Who We Are

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The Creators' Copyright Coalition is an alliance of the national associations, unions and collectives representing individual artists working primarily in the English language media in Canada.

The coalition came into being in 2002 as an ad hoc working group to address issues related to the reform of the Copyright Act and the rights of creators working as freelancers in the media marketplace. Our objective is mutual support and collective representation to government, and the public.

To this end we conduct research, hold workshops, make representations on behalf of our members who are the approximately 80,000 creators working in film and television, the theatre, the visual arts and photography, music and publishing. We are writers, musicians, songwriters, composers, artists, performers, photographers, directors, screenwriters, translators and journalists concerned about our continued ability to make a living. Our concern is to protect our rights in negotiations with the large media organizations with whom we sign contracts, as well as our rights as artists/creators on the Internet.

As Canadian creators we wish our work to be widely available to the public, to students and to other artists. At the same time we wish respect for some terms and conditions of use, including respect for moral rights.

As creators, we are deeply affected by the conduct of other rights holders who can and do restrict access to our cultural heritage and hinder the creation of new work, for instance, by charging exorbitant fees that prohibit use by all but the most affluent, or by denying permission outright. Issues of freedom of expression are often involved.

We believe a vibrant and rich public domain is fundamental to the health of our culture, and to the creation of art. We believe that access and creators' rights go hand-in-hand, and that creation depends on it.

The CCC collaborates with and supports the work of our sister organization in Québec, DAMI© (Droit d'auteur/Multimédia/Internet/Copyright).

The CCC's work is also done in collaboration with the Creators' Rights Alliance Canada / Alliance pour les droits des créateurs (CRA/ADC), the national alliance of artists unions and societies which was founded in 2002. The purpose of the CRA-ADC is to advance, protect and strengthen the economic and non-economic interests of Canadian creators, to study issues raised by trade policy and international treaties, to increase creators' awareness and understanding of their economic and moral rights and to strengthen these rights. The Alliance consists of an English Canadian Caucus, a Quebec Caucus and an Indigenous Peoples' Caucus. The co-chairs are (respectively) Susan Crean (The Writers' Union of Canada), Michel Beauchemin (l'Association québécoise des auteurs dramatiques (AQAD)) and Greg Young-Ing (The En'owkin Centre).