National Gallery Gouging Canadian Schools

The National Gallery is strong-arming the Manitoba school for $150 for a single copy of the photograph. Geist points out that this is ten times what the National Archives charge for the same service. What's more, the National Gallery has demanded that they have the final say in how the photograph is used. This is a public domain image -- it belongs to no one and everyone. What the National Gallery is doing is outrageous.

The school board has appealed to Canadian Heritage Minister Liza Frulla for mercy, but she has protested that there is nothing she can do, and that the gallery owns the copyright. (This is false.) Minister Frulla recently chose a foreign-owned HMV record store as a photo-op to announce new federal copyright legislation. Everyone can see where her sympathies lie.

It's everything we can do to get Canadian culture into the hands of our citizens against American domination. The last thing we need are federal institutions like the National Gallery working against us.

[Proofreader's note: this article was edited for spelling and typos on July 11, 2005]

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