Canadian Association of Disability Service
Providers in Postsecondary Education
CADSPPE
May 2, 2007
The Honourable Bev Oda P.C., M.P.
Minister of Canadian Heritage and Status of Women
25 Eddy Street
Gatineau, Quebec K1A 0M5
RE: Copyright Reform
We are the Canadian Association of Disability Service Providers in Post-Secondary
Education (CADSPPE), an organization that represents service providers for students
with disabilities in the Canadian college and university sectors. In this capacity, our
member organizations provide alternative format, e.g. Braille, audio and electronic text,
for thousands of students with a print disability every year. This support is critical to
provide individuals with a print disability access to equal education and equal opportunity
to succeed. Unfortunately, within current copyright constraints equity of access and these
services are in jeopardy.
Although Canada’s Copyright Act is among the most progressive legislative frameworks
for individuals with a print disability in the world, recent initiatives to amend the Act may
serve to introduce new barriers for three million individuals with a print disability.
One of the primary concerns of CADSPPE is the introduction of technological protection
measures (TPM) and/or Digital Rights Management (DRM) technologies. Current
technological protection measures prevent users with a print disability from using their
adaptive technologies to access material electronically or in other alternative forms. An
amendment to the Copyright Act must include provisions requiring rights holders to
make their material accessible to individuals with a print disability or intermediates
working on their behalf.
Secondly, we strongly believe that the Act should be revised to remove the specification
of formats that are exempt under Section 32 of the Act, and replace it with a provision
that allows for the creation of “fully accessible material.” The rapid change of
technology has allowed service providers to take mainstream products, and add
accessible features. Explicitly restricting the exemption clause to specific formats will
hinder the inclusion of beneficial technologies today, and in the future.
Thirdly, there is an emerging trend among publishers to require service providers and
people with disabilities to sign restrictive contract agreements before releasing accessible
versions of their products. End users without disabilities purchasing print copies of the
same material are not required to sign similar agreements. In fact, the existing Copyright
Act, as cited in all publications, is sufficient for all users regardless of format. This
contract forces persons with disabilities to unfairly surrender the rights they enjoy under
the Copyright Act. We feel strongly that the Copyright Act contains sufficient protection
for rights holders, and that it should supersede any contract law.
You will find that our concerns echo those of other organizations, such as the Canadian
Librarian Association and the World Blind Union. We urge you to consider these points
in your review of the existing Copyright Act.
Sincerely,
Canadian Association of Disability Service Providers in Postsecondary Education
Transcriptions Committee
Marti Algers, Candore College
Barry Abbot, Saint Mary’s University
Karen Coffey, Algonquin College
Sue Burns, University of Western Ontario
Mary Anne Epp, Langara College
Ryan Klomp, University of Ottawa
Tin Nolan, McMaster University