CRA-ADC: What We Do

The CRA is dedicated to the following objectives:

To ensure that government policy and legislation recognize that copyright is fundamentally about the rights of creators.
To ensure that international treaties and obligations to which Canada is signatory provide the strongest possible protection for the rights of creators.
To convince decision-makers and the public that intellectual creation is part of the culture of a country by definition, and that the exchange of intellectual creation is not the same thing as trade in goods and services.
To ensure that the creation and/or implementation of any new rights do not prejudice the existing rights of creators.
To work for the inclusion of the moral rights of creators in the agreement on Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs).
To ensure that a rights regime protecting Traditional Knowledge is devised and implemented internationally.
To ensure that all tribunals dealing with the rights of creators include representatives from the creator community.
To educate and inform our memberships.

The CRA undertakes research in several areas :

compilation of existing papers
updates and information bulletins: summaries of negotiations and decisions; primers on major players and agreements
commentaries on relevant subject/topics
commissioned research on specific topics as required
advocacy pieces, for example, on challenges to creators’ rights
co-operation with the International Network for Cultural Diversity (INCD) and the Coalition for Cultural Diversity (CCD) to ensure that creators’ perspectives are reflected in their papers and positions.
review of the literature pertaining to creators’ rights
commentary and input to government officials on cultural issues and cultural policy that intersect with Intellectual Property (IP) issues
monitoring IP legislation in other countries

The CRA works in defense of creators’ rights on a number of fronts :

contact with groups within Canada (our constituency/communities)
connection internationally with creators’ groups
representation at meetings and conferences on IP issues convened by groups such as the INCD, the CCD and similar bodies
consultation with appropriate people in the Canadian government (and related provincial ministries)
participation at conferences and meetings of other organizations and in other sectors where the rights of creators are implicated (eg. conferences on digital issues)
building of a communication network
education within Canada of our communities
outreach to prospective constituencies

CRA-ADC