacy Activities
April 2014
CARL’s Advocacy Context
The Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) represents the country’s twenty-nine
largest university libraries. Enhancing research and higher education are at the heart of CARL’s
mission. CARL promotes effective and sustainable scholarly communication, and public policy
that enables broad access to scholarly information.
Our association includes two national library organizations that are part of the Government of
Canada: Library and Archives Canada (LAC) and the National Research Council’s Canada
Institute for Scientific and Technical Information (CISTI). They do not participate in any of
CARL’s advocacy, public affairs discussions or activities.
Our public affairs and advocacy activities are led by the CARL office in Ottawa. The Executive
Director is the lead on this file, with support provided by a CARL program officer and a
government relations consultant.
All of CARL’s public statements, briefings and publications are available on the CARL website.
Hyperlinks are available at the end of this document.
CARL’s Positioning & Developments
CARL’s advocacy efforts follow the parliamentary and federal budget cycles. Parliament usually
sits from late September to mid-December and from late January to mid-June while the federal
budget is presented to the House of Commons in February or March. We participate in the House
of Commons Standing Committee on Finance’s pre-budget consultations (midsummer to earlyfall) as well as in the Department of Finance’s consultations in January and February.
CARL’s key public policy messages emphasize four broad areas of interest, namely: government
support for research and its infrastructure; support for national libraries and heritage; enabling
broad access to information; and balanced copyright. This shapes our advocacy efforts as we
emphasize one issue or another, depending on the forum. We monitor and, as it may seem
appropriate, respond to policy developments in our fields of interest throughout the year.
Political Developments in 2013
Last year marked the Conservative Party’s third year of majority government, while the centreleft New Democratic Party and the centrist Liberal Party of Canada respectively form the official
and second opposition parties.
The economy remains the government's priority. The past year emphasized austerity measures to
balance the federal budget by 2015 (an election year) without increasing taxes. This reality limits
the government’s new investments in research, which emphasizes applied research and
partnerships with the private sector.
CARL welcomed the Government of Canada’s commitment to university research announced in
Budget 2014. Notable measures included:
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The Canada First Research Excellence Fund for post-secondary institutions, which
includes $1.6 billion over ten years.
$46 million increased funding to the granting councils and $9 million to the Indirect Cost
Program.
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$305 million to increase access to broadband internet for 280,000 households.
The creation of an Open Data Institute at the University of Waterloo. We hope this
initiative will lead to a comprehensive approach that ensures the preservation and
widespread availability of research data for the benefit of Canadian academics,
researchers and businesses.
CARL’s advocacy efforts have included contacts with ministers’ offices in the federal
departments of Heritage, Industry, International Trade, Science and Technology. We also
contacted members of the relevant House of Commons and Senate Standing Committees in
September 2014 to highlight issues of importance to our members. This raised their awareness of
some issues of importance to CARL, allowing us to build on some existing relationships.
Support for Research
CARL advocates continued government support for research, even in the current economic
climate. We argue that research stimulates innovation and economic growth, and benefits society
and the lives of Canadians.
We ask that the government maintain its support for relevant agencies, including the National
Research Council, the federal granting councils, and independent infrastructure agencies such as
the CANARIE digital research network and the Canada Foundation for Innovation. In this vein,
we encourage the government to maintain national research information organizations, such as
Library and Archives Canada.
CARL expressed these views in its submission to the Finance Committee, as well as in its 20122013 meetings with Members of Parliament and its public policy communications. We represent
our members’ views in various panels, discussions and consultations with federal research
support organizations. An example of this is our participation in a breakfast conference with the
granting council and CFI presidents organized by the Canadian Consortium for Research in
November 2013 and in our annual participation in the CANARIE users’ forum.
CARL also submitted its recommendations to the Government of Canada consultations on
science, technology and innovation. The submission highlighted our belief that the government
should commit Canada to reliable data, empowering researchers, and strengthening public
institutions and university research.
Research Data Management
CARL continued to recommend government support for research data management during the
reporting period through letters (in particular to the Minister of State for Science and
Technology) and in our budget brief.
The government’s Open Data Portal remains a work in progress and CARL has commended the
program’s stated objectives. We continue to look forward to a broader range of non-geospatial
datasets being made accessible through the Portal.
CARL is a participant in the Leadership Council for Digital Infrastructure for Research, another
new formation that brings together the Chairs or Presidents of the federal granting agencies and
major research support organizations, such as Compute Canada, CANARIE, and the Canadian
University Council of Chief Information Officers (CUCCIO). This group is discussing a rational
approach to the planning and funding of Canada’s digital support infrastructure for university
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research. A working group was created following the January 2014 meeting to implement the
council’s recommendations.
Big Data Consultation
CARL participated in consultations on “Capitalizing on Big Data” organized by Canada’s
granting councils in December 2014. In our brief, we recommended that Canada increase
awareness of data management issues, implement data stewardship guidelines and facilitates the
coordination of existing initiatives.
Open Access
CARL promoted awareness and understanding of Open Access (OA) throughout the reporting
period. We produced a number of YouTube videos that highlighted the opportunities OA offers
researchers for Open Access Week 2013. We also raised awareness through public statements
and social media.
We have also been actively engaging with Canada’s granting agencies, who introduced a draft
Open Access policy late in 2013. CARL participated in a reference group struck to develop the
wording of the proposed policy in August 2014. We strongly endorsed the Draft Tri-Agency
Open Access Policy and encouraged its rapid establishment as Tri-Agency policy.
CARL has also addressed OA in its meetings and correspondence with parliamentarians,
highlighting Canadians’ right to access research outputs that they finance through their taxes and
the advantages of broad public access to research literature.
Preserving Canada’s Documentary Heritage
While the government generally maintained its support for research and its infrastructure in
Budget 2014, Library and Archives Canada is still affected by the cuts announced in 2012 and
federal government departmental libraries continued to close down.
The role of Canada’s national libraries
The future of LAC is of concern to many Canadians as well as to CARL. The Royal Society of
Canada and the Council of Canadian Academies are examining the future of libraries, archives
and information management in wide ranging studies. The CARL office and members
participated in a number of panels organized by the Royal Society last fall, dedicated to The
Status and Future of Canada's Libraries and Archives.
Following the resignation of the Librarian and Archivist of Canada in May 2013, CARL wrote
the Heritage Minister to recommend that his replacement be atuned to the library and archives
community, given the important role he would play. We also voiced our recommendations
during a meeting with the new (appointed Fall 2013) Heritage Minister’s staff. We were happy to
welcome the nomination of Guy Berthiaume as Librarian and Archivist of Canada in April 2014.
Dr. Berthiaume was the CEO of Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec, a leading public
institution.
Héritage Project
In early June, a number of (rather negative and ill-researched) blog posts and newspaper articles
pre-empted a planned announcement of a project between Canadiana.org and Library and
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Archives Canada to digitize a huge set of historical documents on microfilm that would be
funded through subscriptions, with increasing portions of which becoming available in open
access each year. CARL prepared a letter, signed by President Gerald Beasley, to urge the
Heritage Minister to affirm his support of this “Héritage Project.” We also distributed a positive
public statement supporting the project. The project was subsequentially launched.
Federal libraries
There was increased media attention on the closure of federal departmental libraries, originally
announced in 2012. The CARL chose to take no position on the closure of federal department
libraries in itself, but we did monitor this matter. Some CARL libraries were approached to
preserve unqiue collections, but no consistent approach was taken.
CARL expressed its concerns in a letter to Fisheries and Oceans Minister Gail Shea following
disturbing media reports about aspects of the consolidation of several departmental libraries into
two locations. The approach to the culling of collections, which may have occasioned the loss of
unique research materials, caused considerable discussion in general and library discussion
forums.
Enabling access to information
CARL has actively pushed for wider access to information and knowledge through a host of
means, from encouraging government transparency to promoting affordable broadband Internet
access.
Access to government publications
CARL continues its role on the Depository Services Program (DSP) Library Advisory
Committee, encouraging the digital distribution of federal government publications to libraries.
We also encourage the DSP to work with other government agencies to ensure that publications
(including website content) are comprehensively preserved.
Only digital publications are distributed from 2014 onwards as a cost saving measure and we
remain concerned about progress on long-term government publication management issues. We
note here that a number of CARL member libraries are collaborating in the development of a
private LOCKSS network precisely for the long-term preservation of government documents and
that the DSP has made its e-collection available for inclusion.
Open Government
One year after the publication of Canada’s Action Plan on Open Government, CARL submitted
its comments on the document and urged its consistent and transparent implementation. Open
Government encourages transparency and accountability by providing the public with
information on the state's activities. Below are highlights from CARL's submission to the
consultation on Canada’s Open Government initiative:
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We believe that Open Data and Information should be consistently applied to all
government data and information. This would naturally exclude matters with privacy or
clear national security concerns.
Open Data requires reliable data. We urged the Government of Canada to reinstate the
more reliable and less-expensive mandatory long-form census.
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We hope that the proposed Virtual Library will enable access to, and ensure the
preservation of, government publications.
Privacy and lawful access
The Government of Canada recently introduced Bill C-13, legislation that includes several
provisions that would significantly expand law enforcement powers. One provision offers
immunity to Internet service providers that agree to disclose private information about users to
police officials. CARL issued a public statement highlighting its concerns that this measure
might encourage ISPs to disclose information without a judicial warrant or the user’s informed
consent.
We believe that legislation should observe the principles of personal privacy that Canadians
expect from all public institutions. In this vein, we continue to monitor large-scale surveillance
by Canadian intelligence agencies and proposed changes to Canada’s privacy laws.
Maintaining Balanced Copyright
CARL has advocated for greater balance in Canadian copyright legislation for years, so we were
pleased to see the passage into law of the Copyright Modernization Act. This Act includes new
or improved exceptions for users, including libraries and educational institutions. It notably
includes “education” as a fair dealing purpose. The Act unfortunately also includes strict anticircumvention language around digital locks. The new Act received Royal Assent in June 2012.
Since the introduction of the new Copyright Act, concerns with copyright have moved from the
national to the international arena, dealing notably with the World Intellectual Property
Organization and international trade negotiations.
WIPO
WIPO is currently considering whether and how to promote a set of minimum copyright law
exceptions and limitations for libraries and archives. This was one topic of discussion at the
most recent meeting of the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights
(SCCR), held December 10-12 in Geneva. Industry Canada and Canadian Heritage held briefing
session before and after this meeting. The Government of Canada, to this point, has no particular
position on the matter and WIPO does not yet know whether this will move toward a treaty of
some kind. We will monitor the matter and will stay in touch with the Candian Library
Association, the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada and IFLA.
In the lead-up to the June 17-28 WIPO diplomatic conference at Marrakesh to conclude a Treaty
to facilitate “Access to Published Works by Visually Impaired Persons and Persons with Print
Disabilities,” the Government of Canada held a stakeholders’ consultation on June 6 in Ottawa,
during which we urged Canada to support a strong treaty.
The CARL office submitted a brief urging the Canadian government to adopt and advance the
more liberal language in the parts of the treaty text that were still to be finalized. CARL also
issued a public statement encouraging Canada to work for an effective treaty. In spite of the
strong lobbying of some large media organizations, the delegates at Marrakesh adopted a fairly
strong treaty in favour of the print disabled. CARL distributed an announcement of this and
commended the Government of Canada for its positive work in the treaty negotiations.
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International Trade Negotiations
The government’s economic agenda included foreign policy. Canada participates in the TransPacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations. Both negotiation processes are secretive with little
publicly available information outside occasional press briefings and leaked reports. CARL has
expressed concern that such agreements should not require changes to Canadian copyright law.
CARL continued to advocate more transparency in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, as well as an
approach to copyright that respects users and creators. During the past year, we issued a number
of public statements on the TPP, wrote to the minister and met with International Trade officials
to air voice our concerns. CARL also issued a statement welcoming the fact that the CanadaSouth Korea Free Trade Agreement would not restrict Canadian copyright, calling for a similar
outcome for the TPP.
Other activities
We have worked in parallel with the Canadian Library Association (CLA) on issues of common
interest. CARL contributed views and statistics to the CLA’s National Values Profile of
Canadian Libraries, an advocacy tool that highlighting the importance of libraries. We continue
to work with CLA on copyright issues through a seat on their Copyright Committee (staffed by
Brent Roe).
CARL continues its membership in the Canadian Consortium for Research, a coalition that
includes 18 organizations. The CCR organized another breakfast with the presidents of the
granting councils, the Canada Foundation for Innocation and Mitacs in November 2013. CCR
also voiced its views on Budget 2014 and the Science and Technology consultations.
We also attended a library summit in Windsor to discuss common objectives and form the basis
for increased cooperation. The group, which brings together over 50 library and archival
associations, agreed to form a working group to define its mandate and to create a common
advocacy listserv.
Finally, CARl continues to raise awareness about relevant policy issues. Executive Director
Brent Roe guest lectured at Algonquin College and the University of Ottawa to discuss topics
such as library advocacy, copyright and government information.
For a second year, CARL provided three sessions at the CLA Annual Conference in Winnipeg
May 29-June 1. The sessions were on special collections, digital locks, and open access
advocacy. The sessions were well-attended and well-received. CARL will be sponsoring sessions
at the upcoming CLA conference in Victoria, including one dedicated to copyright’s
international dimension, notably discussing the ramifications of international trade negotiations.
For more information
Consult the CARL website for more information on our advocacy activities:
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Public statements
www.carl-abrc.ca/news
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CARL and Public Affairs
www.carl-abrc.ca/publicaffairs
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CARL publications
www.carl-abrc.ca/en/publications
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Canadian Association of Research Libraries
Tel. 613.482.9344
203-309 Cooper St.
info@carl-abrc.ca
Ottawa, ON
www.carl-abrc.ca
K2P 0G5
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