Bill C-12 And Art

CCA and TWUC will hold a joint press conference, followed by a public forum about Bill C-12 on: Monday 8 March 2004 11.00AM at the Ontario College of Art & Design (OCAD) 100 McCaul St., Toronto, Ontario The Great Hall, Second Floor (New entrance, underneath the new building) Speakers and participants will include: Susan Swan (Writer), Leon Rooke (Writer), Frank Addario (Criminal Lawyer, Sack Goldblatt Mitchell), Richard Fung (Artist, Educator), Luis Jacob (Artist, Educator), James Missen (CCA), and Deborah Windsor (TWUC). At issue is the freedom of expression of Canada's artists, and all Canadians, as guaranteed under Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Under the proposed bill: - artists from all disciplines who create works with themes involving persons under 18 and sexuality risk having their expressions criminalized - artists whose work contains such themes would be deemed to be guilty until they can prove themselves innocent of the charge (reverse onus) - the concept of "public good" would replace "artistic merit"; this is a very subjective concept that according to the Supreme Court of Canada, has not been clearly defined - under the new law, artists would have to prove objectively in court that: (1) they produced their work for the purpose of "public good and (2) their work does not exceed the limits of what constitutes "public good" - an expansive interpretation of "sexual purpose" and voyeurism will infringe on new and existing artistic works (including literature, visual and media art, film, and theatre) We believe Bill C-12 as presented is poorly crafted. We seek a re-framing of the legislation to better protect children and to allow artists the freedom to create. We believe the retention of the defence of artistic merit in the Criminal Code will better serve the people of Canada, both youth and their elders. We believe elimination of the artistic merit defence will not have any effect on the Government's purpose of eradicating sexual abuse of minors, nor will it prevent child pornography. It will only serve to create confusion and punish artists whose work, created in good faith, could be deemed in contravention of the new legislation. We believe the term "public good" used in the legislation has not been adequately defined and feel the "public good" defence is an unacceptable substitute for the defence of artistic merit. We believe the removal of the artistic merit defence will result in frequent challenges under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms at the Supreme Court of Canada. Canada's artists do not want to be test cases for poorly drafted legislation and should not have to incur the financial and emotional costs of being arrested and prosecuted in our country's legal system. We strongly urge the Government of Canada not to pass the proposed legislation as drafted and ask that the Bill be sent to the Supreme Court of Canada for reference, as has happened previously with controversial legislation. We do not stand alone, as the CCA and TWUC's objections are echoed by numerous organizations, including: Canadian Museums' Association, Canadian Artists' Representation, l'Union des Écrivaines et Écrivains du Québec, Canadian Civil Liberties Association, B.C. Civil Liberties Association, l'Union des Artistes, PEN Canada, Canadian Libraries Association, Literary Translators' Assocaiation of Canada, la corporation des bibliothécaires professionnels du Québec, l'Association des auteur-es de l'Ontario Français, la Ligue des droits et libertés, le Regroupement des artistes en arts visuels, la Société civile des auteurs multimédias, la Société des auteurs de radio, télévision et cinéma, le Conseil des livres et des périodiques, and la Société des auteurs et compositeurs dramatiques. Media inquiries, including background information on Bill C-12: Kevin Desjardins, Communications and Public Relations Manager (CCA) 613-238-3561 ext. 11, kevin.desjardins@ccarts.ca Deborah Windsor, Executive Director (TWUC) 416-703-8982 ext. 221, dwindsor@writersunion.ca - 30 - Kevin Desjardins Communications and Public Relations Manager Canadian Conference of the Arts 613.238.3561 x. 11