The Department of Canadian Heritage has issued its draft policy directions to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) for the implementation of the Online Streaming Act, asking the Commission to focus on “key issues that matter to Canadian audiences, creators, producers and broadcasters.”

Those key issues in the draft released on Thursday (June 8) include supporting Canadian creators and the Canadian production industry; advancing Indigenous storytelling and ensuring meaningful participation of Indigenous people; achieving better representation of Black, racialized and other equity-deserving communities; and recognizing the role of social media creators while excluding them and their content from regulation.

Other priorities in the directive, which was discussed in a technical briefing by senior government officials with Canadian Heritage via teleconference with reporters on Thursday, include the creation of an equitable, flexible and adaptable regulatory framework; and updating the definition of Canadian programs for both audiovisual programs and music to ensure the definition of Cancon reflects how the industry works today and how Canadian stories are told.

The proposed policy directions come just over a month after legislation to modernize the Broadcasting Act, tabled as Bill C-11, received royal assent. The draft will be published on Saturday (June 10) in the federal government newspaper Canada Gazette, Part I, for a 45-day public consultation.

Following the public consultation, the federal government will review all the submissions that have been made, analyze them and advise Minister of Canadian Heritage Pablo Rodriguez on whether there are changes that need to be made.

The government is aiming to issue a final policy direction in the fall that would need to be approved by the Governor in Council before being published in the Canada Gazette, Part II, with the CRTC bound by the finalized version that would come into force on the day the directions are registered, Heritage says.

The Commission would begin implementing the proposed directions immediately, with all components to be implemented within two years.

Support Canadian creators and media

Among the key asks in the proposed policy directions is that the Commission crafts “a clear methodology for financial contributions and obligations, including from online undertakings, to support and promote Canadian programming and creators.”

Other directives to that effect include ensuring the broadcasting sector will “maximize” its use of Canadians in the creation, production and presentation of programming, and ensuring support for community broadcasters and broadcasting undertakings “that are of exceptional importance to the achievement of broadcasting policy objectives.”

Heritage specifies that the Commission should “consider the impact of its regulatory approach on Canadian producers, creatives and other personnel in the context of how their economic opportunities and remuneration are significantly impacted by changes to the Canadian broadcasting industry.”

Meanwhile, the CRTC will “prioritize the examination of definitions of Canadian programs, in both the audio and audiovisual sectors,” which it will do through consultations, and “recognize the crucial role of Canadian independent producers and Canadian creatives,” according to a technical briefing document sent to reporters.

Diversity and inclusion

The CRTC is also being asked to “meaningfully” consult Indigenous peoples and organizations on how to support Indigenous broadcasters and creators with tools including expenditure requirements, and how to promote narrative sovereignty.

The government is also asking the Commission to ensure financial support for the creation and availability of programming by Indigenous creators and broadcasters, and to ensure that its regulatory approach furthers the objectives of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous peoples.

The CRTC is also being asked to meaningfully engage with and support official language minority communities, Black and racialized and other equity-seeking groups. It will ensure such support through expenditure requirements for the creation and availability of programming by equity-seeking groups, and by supporting the provision of programming that is accessible without barriers to persons with disabilities, said the briefing document.

Regulatory framework

Heritage is also directing the CRTC to adopt a flexible approach and consider the size and nature of broadcasting undertakings and the diversity of business models across linear, on-demand and social media services when setting regulatory requirements.

The CRTC “will regulate broadcasters fairly and equitably and ensure all broadcasters contribute,” according to the briefing document, which also said “comparable foreign and Canadian online services will receive equitable treatment.”

“Streaming services should contribute their fair share to supporting Canadian storytelling and music,” a senior government official told reporters on Thursday.

When it comes to social media services distributing commercial content, Heritage says such platforms should have to make a contribution like other broadcasters and streaming services.

“However, user-generated content and content uploaded by social media creators should be excluded,” said one of the government officials. “The policy directions clearly instruct the CRTC not to regulate social media with respect to the programs uploaded by social media creators.”

That exclusion applies to any content on social media that is not also made available on a non-social media broadcasting undertaking. The Commission would also be directed to exclude from regulation video games and content of podcasters who primarily use platforms that allow podcasters to upload their content without exercising control over the selection of programs for transmission.

When it comes to increasing the discoverability of Canadian content, the policy direction asks the CRTC to “prioritize an approach that targets outcomes, such as measures of audience size or the ability of users to find Canadian programs.” It also directs the Commission “to implement discoverability in a way that respects and, where possible, increases choice for users while also minimizing the need to alter algorithms of broadcasting undertakings.”

“We’ve said it from the start: If you benefit from the system, you should contribute to it,” Rodriguez said Thursday in a statement.

“With the Online Streaming Act, we’re acting to support our creators, our artists, our independent producers and our culture so that they thrive in the digital age. Canadians deserve to see themselves in what they watch and listen to, and this legislation is an essential step forward in ensuring that our cultural industry and our talent shine.”

Last month, the CRTC announced the timeline for its public consultations on the modernization of the Broadcasting Act. A dozen groups have asked for an extension on the implementation proceedings for the consultations.

Pictured (L-R): CMPA president and CEO Reynolds Mastin, Minister Pablo Rodriguez, and CMPA board chair Erin Haskett