Act today:Sign the Petition to Update Crown Copyright

Canadians paid for it. We should have access.

Royal Commissions, Parliamentary reports, statistical publications…are the raw materials of good journalism and history in a democratic country. As it is these publications can be changed or removed without warning, especially if the content is not supportive of government policy or otherwise embarrassing.

If they’re deleted, you might still be able to find them via web harvesters like the Wayback Machine. Or they might be gone forever. It’s hit and miss.

The solution is to address Section 12 of the Copyright Act legal scholars have labelled a “legislative monstrosity” and called for its abolishment. It dates from 1911 and British legislation which has long since been superceded -- but not in Canada.

Open up the material we paid for.

Act now. Sign the petition to bring Canadian legislation in line with other democracies .

The online petition closes on September 23 so act now. Sign it at www.FixCrownCopyright.ca.