Students Encouraged by Expansion of Fair Dealing for Education

OTTAWA, June 3 /CNW Telbec/ - Yesterday the Minister of Heritage, James Moore, and Minister of Industry, Tony Clement unveiled the new Canadian copyright legislation, Bill C-32. Among the proposed changes to the copyright law is a significant and important expansion of fair dealing to include the category of 'education' as an enumerated user right under the Act.

"Students across Canada are greatly encouraged by this move to expand what is considered fair use for education and learning, and we strongly believe this change will be immensely beneficial for students, teachers and institutions," said Tina Robichaud, Chairperson of the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations.

During extensive consultations for this bill, CASA expressed the need to reform copyright in a manner which supports creators, while providing strong protections for the education and research community, including the need to expand fair dealing to better support education, research and learning.

"By expanding fair dealing as proposed in Bill C-32, the government has demonstrated a commitment to creating new, supportive measures in our copyright law for Canada's education community," said Robichaud. "CASA members are concerned that this excellent education right may be lost in the debate around digital rights management, but we will continue to review the legislation and provide feedback to Minister Clement and Minister Moore to ensure that the federal government has a clear understanding of how this bill will impact Canada's students, educators and researchers."

The Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA) is a non-partisan, not-for-profit national student organization composed of 25 student associations, representing over 300,000 students from coast to coast.

For further information: or to arrange an interview, please contact Jillian Flake, Public Relations and Communications Officer, Canadian Alliance of Student Associations, Tel.: [phone] ext. 224, (c) [phone], Email: [email protected]