Access Copyright is a collective voice of creators and publishers in Canada.
annual report 2023
The Board is confident that, by combining Kate’s leadership with the many talents of the Access Copyright staff, the reimagined
Access Copyright will reinforce and promote the collective purpose the organization was founded upon while continuing to look to
the future.
Mark Lovewell
Chair, Access Copyright Board
Image credit: David Lasker
I closed my remarks in last year’s Annual Report with two thoughts. The first was about the importance of the royalties distributed each year by Access Copyright. For writers and visual artists, they are a crucial income stream and for publishers, they can mean the difference between operating in the black or operating in the red.
The second was that Canadian creators and publishers have waited far too long for the federal government to repair the severe damages inflicted on the publishing industry in Canada. In Budget 2022, the government itself acknowledged the educational publishing industry is currently unsustainable, the by-product of a broken Copyright Act.
These two issues set the table for what the Access Copyright Board anticipated was likely to be a challenging year.
In 2023, Access Copyright, along with a wide swath of cultural organizations in both English and French Canada, kept up its decade-plus push to implore Ottawa to fix the gaps in the Copyright Act that continue to annually deprive rightsholders of $21 million in copying royalties.
That said, Access Copyright is much more than just an advocacy organization. In the past, it has upheld the interests of rightsholders through litigation. At present, it continues to undertake the detailed processing of Payback and Publisher Repertoire claims, fulfills copying permission requests, distributes royalties three times a year and assists our licensees in leveraging their licence to benefit their organizations.
Underlining these tireless efforts, however, is the inescapable necessity to secure the organization’s long-term stability as Ottawa continues to sidestep taking meaningful steps to address the impact of gaps and ambiguities in the Copyright Act, including the application of the fair dealing exception as it relates to education.
In mid-July, the Board of Access Copyright announced the decision to restructure the organization and reimagine its future in order to ensure the organization’s long-term financial stability.
As part of this restructuring, Roanie Levy stepped down at the end of 2023 from her role as President & CEO at Access Copyright after over two decades of service to the organization, including the past 11 years as its leader. Other valued team members spanning the entirety of the organization also left. On behalf of myself and my fellow Board members, I would like to take this opportunity to thank them for their dedication and service to Canada’s creator and publisher communities.
At the end of 2023, the Board announced the appointment of Kate Edwards as its new CEO. Kate, who served as the Executive Director of the Association of Canadian Publishers from 2015 to 2023, brings a wealth of experience in operations management, advocacy, stakeholder relations and non-profit management. The Board is confident that, by combining Kate’s leadership with the many talents of the Access Copyright staff, the reimagined Access Copyright will reinforce and promote the collective purpose the organization was founded upon while continuing to look to the future.
The organization is at an inflection point and the participation of the Board, staff, members and the broad network of talented creative professionals which the organization serves will all be vital as we consider its next chapter.
Kate Edwards
CEO, Access Copyright
Image credit: Emily Doukogiannis
Being entrusted with the leadership of Access Copyright is a great honour.
As Mark outlined in his report, although I am new to the organization, I am not new to the world in which Access Copyright operates. Highlights of my first months on the job include renewing longstanding working relationships and beginning new ones too. I have been reminded that the organization’s work does not exist in a vacuum but touches all parts of the cultural ecosystem in Canada.
For more than 35 years, Access Copyright has provided essential licensing infrastructure to Canada’s writing, publishing and visual arts sectors as well to educational institutions, businesses, not-for-profits and other organizations. As we begin a new phase in the organization’s history, this work remains central to our mission.
Access Copyright is well poised to turn the page to a period of renewal thanks in large part to the strong foundation built by its staff, past and present. I am grateful to former CEO Roanie Levy for facilitating a smooth leadership transition and also to the team that has welcomed me so warmly to the organization under what are undeniably challenging circumstances. Their dedication and professionalism are clear and I look forward to working alongside them in service to Access Copyright’s members, affiliates and customers.
Reimagining Access Copyright’s role in our sector will be a collaborative effort. The organization is at an inflection point and the participation of the Board, staff, members and the broad network of talented creative professionals which the organization serves will all be vital as we consider its next chapter. Everyone in the Access Copyright community has something to contribute to this important work and I encourage all our members to actively participate as we begin a strategic planning process in the coming months.
Against this work is a copyright landscape in Canada that remains uncertain. The government’s promise to repair the Copyright Act and fix fair dealing remains unfulfilled. The rapid proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI) applications has reinforced the importance of regulation so that the interests of copyright owners, whose works are often used without permission in the building of generative-AI systems, can be protected. How Access Copyright will continue to contribute to the collective advocacy efforts surrounding both issues and be prepared to address new ones will be an important part of the visioning work that will dominate 2024.
There is much work to do but past history shows that there is a lot that our collective can accomplish together. I look forward to the challenges and opportunities ahead, and to working with you in pursuit of our shared goals.
In 2023, Access Copyright continued to press the federal government to honour its budget 2022 commitment “to ensure a sustainable educational publishing industry, including fair remuneration for creators and copyright holders, as well as a modern and innovative marketplace that can efficiently serve copyright users.”
We collaborated with organizations representing Canada’s creator, publisher and cultural sectors reminding Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge and Innovation, Science and Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne that repairing Canada’s copyright regime remains a job unfinished. In a galvanizing act of cross-industry advocacy on November 30, 2023, over 1,000 creators, publishers and concerned Canadians took part in the I Value Canadian Stories coalition’s Day of Action sending letters imploring Ministers St-Onge and Champagne to take action on copyright reform.
…repairing Canada’s copyright
regime remains a job
unfinished.
We secured significant media coverage throughout the year, including multiple pieces in The Globe and Mail, Publishing Perspectives and Quill & Quire, which routinely reminded Ottawa that government inaction on these issues continues to cause significant and negative impact to Canadian creators and publishers.
In October 2023, we continued to advocate for creators’ and publishers’ rights in a summary trial for the legal action launched in 2018 by the Ontario school boards and Ministries of Education (excluding British Columba and Quebec) against Access Copyright. The deeply disappointing decision issued by the Federal Court of Canada in this matter on February 22, 2024 continues to make it crystal clear: copyright reform is long overdue.
Access Copyright continues to grow our corporate-licensee base and increase awareness across Canada’s corporate community of our licensing solutions. In 2023, we were pleased to successfully encourage several of our largest licensees to increase the number of employees empowered by the blanket permissions offered under the Access Copyright comprehensive licence and for others to upgrade their print-copying licence to also include digital coverage.
Other highlights of 2023 included the release of a new marketing video that highlights how our comprehensive licence helps organizations meet their content needs and manage the risk of inadvertent copyright infringement, and presentations on risk management and the economic value of copyright licensing at industry events in the engineering and pharmaceutical sectors.
We successfully encouraged several of our largest licensees to increase the number of employees empowered by the blanket permissions offered under the Access Copyright comprehensive licence.
As Access Copyright puts itself on a more secure financial footing, we have adopted a remote-first work environment complemented by occupying a smaller physical office space sub-leased from the Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency (CMRRA) in downtown Toronto. This move has generated significant savings which will be reinvested in fulfilling our central mission: service to rightsholders and licensees.
In 2023, we also initiated an upgrade of the IT systems that underpin the licensing and distribution functions of Access Copyright so that they can be run more cost-effectively.
We have adopted a remote-first work environment.
Officially launched in 2022 by Access Copyright and Prescient Innovations as a pilot to serve the visual arts community, Imprimo was spun-off as a separate corporate entity in December 2023. With JD Methot serving as its CEO, Imprimo continues to help artists showcase and catalogue their work online, connect with new audiences and protect their work from unauthorized uses. Although Access Copyright and Prescient are no longer engaged in the daily operations or funding of Imprimo, Prescient maintains a significant preferred share interest in the company and Imprimo continues to license the use of Prescient’s existing and pending patents for the attribution ledger. We look forward to following Imprimo’s journey in 2024 and beyond.
In 2023, Access Copyright continued to press the federal government to honour its budget 2022 commitment “to ensure a sustainable educational publishing industry, including fair remuneration for creators and copyright holders, as well as a modern and innovative marketplace that can efficiently serve copyright users.”
We collaborated with organizations representing Canada’s creator, publisher and cultural sectors reminding Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge and Innovation, Science and Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne that repairing Canada’s copyright regime remains a job unfinished. In a galvanizing act of cross-industry advocacy on November 30, 2023, over 1,000 creators, publishers and concerned Canadians took part in the I Value Canadian Stories coalition’s Day of Action sending letters imploring Ministers St-Onge and Champagne to take action on copyright reform.
…repairing Canada’s copyright
regime remains a job
unfinished.
We secured significant media coverage throughout the year, including multiple pieces in The Globe and Mail, Publishing Perspectives and Quill & Quire, which routinely reminded Ottawa that government inaction on these issues continues to cause significant and negative impact to Canadian creators and publishers.
In October 2023, we continued to advocate for creators’ and publishers’ rights in a summary trial for the legal action launched in 2018 by the Ontario school boards and Ministries of Education (excluding British Columba and Quebec) against Access Copyright. The deeply disappointing decision issued by the Federal Court of Canada in this matter on February 22, 2024 continues to make it crystal clear: copyright reform is long overdue.
Access Copyright continues to grow our corporate-licensee base and increase awareness across Canada’s corporate community of our licensing solutions. In 2023, we were pleased to successfully encourage several of our largest licensees to increase the number of employees empowered by the blanket permissions offered under the Access Copyright comprehensive licence and for others to upgrade their print-copying licence to also include digital coverage.
Other highlights of 2023 included the release of a new marketing video that highlights how our comprehensive licence helps organizations meet their content needs and manage the risk of inadvertent copyright infringement, and presentations on risk management and the economic value of copyright licensing at industry events in the engineering and pharmaceutical sectors.
We successfully encouraged several of our largest licensees to increase the number of employees empowered by the blanket permissions offered under the Access Copyright comprehensive licence.
As Access Copyright puts itself on a more secure financial footing, we have adopted a remote-first work environment complemented by occupying a smaller physical office space sub-leased from the Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency (CMRRA) in downtown Toronto. This move has generated significant savings which will be reinvested in fulfilling our central mission: service to rightsholders and licensees.
In 2023, we also initiated an upgrade of the IT systems that underpin the licensing and distribution functions of Access Copyright so that they can be run more cost-effectively.
We have adopted a remote-first work environment.
Officially launched in 2022 by Access Copyright and Prescient Innovations as a pilot to serve the visual arts community, Imprimo was spun-off as a separate corporate entity in December 2023. With JD Methot serving as its CEO, Imprimo continues to help artists showcase and catalogue their work online, connect with new audiences and protect their work from unauthorized uses. Although Access Copyright and Prescient are no longer engaged in the daily operations or funding of Imprimo, Prescient maintains a significant preferred share interest in the company and Imprimo continues to license the use of Prescient’s existing and pending patents for the attribution ledger. We look forward to following Imprimo’s journey in 2024 and beyond.
The Access Copyright Foundation, which operates at arm’s length from Access Copyright, completed its 14th year of awarding grants to Canadian creators, publishers and cultural professionals. These awards are used by recipients toward research, professional development and events related to publishable Canadian works. In 2023, the Foundation distributed 82 grants totaling just over $300,000 in funding.
Since its inception, the Foundation has awarded more than 800 grants totaling $3 million in vital cultural funding in Canada.
2023 ACCESS COPYRIGHT BOARD OF DIRECTORS
2023 ACCESS COPYRIGHT BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Mark Lovewell, Chair
Lara Caplan, Vice-Chair
Linda D. McCollum, Treasurer
Arjun Basu
Diane Davy
Neil Harris
Sonya Lalli
Marcia Lea
Krys Ross
Eric Enno Tamm
Cara Yarzab
Kate Edwards, CEO (as of January 2024)
Roanie Levy, President & CEO (until December 2023)
EXECUTIVE & MANAGEMENT TEAM
EXECUTIVE & MANAGEMENT TEAM
Kate Edwards, CEO (as of January 2024)
Roanie Levy, President & CEO (until December 2023)
Michael Andrews, Chief Operating Officer
Megan Roberts, Head of Legal Affairs
Xin Ge, Manager, Accounting
Silvia Grunberg, Head of Royalties and Client Services
Joan Lewis-Milne, Head of Business Development
Stephen Sawyer, Business Systems Manager
CREATOR MEMBER ORGANIZATIONS
CREATOR MEMBER ORGANIZATIONS
Canadian Artists’ Representation
Canadian Association of Professional Image Creators
Canadian Association of University Teachers
Canadian Authors Association
Canadian Society of Children’s Authors, Illustrators and Performers
Crime Writers of Canada
Federation of British Columbia Writers
League of Canadian Poets
Manitoba Writers’ Guild
Professional Outdoor Media Association of Canada
Saskatchewan Writers’ Guild
The Writers’ Union of Canada
WritersNL
Writers’ Federation of New Brunswick
Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia
Writers’ Guild of Alberta
PUBLISHER MEMBER ORGANIZATIONS
PUBLISHER MEMBER ORGANIZATIONS
Alberta Magazine Publishers Association
Association of Canadian Publishers
Association of Canadian University Presses
Association of Manitoba Book Publishers
Atlantic Publishers Marketing Association
Book Publishers Association of Alberta
Books BC
Canadian Association of Learned Journals
Canadian Publishers’ Council
Literary Press Group
Magazine Association of BC
Magazines Canada
Music Publishers Canada
News Media Canada
Ontario Book Publishers Organization
SaskBooks
