A “deep debate” on the definition of Canadian content is needed, Canada Media Fund (CMF) president and CEO Valerie Creighton (pictured) told a Senate committee during the continued study of Bill C-11.

Creighton shared witness testimony before the Standing Senate Committee on Transport and Communications on Tuesday (Oct. 25) alongside Mathieu Chantelois, CMF’s EVP of marketing and public affairs. The exec supported the bill, also known as the Online Streaming Act, as a way to unlock “new possibilities to strengthen the future of Canadian stories.”

She suggested the committee veer away from trying to “tie up the definition” of Cancon during the passage of C-11. “Legislation is a very big, broad public policy direction that cannot get into the details, because it’s the details that will trip us up if we try to do it at this juncture,” said Creighton. “I have full confidence that the CRTC… [is] the right place to have a further debate, and a deep debate, on some of these very complex and difficult issues.”

The CMF has already announced its plans to hold an industry-wide consultation on the future of the definition, and told the committee that it will publish a “what we heard report” following those discussions. The report is expected to be published ahead of the CRTC’s policy review.

Both Netflix and Disney executives have argued to the Senate that the current definition of Canadian content is too narrow in its focus on content ownership, and doesn’t capture projects such as Netflix’s The Adam Project, which was shot in Vancouver and involved Canadian-born creators and talent, or Pixar’s Turning Red, which was set in Toronto and directed by Canadian expat Domee Shi.

Domestic industry stakeholders, including Blue Ant Media co-founder and CEO Michael MacMillan and Elevation Pictures co-president Noah Segal, have emphasized to the committee that protecting IP ownership in Canada is critical to ensuring revenue from Canadian content stays in the country to support independent, locally-owned businesses. In turn, those businesses will monetize the IP and invest revenues back to domestic creators, actors and crews.

Creighton attempted to alleviate concern that having a bill that supports the creation and ownership of Canadian content will mean risking the loss of jobs created by foreign producers.

“The intent of this bill was pretty simple in the beginning. It was to bring the streamers into the system and have them contribute to the making of Canadian content,” she said. “What has happened over the last few years is extreme polarization. We have a situation now where it’s the ‘we’ or the ‘them’, the traditional linear or the digital, it’s the foreign companies who do service productions vs. Canadian, and that’s quite unfortunate because the system isn’t like that.”

Creighton highlighted the urgent need for the bill, stating that CMF’s Experimental and Convergent streams are oversubscribed, and their revenue has decreased thanks to the domino effect of diminishing revenues at Canadian broadcasters. Regulations that require streamers to contribute to the domestic system will bring much-needed funds to support the development of high-quality Canadian content, which can then be sold worldwide, according to Creighton.

She shared that the CMF is currently in talks with YouTube and TikTok on how to support digital-first creators moving forward.

Documentary Organization of Canada executive director Sarah Spring shared witness testimony as well, emphasizing the importance of the bill to put support for Indigenous and underrepresented creators and producers into legislation.