The League of Canadian Poets

ANNUAL REPORT

2011-2012 Year ending March 31, 2012

1 NATIONAL COUNCIL Executive Committee President: Susan McMaster Vice-President-Nominating Committee Chair: Patrick Pilarski Treasurer: Ray Mitchell Past President: Joe Blades Secretary-Membership Committee Chair: Mary Ellen Csamer

Regional Representatives Atlantic: - Quebec-Nunavut: Ian Ferrier Ontario: Terry Ann Carter Toronto: Allan Briesmaster Manitoba: - Saskatchewan: Lynda Monahan -NWT: Dymphny Dronyk British Columbia-Yukon: Janet Vickers Associate Members Rep: Sherrene Kevan

Standing Committees Membership Appeals: Susan McMaster (Chair), Patrick Pilarski, Joe Blades Membership Committee: Mary Ellen Csamer (Chair) Print: Roger Bell, Brian Campbell Spoken Word: Ian Ferrier, Oni the Haitian Sensation Nominating Committee: Patrick Pilarski (Chair), Lynda Monahan, Kathy Mac, Caroline Di Giovanni Feminist Caucus: Anne Burke (Chair)

Appointed to Outside Organizations Book and Periodical Council-Creator’s Rights Alliance: Bianca Lakoseljac Public Lending Right: Beatriz Hausner Access Copyright: Kelly-Anne Riess Coalition for Cultural Diversity: Fortner Anderson

OFFICE STAFF Executive Director: Joanna Poblocka Assistant Director: Ingel Madrus Administrative Assistant: Maryanne Casasanta

2

President’s Report Susan McMaster A parade of activities this year led to some good outcomes. We have completed the development of a new strategic plan for the next three years, including a revised vision statement that supports active engagement with poets from all backgrounds, types of poetry, and stages of the craft, and that stresses a wider engagement with the expanding poetry community in Canada and abroad. Some developing connections include links with Northern and First Nations poets through our Quebec representative, Ian Ferrier, who is also investigating how we might extend our French outreach. Connections have been made and strengthened with the slam, spoken word, and performance poetry community. At the League’s Ottawa event, I saw international slam poetry champion Ian Keteku reciting a poem standing on his head! And an important international connection was made last June by Past President Joe Blades, who was the only Canadian present at the international Berlin Poetry Festival.

In 2011, the Stursberg family funded the Jessamy Stursberg Poetry Contest for Canadian Youth, and this year, we are delighted to tell you that Judy Lawrie, Jessamy’s daughter, has extended this sponsorship by supporting co-production with the League and Aeolus of a beautiful book of Jessamy’s poetry as a young writer, The Silver River, which will be part of the prize from 2012 on. An expanded hardcover edition will provide additional revenue to the League. Thank you, Judy!

The 2012 AGM motion to establish a book award for the best book of the year by a League member has now borne fruit. The Raymond Souster Award will be inaugurated for 2012, supported by funding from the Souster family. A launch was held in Toronto last fall by Allan Briesmaster, and while Raymond himself was not able to attend, he was pleased by the event and happy to hear the many tributes from friends and admirers.

In February, outstanding poet and Honorary member Colleen Thibaudeau passed on. She was a longtime supporter of the League, and National Council is pleased to name one of the League’s existing volunteer awards in her honour as The Colleen Thibaudeau Outstanding Contribution Award. The Reaney family is generously supporting the award in memory of the poet’s gratitude to the League for the friendship and recognition it gave her, and Susan Reaney, Colleen’s daughter, will present it to the inaugural winner at the 2012 Festival Gala.

As you well know, we are in the middle of interesting times for poets. Three issues dominate: copyright; e-publishing, distribution, and sales; and drastic funding cuts to the arts. In October, I took poets’ concerns to Parliament Hill with the Canadian Arts Coalition, and during the year joined in the campaigns of the Canadian Conference of the Arts and The Writers Union of Canada. I also entered into discussions with Access Copyright, TWUC, and our AC representative, Kelly Riess, and attempted to clarify some of the options for poets through my Prez Reports.

As well, I was pleased to represent us all at events such as the Governor General’s Awards – what fun, and Phil Hall certainly deserves this year’s prize.

One frequent request in the recent member survey was for reviews. We are pleased to be initiating a new Review Page on our web site thanks to Colin Morton, Karen Bissenden, and Anne Burke, who responded to my call for a review committee. Another prominent request was for an expanded Mentorship Program. I was surprised to receive no responses to my recent call for members of a new Mentorship Committee, and hope that volunteers will come forward.

3 As chair of the fundraising committee, I did a small part to help arrange some highly successful fundraising efforts this year, notably the P.K. Page Trust Fund readings originated by Dennis Reid, which received excellent support from the membership and enhanced our public profile. I urge you to look closely his next project, the Planned Giving and Bequests program.

Unsurprisingly, one repeated request was for reduced costs. One project to address this is negotiations between me and Merilyn Simmonds, the in-coming TWUC president, for a mutual fee discount for joint LCP/TWUC members. With final ratification by both organizations pending, we hope to initiate a pilot project in 2012-13. In addition, we were pleased to be able to offer a 10% discount on League membership to joint members of the LCP and the Saskatchewan Writers Guild this year, in recognition of its substantial participation in the organization of the 2012 Poetry Festival in Saskatoon.

A pet project of mine is to reduce travel costs to annual general meetings. Beyond the 10% discount already in place with West Jet, a new arrangement allows members to donate their Airmiles to the League at no cost, to be used free by other members. We have one substantial donation already (thank you, David), and if we all throw some Airmiles into the pot, maybe next year we will be able to begin to help with AGM costs. We are also pursuing a similar program for Aeroplan points. Some other small but cumulative fundraising projects, such as bonuses on buying books online, are also underway.

As part of our effort to reach the wider poetry community, this year the League is actively supporting several projects initiated by members. The Poetrain Express is a trip from Toronto to the fourth Spring Pulse Poetry Festival in Cobalt on the Ontario Northland Railway, arranged by David Brydges with help from Allan Briesmaster. As I write this I’m packing my bags to join 30 poets, including Toronto Poet Laureate Dionne Brand, for five days of poetic fun. Another terrific project is Poetry City Mayor’s Challenge, organized by Bruce and co-sponsored by the LCP and SWG, in which poets from across Canada have been reading a poem to their city councils and stressing the importance of the arts for municipalities. And a new, big collaborative project, which I can’t yet discuss, is in negotiation. If it flies, I’ll have a very nice announcement at this year’s AGM.

Finally, increased communication is always a goal. One contribution on my part has been to initiate Prez Notes, an irregular mail-out to all members (including those who do not use the web) on various items of interest as they arise.

With great regret, I am stepping down as President. I have very much enjoyed my last two years as President and VP. The membership, National Council, and staff have all been wonderfully supportive, tolerant of my missteps, appreciative of my ideas and approach, and altogether much nicer to me than any novice president could reasonably expect. As Past President, I intend to remain active on those projects in which I am already involved, especially those that improve member services and outreach. Very generously, Mary Ellen Csamer, a widely respected Past President and the current Corporate Secretary, has agreed to take on the Presidency for the next year. I know she will do a marvellous job!

In addition, we are sad indeed to say goodbye to our excellent Vice-president, Patrick Pilarski, who has made a great contribution to all the activities of the League this past year, but particularly to strategic planning. His thoughtful, cheerful, and informed voice has been a true boon. We are lucky that Dymphny Dronyk, the past and very successful president of the Writers’ Guild of Alberta, has agreed to stand as our new Vice-president. We have already benefited from her expertise and enthusiasm as Alberta representative, and I know she will be an outstanding VP.

My resignation also means the passing of the torch of Past President to me from Joe Blades, who has carried it faithfully for the past year. Thank you, Joe. We look forward to your continued

4 engagement in League matters, extending it into what must now be at least a third decade (or fourth? – he’s actually 85, everyone!).

It has been a privilege and an honour to serve you all. Thank you very much indeed.

Executive Director’s Report Joanna Poblocka Overview It has been an inspiring year for the League of Canadian Poets. Our organization’s staff and national council had a chance to reflect upon and update some of its by-laws, and create a new Strategic Plan that will carry us through the next five years. Along with those initiatives, the LCP also focused its energy on reducing the financial deficit, fundraising, establishing a Trust Fund, and redesigning both websites: poets.ca and youngpoets.ca, while running its regular programming, such as the Readings Programmes and National Poetry Month. The LCP also joined in the efforts with the other writers’ organizations with regards to the Copyright Bill (Bill C- 11), ensuring that the voice of writers is heard throughout the process.

We are very pleased with the financial outcome this year, as our financial deficit continues to decrease at a steady rate, bringing us from a $40,706 deficit to $10,391 as of March 31st, 2012. This was achieved through the effort in keeping our expenses as low as possible, and showing increase in revenue from new initiatives to reduce the deficit, such as the administration fee for Canada Poetry Tours and membership fee increase, as well as an increase in donations and investments. Every bit counts. Next year we hope start building a small Contingency Fund.

Strategic Plan and Membership Survey As noted in reports by Susan and Patrick, we embarked on a Strategic Plan and a Membership Survey this past year. The LCP was working in collaboration with consultant Jenny Ginder (of Ginder Consulting) to develop a Strategic Plan. In the spring and summer of 2009, the LCP worked with consultant Ottie Lockey and developed a Mandate of the Strategic Planning Committee of the League of Canadian Poets.

The work with Jenny Ginder was a continuation of the progress that was achieved by with working with Ottie Lockey. With her help, the LCP reviewed its Council and By-Law functionality before strategic planning even commenced. Thus the plan was structured in two phases, both of which have been achieved with excellent results.

1. The Review of the LCP Governance and By-laws 2. Strategic Planning (including a Membership Survey)

As a result of the SP, the LCP has come up with Six Directions that we are going to follow in the next few years. The outline of those six goals is included in your AGM package, and is also available upon request by contacting the LCP office if you are unable to attend the AGM in person.

In the new fiscal year, 2012-2013 we have outlined major activities that will be taking place: • Updating the LCP by-law with the new Corporations Act • Fundraising $5,000 for the F.R. Scott Lifetime Achievement Award • Creating a new database • Continuing to deliver over 400 readings • Expanding and developing both websites, poets.ca and youngpoets.ca • Continuing to collaborate with other organizations on advocacy and artistic endeavours

5 General Artistic Programming We hope that our core artistic programming, such as the four readings programmes, websites, www.poets.ca and www.youngpoets.ca, National Poetry Month, the AGM and Awards will continue to be supported and will stay on their successful path. The exposure and promotion that Canadian poets and poetry books receive through all these initiatives is extremely important, and we are thankful and grateful as always, to the all the levels of Arts Councils that support those programs, as well as to the Canada Book Fund Program for the National Poetry Month support. You will find more information about the Readings Programmes in Ingel’s report.

Young Poets Initiatives www.youngpoets.ca In keeping with the LCP’s objectives to increase the profile of , the youngpoets.ca team offered a number of new initiatives in 2011 targeting teachers and youth across Canada. The youngpoets.ca Teacher's Lounge features an archive of articles and teaching resources written by Canadian poets and educators to assist teachers in teaching poetry. Youngpoets.ca created a Facebook group this year which is growing in membership. The Young Poets team regularly updates the group with news about our monthly Poets in Residence on our forum, announcing new calls for submissions for re:verse and posting links to new issues and events.

The E-zine From January to July, the youngpoets.ca team continued to publish re:verse, the LCP's quarterly e-zine for youth. Theme for the issues in the past two years included: ‘High School Confidential’, readers and writers were asked to share their firsthand accounts of what it’s like to be in high school. The resulting issue featured new poems written by Canadian youth on subjects including first loves, loneliness and not fitting in, the tragic death of a fellow student, and the pressures of trying to succeed academically. The poems were humorous, poignant and sometimes confessional in nature. The Spring issue of re:verse is a special issue showcasing the winners of the Jessamy Stursberg Contest for Youth. The issue is an exciting glimpse into the incredible and promising poetic talent of Canadian youth, and the issue honoured their accomplishments and serves to introduce these first-time published poets to a wider audience and encourage further publications.

It has been a pleasure to work with the national council and staff this year. Thank you for all your hard work, time and effort. Maryanne, our Administrative Coordinator, will be moving on to complete her Masters Degree in Fine Arts at the University of Guelph this fall. We wish you all the best in your new endeavours, Maryanne.

And last, but certainly not least, I’d like to extend a thank you on behalf of the League of Canadian Poets to all our supporters: Arts Councils, the Department of Canadian Heritage, and all of the donors, colleagues at other arts organizations, friends and poetry lovers—we are looking forward to an exciting and special time at the League of Canadian Poets in the near future.

Assistant Director’s/Reading Programs Report 2011-2012 Ingel Madrus Canada Poetry Tours: The Canada Poetry Tours program is funded by the Canada Council for the Arts. The program funded 109 half/joint readings and 89 full/solo readings for a total of 198 readings this fiscal year (April 1, 2011 – March 31, 2012). The LCP paid $35,125.00 to poets for reading fees and $23,457.02 in travel expenses for a total of $58,582.02. 115 individual poets participated in this year’s program.

6 New guidelines also came into effect during the previous fiscal year. The LCP introduced an administrative fee for processing the applications. Hosts pay $25 for a half/joint reading and $50 for a full/solo reading. The administrative fee helps offset the cost of administering the program, as well as, ensures that applications are being made for events that have been confirmed and hosts are fully committed to fulfilling the program requirements. This program had significantly fewer cancellations throughout the fiscal year, and an increase is communication with the hosts and poets in case of changes, allowing for improved administration of the program budget and distribution among the program applications. The administrative fee contributed over $5000 towards deficit reduction plan.

Province % of members per province % of readings per province AB 7.2 8.1 BC 18.5 22.8 MB 4.2 1.0 NB 3.1 0.0 NL 1.2 2.0 NS 1.3 2.0 ON 49.1 39.3 PE 1.2 1.0 QC 7.5 20.8 SK 4.3 2.0 YT 0.4 1.0 Outside 2.0 Canada

Readings in Public Places: Readings in Public Places program is funded by the Toronto Arts Council to fund readings distributed amongst the electoral wards of Toronto. There were a total of 30 readings booked this fiscal year (April 1, 2011 – March 31, 2012) and $3,000 paid directly to the poets. Each poet is paid $100 per reading. 18 poets were able to participate in the program this year.

The electoral ward with the highest percentage of readings is Ward 20 with a total of 20% of the events. The LCP continues to endeavor to disperse readings throughout the electoral wards; however, most venues are located in the downtown Toronto area. This fiscal year, the Readings in Public Places program successfully diversified to include an increase in readings among several wards that have not fully utilized this program previously. Notably, 16.6% of readings took place in Ward 43 (Scarborough East). The League hopes to continue the partner with organizations, such as the Community Arts Guild and Subtext Multi-Arts Festival to continue to bring poetry to priority communities, as set out by TAC, such as Kingston-Galloway/Orton Park.

WARD PERCENTAGE 14 3.3 17 3.3 18 3.3 19 3.3 20 20.4 27 13.3 28 6.6 30 13.3 32 16.6 43 16.6

7 Poets in the Schools: The League of Canadian Poets in funded by the Ontario Arts Council and distributes funds to poets for visits to classrooms across the province of Ontario. There were 38 half days and 38 full days booked this fiscal year (April 1, 2011 – March 31, 2012). For each reading, the LCP covers the poet’s reading fee, as well as travel, accommodation and meals. The reading fee for one full day is $300 and a half day is $200.

The total amount spent on the program this fiscal year is $32,000, which includes fees for Young Poets Week (LCP pays full fee= $2,500) and Northern schools (LCP pays full fee= $3,400 + travel). There was participation from 6 regions of the province with the highest numbers in Toronto and Southwestern Ontario. This number also includes school visits in both the North East and North Western regions. Each year, the LCP endeavors to distribute the visits across each region, with an emphasis on the north. There has been a steady interest in visits to Northern communities over the years which continued this year.

Area School Visits North East 13 North West 6 Central 6 South Central 5 Toronto 28 Southwest 18 Total 76

Classroom sizes vary from school to school and classroom to classroom, with an average population of 30 students. Poets have visited classes as small as 20 in a northern community to a library or auditorium filled with 200 students and 10 teachers in one session. 30 members participated in the Poets in the Schools program this fiscal year. Each poet brings an individual style and approach to the classroom. Lessons can include a variety of methods, from readings to workshops, dub, spoken word and performance poetry to a combination of several styles. Furthermore, most visits not only consist of a poetry reading, but also include hands-on interaction between the poet and the students through Q & A periods, music, and/or writing workshops.

National Poetry Month: The Canada Council for the Arts provides the funding for readings during April, the League of Canadian Poets’ National Poetry Month. This year, for the 13th anniversary of National Poetry Month, we celebrated poets, libraries and 25 years of the Public Lending Right Commission (PLR) in Canada. Together, with the PLR, we worked to cultivate Canadian poetry in communities across Canada, nurturing creators and free access to their work, by funding readings in local public libraries coast to coast. As such, the theme for the 2011 LCP National Poetry Month was: Nurture / Nourrire.

The total amount spent on readings was $10,000, which covered the costs of 80 readings across Canada, featuring 69 individual participating poets. Each reader presented and was paid for the duration of a “half-reading”, receiving $125.00 but no travel expenses, thus allowing more poets to read throughout National Poetry Month.

Province Year 2011-2012 Ontario 48 Prince Edward Island 1 Saskatchewan 6 Nova Scotia 2 Manitoba 4

8 British Columbia 14 Quebec 1 Newfoundland 0 Alberta 2 New Brunswick 2 Total 80

Vice President's Report Patrick M. Pilarski One key focus for the vice presidential role during the 2012-2013 year was on contributions to the strategic planning process. The League's new strategic plan was a significant effort on the part of both council and staff, and the result is something of great merit---a multi-threaded plan for long term sustainability and growth by the League. The goal of tangible member benefit in return for membership dues was a major priority area for me during my time as vice president. I am confident that our new strategic plan will give us the tools to succeed in this regard. As such, I encourage all League members to become familiar with the directions and goals outlined in the strategic plan; while we have a vector for progress, it is only with the ideas, inspiration, and hard work of League members and staff that we can make rapid headway toward our strategic goals.

A second vice presidential focus was the development and enhancement of League communication and community building resources. This involved consulting on the League's digital presence and public image. In this regard, I am pleased to see that the League's website continues to expand in terms of both its intuitive use and its potential for delivering member services. Congratulations to both our staff and our technical contractors for giving us a new web platform able to expand to encompass the future needs of our membership. I look forward to future innovation and infrastructure that will shape our online presence into a nexus for member- driven, dynamic content and resources. Our digital infrastructure will play a crucial role in growing and maintaining a strong membership base for the League.

With the direction provided by our strategic plan and our increasing financial robustness, the League is entering a period of transition; this change promises to positively impact membership value, increase and solidify our League community, and further develop public appreciation for Canada's rich poetic tradition and future. On behalf of the nominating committee, I feel that we have identified nominees with the necessary skills and outlook to transform our new strategic plan into concrete outcomes for the league.

The next few years will be an exciting time to be a member of the League of Canadian Poets. I feel privileged to have been able to help cultivate our shared vision during my tenure on the League's national council.

Treasurer’s Report 2012 Ray Mitchell “IF YOU GO OUT IN THE WOODS TODAY, YOU ARE SURE OF A BIG SURPRISE”

Believe it or not, and way ahead of schedule, the League of Canadian Poets is almost out of the woods. In fact, by some measures, it has actually exited.

The overriding message of the financial statements is that the organization is no longer existing by utilizing future funding to pay its past bills. In accounting terms the organization now is $2,775 to the plus side, although from a management sense, we are still $10,391 to the negative. The difference in the two perspectives exists because the PK Page fund is not currently assigned to a specific purpose and thus $13,166 has been netted in the financial statements against our deficit. 9

This does convey the message to the reader that the deficit no longer exists, may not be the actual case if the PK Page fund is used for a specific purpose. Likewise, the statements do convey the message that we do not have any financial issues left to resolve, which is not quite the case yet. This situation would not exist if the PK Page fund had conditions attached to its use.

OTHER MESSAGES IN THE STATEMENTS The balance sheet for 2012 sets out the Stursberg fund as a restricted asset of the League. This differs from the PK Page fund. This should alert us to the necessity, when a fund is established, of we clearly having the intention of the creator of the fund; set out in writing in a clear, specific manner so we can establish in our records whether the funds are restricted as to use or, if they can be used as the council/League sees fit. As well as the two funds received in 2012, we do have a 3rd fund received in fiscal 2013 for the Jessamy Stursberg publications and this fund is restricted as to use. As a result it will be reflected as part of the Stursberg fund, being a restricted asset and thus not applied within the unrestricted assets.

THE DEFICIT The League, through the actions of management and council, has brought the functional deficit down by approximately $60,000 since year-end 2009, the space of three years. This year’s $43,000 reduction included funds from donations to the deficit ($11,500), operating expenses being less than planned ($9,000), achieving the deficit reduction target set out in the 2012 plan ($9000), with the balance split between slight reductions in project expenses and gains in operating revenues. MEETING THE PROPOSED OPERATING SURPLUS OF $14,000 IN THE 2013 PLAN WILL BRING US TO A $3,000 SURPLUS WITHOUT TOUCHING THE PK PAGE FUNDS.

This achievement is three years ahead of the original targets that were set out in the 2009 Business and Deficit Reduction Plan. This goal been accomplished in unison by the League membership support, the League staff, who managed the financial flow through the year, and the national council who were overseeing the financial management. In light of the current economic and governmental climate, and with an uncertain future with regard to external support, this is a marked, great, and necessary achievement. Congratulations to all!

Membership Chair and Corporate Secretary Report Mary Ellen Csamer It was an exciting year taking on the new position of League corporate secretary. The duties of membership chair moved over to this position to give the vice president more time to work with the president and take on the duties of nominations chair. As membership chair I had the pleasure of working with Brian Campbell and Roger Nash on the print committee and with Ian Ferrier and Oni the Haitian Sensation on the spoken word committee. We welcomed twenty new full members and twelve associate members during our tenure.

It was decided by council to invite students in MFA and other writing related post-secondary courses to apply for assoicate membership, leaving student membership for high school level applicants. To this end, I have been putting together a list of programs in order to email information about League membership to course leaders. I also created a template for a letter of invitation to send to established poets who are not League members.

The League developed a Strategic Plan this year. As well as the above actions, by which we hope to increase membership, one of my key tasks as secretary, is to capture our corporate memory. This year, we posted on our website, Raymond Souster’s Making the Damn Thing Work and Betsy Struther’s A Selective History of the League of Canadian Poets. This brings us

10 up to 1985. I hope to do a third essay for the website to bring us to the present. Please take a few minutes to read these articles and see how far we’ve come.

It was a pleasure to work with this year’s council and, as always, an equal pleasure to work with our dedicated office staff. Your League is in good hands.

BC/Yukon Report Janet Vickers Thanks to all BC/Yukon members who sent me updates for this report. Unfortunately I had to select a fraction of your reports—a good problem to have—so much happening I couldn’t get it all on one page.

FESTIVALS & WORKSHOPS Gabriola had two major events. Haiku Canada celebrated its tenth anniversary last July, organized by Naomi Beth Wakan with a publication of Tide Pools: Haiku on Gabriola; and Gabriola Poetry Society successfully produced their 8th Festival under the direction of Hilary Peach with a fabulous line-up of performers from across this nation. In June the 2011 Whitehorse Poetry Festival founded by Clea Roberts, featured Elizabeth Bachinsky, bill bissett, John Pass, Miranda Pearson, David Seymour, Karen Solie, Rhea Tregebov, Clea Roberts, and guest host Eleanor Wachtel.

READINGS Two PK Page Trust Fund readings were organized in 2011: Dennis Reid in Victoria, raising $2200, and I organized one on Gabriola Island. Many thanks go to Derk Wynan, Marilyn Bowering, Eve Joseph, Patrick Friesen, Tim Lilburn, Bernice Lever, Sandra Djwa, DC Reid, , , Cathy Ford, Cathy Fern Lewis, Kate Braid, Heidi Greco and Sandy Shreve for donating their reading fees to this cause. Linda Crosfield read at WordStorm in Nanaimo in September; Kim Goldberg read at Seattle’s Cascadia Poetry Festival along with Heidi Greco, Kate Braid, and Catherine Owen—producing a commemorative ecopoetry chapbook Igniting The Green Fuse.

PUBLICATIONS Leaf Press launched The Wild Weathers: a gathering of Love Poems, March 2012 where you will find one of Linda Crosfield’s poems, and a new chapbook, You Are Here by Mary Ann Moore. Naomi Beth Wakan launched her book of essays and poetry, A Roller-coaster Ride: Thoughts on aging (Wolsak & Wynn – Poplar Press). Fern G. Z. Carr, was featured on The Globe and Mail online arts blog for her biographical listing in The World’s Lawyer Poets – Strangers to Us All: Lawyers and Poetry based on research conducted by Professor James R. Elkins of the College of Law at West Virginia University. For the Mayor’s Poetry City Challenge in Surrey, Heidi Greco was commissioned to write a poem to be read to council on April 23, 2012. The poem can be found here http://poets.ca/wordpress/wp- content/uploads/2012/03/Surrey-A-City-in-Six-Parts.pdf.

AND FOR THOSE WHO CAN’T MAKE IT TO SASKATOON … Annie’s Acres in Nanoose Bay presents Betsy Warland who will be guiding a weekend writer’s retreat June 15,16,17: Embracing the Between: A Retreat for Writers of Any Genre . For further information email Tina Biello [email protected].

Alberta Report Dymphny Dronyk

As always, Alberta’s poetry scene is as diverse and magnificent as our landscape. Vibrant poetic happenings (festivals, readings, launches, workshops, youth word slams, collaborations) continue to thrive in our urban centres – from Lethbridge in the south, to and Banff, to Edmonton and points north. And poetry’s roots run deep in the rural landscape too. Poetry is 11 created and published and celebrated all over our province. Here then a smattering of highlights:

Sheri-D Wilson launched the electronic version of the spoken word workbook: inspiration from poets who teach on February 15, 2012. She also launched her book - Goddess Gone Fishing for a Map of the Universe (Frontenac House). Sheri-D also guided her fabulous staff through another year of two weeks worth of festival events (In Banff April 04-16, and in Calgary April 17- 22).

“The 9th annual 2012 Calgary Spoken Word Festival was a huge success - incredible poetry and music - 65 poets - in 27 events! Our school program Word Travels has grown to facilitate thousands of youth and the festival set all attendance records this year. The poetry scene in Calgary continues to thrive!” Sheri-D Wilson.

Meanwhile, the Edmonton Poetry Festival, shepherded by Alice Major and her amazing team, celebrated the last half of National Poetry Month from April 22-29 with events in Edmonton and Fort Saskatchewan.

The Edmonton Poetry Festival ran with 35 events over eight days, including events in 10 schools -- making it the largest poetry festival in Canada except for Trois Rivieres. The festival is devoted to the full range of poetry, from page to stage.

Alice Major’s news:

o On June 19, Alice Major will be inducted into the Edmonton Cultural Hall of Fame. Other writers previously inducted include Rudy Wiebe, Myrna Kostash and Douglas Barbour. o Her newest book, "Intersecting Sets: A Poet Looks at Science" has been shortlisted for the Wilfrid Eggleston award (given annually by the Writers Guild of Alberta for creative non-fiction) and the Alberta Book Publishers Association's Trade Non-Fiction Book of the Year. It recently received a rave review in American Scientist, the prestigious, century- old magazine published by Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society (a non-profit society with more than 80,000 scientists and engineers as members). So a slightly unusual place for a poet to be reviewed...

Alberta League members participated in National Poetry Month events in both festivals - thanks to Peter Midgley, Alexis Kienlin, Diane Buchanan, Pierrette Requier, , Richard Harrison, Vivian Hansen, and Tyler Perry.

Michael Penny’s book, Particles, has been shortlisted for the WGA Stephan G. Stephansson award.

Jenna Butler’s second book, Wells, launched in April by the Press and the 2012 Edmonton Poetry Festival, where she headlined. She will be reading from it around England, Spain, and Italy this summer. Jenna’s third book, Seldom Seen Road, will be forthcoming in 2013.

She had three chapbooks out with US micro-publisher Snowapple Press this spring: Spindle, Love Letters, and Songs for a Broken Season. Smaller recent works have appeared in The Goose (Journal for the Association of Literature, Environment, and Culture in Canada) and the anthology Lung Jazz: Young British Poets for Oxfam (Eyewear Publishing, UK).

Highlights for the summer include being an invited poetry instructor at an arts residency in Italy, presenting at several literature/environment conferences worldwide, and taking over as Director of the Writing Works program for MacEwan University in Edmonton.

12 Look for Micheline Maylor's newest book of poetry in 2013 with Frontenac House Press or more recently her work can be found in Word River: The University of Las Vegas Review, or in the chapbook "Love in the time of Predators" edited by Patrick Lane.

Micheline is also Editor-in-Chief of Freefall magazine - look for the newest issue released in the first week of May and featuring an interview with Zach Wells and the contest winners as chosen by Stephanie Bolster, including Pamela Porter, Heidi Garnett, Sylvia Adams, Frances Boyle, and Joan Shillington.

Freefall Magazine's October issue features new work by Tom Wayman.

Poetry and fiction submissions for the open issue are open until August 31st. And the 2012 contest will be judged by Patrick Lane. Details on website at < [email protected] >

Vivian Demuth has a poetry book entitled, Firewatcher, forthcoming in the spring of 2013 from Guernica Editions press in Toronto. Also, Vivian and fellow league associate member, Catherine Mclaughlin, will be hosting an annual Poetry on the Peaks event at Nose Mountain southwest of Grande Prairie on Sunday July 29th.

Saskatchewan Report Lynda Monahan Saskatchewan is always a hotbed of poetic goings-on!

Glen Sorestad published his latest book of poems, the bilingual, English/Spanish volume, A Thief of Impeccable Taste, with Sand Crab Books in December 2011. The book was launched with readings in Havana in February with Saskatoon and Winnipeg in early March. Also his Anne Szumigalski Lecture entitled “Pristine and Startled: Ways of Seeing” appeared in the most recent issue of Prairie Fire, Winter 2011-12.

Bruce Rice read with Saskatchewan Poet Laureate, Don Kerr at Government House on April 11 in celebration of National Poetry Month. The reading was hosted by Lieutenant Governor Vaghn Solomon Schofield. The LG has hosted this annual reading for five years.

And here is exciting news! At last count 23 cities and communities across Canada participated in the Mayor's Poetry City Challenge. The challenge issued by Regina Mayor Pat Fiacco was for the participating cities to have a local poet read at the opening of their council sessions in March and April in celebration of UNESCO's World Poetry Day and National Poetry Month. The challenge was a collaboration between the Saskatchewan Writers Guild and the League. The Saskatchewan cities were La Ronge, Prince Albert, Moose Jaw, and Regina.

We are very happy to have Saskatoon chosen as the venue for the 2012 League of Canadian Poets AGM and conference.It has been a busy past year of planning and preparation for what we hope will be the best conference yet!

The conference is also a chance for us to showcase some of our own homegrown poetic talent with presenters such as Saskatchewan's poet laureate Don Kerr, Katherine Lawrence, Glen Sorestad,Paul Wilson, Bernadette Wagner, Charles Hamilton and Brad Bellegarde, to name just a few.

Toronto Report Allan Briesmaster It has been another year packed with multiple poetry-related events nearly every day, peaking as always in April with Poetry Month readings and numerous

13 launches. Local authors had books launched by Anansi, Anvil, Coach House, Exile, Guernica, Insomniac, Mansfield, Pedlar, Quattro, Signature, Tightrope, and Wolsak and Wynn, among others. Reading series such as Art Bar, Avantgarden, Brockton, Draft, Hot-Sauced Words, livewords, Mutual, Pivot, Plasticene, Rochdale Rhymes and Readings, Rowers Pub, and TINARS continued on a regular basis. Also continuing were Margaret Cristakos' admirable Influency course, and a variety of poetry courses offered by BookThug. There was Word On the Street in September, and the ongoing semiannual Small Press Book Fair. Harbourfront's fourth annual Battle of the Bards took place in March. Many League members benefitted from the Toronto Arts Council-funded Readings in Public Places, and participated in the Poets in the Schools program.

One special event I helped organize, and emceed, was the night of tribute to Raymond Souster, one of the League's founders, at Runnymede Library on November 22. Among those giving testimonials were John Robert Colombo, Greg Gatenby, Mick Burrs, Star columnist Joe Fiorito, who wrote up the event in his column, Norma West Linder, and James Deahl. Anna Yin created an audio-visual presentation which she gave with historian Terry Barker. This coincided with the recent approval by Council of my motion to name the League's new annual award The Raymond Souster Award. Also late last year, I participated in two fundraising readings for the P.K. Page Trust Fund: one organized by John Oughton and featuring readings by Maureen Scott Harris, Carla Hartsfield, John, Ruth Roach Pierson, and Carleton Wilson, and the other organized by Anna Yin in Mississauga and featuring Richard Greene, among many others.

Another, quite unique event which is about to take place as I write this is the "PoeTrain," conceived and orchestrated by David Brydges. Some 30 poets and musicians from the Toronto area and beyond are scheduled to take the eight-hour journey from Union Station to Cobalt, for the fifth annual Spring Pulse Poetry Festival there. David and I will emcee readings and performances and coordinate workshops and writing challenges en route, and an anthology of train poems is anticipated afterward.

Ontario Report Terry Ann Carter The second annual Versefest (Feb 28 – Mar 4,) was a huge success in Ottawa this past year. The highlight of the festival was “The Summit Reading” that featured Pura Lopez-Coloma from Mexico, Phil Hall from Canada, and present U.S. poet-laureate, Philip Levine. Other featured poets included American spoken word artist, Ursula Rucker, Parliamentarian poet laureate, Fred Wah, American contemporary poet, Rae Armantrout, and C. R. Avery (poet, hip hop performer, spoken word artist, rock and roll musician).

In the fall of 2011, League members Kevin Matthews and Terry Ann Carter hosted a League fundraiser at the Cube Art Gallery in Ottawa. The evening featured spoken word poets Ian Ferrier, and Catherine Kidd, and Kingston poet laureate Eric Fulsom. Other performers included Shane Rhodes, Colin Morton, Blaine Marchand, Monty Reid.

At the time of this printing, the list of Ontario poets laureate looks like this:

Eric Folsom, Kingston Bruce Meyer, Barrie Roger Nash, Sudbury Dionne Brand, Toronto Ted Amsden, Cobourg Ann Margetson, Cobalt John B. Lee, Brantford Marty Gervais, Windsor Penn Kemp, London

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from Marty Gervais in Windsor:

This summer and fall there will be an exchange of poet laureates in readings in Ontario and P.E.I. This begins in July with Hugh MacDonald, poet laureate of P.E.I. organizing a community reading involving Hugh, myself as poet laureate of Windsor, Ont., and Brantford Poet Laureate John B. Lee. In September, Roger Nash from Sudbury will join us for an exchange reading (all of the mentioned poets) in Windsor, but also including Bruce Meyer, poet laureate of Barrie, Ont. The idea is to bring bits of Windsor to other parts of Canada, and for Windsorites to hear the poetry from other parts of Canada., In the summer I will be participating in festivities relating to the War of 1812 and will read a poem specifically written about Canadian hero Simon Girty, a renegade character the Americans called “The White Savage.” He was so reviled by the Americans during the Revolutionary War that even today, some older Americans, particularly Kentuckians, come to his property outside of Amherstburg and spit on his grave.

from Penn Kemp in London:

Poetry in Motion features fifteen new and established London poets, sponsored by the London Arts Council. Curated by Penn Kemp, the City of London Poet Laureate and including one of her poems as well, the sixteen works will be launched in June and displayed on fifty bus cards inside London Transit Commission (LTC) buses running throughout London. The anthology will be up on www.londonarts.ca ..

From Bruce Meyer in Barrie:

I was made the inaugural Poet Laureate of the City of Barrie in November 2010, and am continuing my activities in that role. As Poet Laureate of the City of Barrie, I will be participating in a multi-city tour of Ontario cities with Marty Gervais (Windsor), John B. Lee (Brantford) and Hugh McDonald (PEI) as part of Culture Days in late September.

For Barrie, the IFOA Ontario will be returning to the city in October, and we will be participating in Culture Days. Halli Villegas is in the process of relocating her press, Tightrope Books, to Barrie and will be here as of May 30.

15 Quebec/Nunavut Report Ian Ferrier This year the Montreal International Poetry Prize, a $50,000 prize for a single poem written in English, was awarded to Australian poet Mark Tredinnick. Contest judge was former British poet laureate Andrew Motion. The winning poem can be found at the contest web-site: http://montrealprize.com

The site doesn’t say whether the contest will continue in 2012 or not. Don’t quote me on this (or do quote me) but the site makes it sound like they want to be able to fund the prize purely on poets’ entry fees, a scenario that sort of turns poems into lottery tickets. Mind you if I won the prize I might feel better about it.

Fans of Quebec poetry in English and of spoken word in Canada have two very good sites where they can spend their leisure hours:

Poetry Quebec is a project edited by poets Endre Farkas and Carolyn Marie Souaid. It’s doing an excellent job of presenting poems, articles, news and an events calendar for people interested in the poetry scene here and in Canada. You can find it at: http://poetry-quebec.com/

Poetry Quebec editor Endre Farkas was also this year’s winner of the Quebec Writers’ Federation’s Community award for his career contributions to the literary scene here in Quebec.

On the spoken word side, the Canadian Review of Literature in Performance can be found at http://litlive.ca Now in it’s second year, the site presents feature articles, artist profiles, scene reports from across Canada and reviews of spoken word. Hats off to its first editor Vincent Tinguely, who recently stepped down after founding the journal. The site is now in the hands of new editor Chris Masson.

Montreal poet Irving Layton would have been 100 this year, and it was heartening to see celebrations of this centenary in both Toronto and Montreal. I only got to converse with this great Canadian poet once, and he seemed much more interested in my girlfriend’s ass than he was in our conversation…a sign of very good taste, I thought….

February of this year marked the passing of another Quebec poet Richard Sommer, a man who has been part of the poetry scene here for more than 40 years. I first ran into Richard when he was teaching poetry at a graduate seminar at Concordia University. Richard was interested in Buddhism, poetry, conservation and how our minds work. I was an undergrad but somehow he allowed me in, and then did better than that by treating this very raw poet as an equal. He was a lovely man who even saved a mountain once, and there’s an excellent picture of his life and work in an obituary written by Lisa Fitterman for the Globe and Mail newspaper: http://v1.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20120322.OBSOMMERATL/BDAStory/BDA/de aths

Winner of this year’s Quebec Writers’ Federation poetry prize was Gabe Foreman for his book A Complete Encyclopedia of Different Types of People (Coach House Books).

I’ll sign off by mentioning just a few of the poetry events that have kept the scene ticking through the 2011-2012 season: The Atwater Poetry Project, monthly at the Atwater Library; Twigs and Leaves, monthly in St-Anne de Bellevue; the Throw Poetry Slam, monthly at Divan Orange; the Yellow Door and Victoria Arts Centre series, both hosted monthly by Ilona Martonfi; and finally, in its twelfth year, the Words and Music Show. monthly at Casa del Popolo, hosted by me!

16 International Affairs Committee Report Joe Blades, Chair This year, while I was your Past President, was exceptionally busy for me. I never did get an International Affairs Committee working, though a few members—Surpana Gosh and Jill Battson—offered to sit, and their offers are much appreciated.

The year started off big with me being asked to represent the League in an international meeting of poetry festivals and organizations held within Poesiefestival Berlin 2011. Many ideas and great potential for projects was shared amongst the mostly European poetry organizers. Later in the year another international meeting, one that I didn’t even know about beforehand, resulted in the creation of the World Poetry Movement: www.wpm2011.org. Their website states “The World Poetry Movement was founded in the context of the World Gathering of Directors from 37 International Poetry Festivals, held in Medellin, Colombia, between July 4–8th, 2011.

There they discussed the connection between poetry and peace, the reconstruction of the human spirit, the reconciliation and recovery of nature, the unity and cultural diversity of peoples, material poverty and poetic justice, and possible actions to take in favo[u]r of the globalization of poetry. One of the goals is to include most of the strongest international poetry festivals, poets, schools of poetry and printed and virtual publications, to increase our mutual cooperation and thus energize the individual and collective voice of poetry in our time.” The World Poetry Movement encourages the creations of poetry events on chosen dates throughout the year. I organized a multilingual “Leap Forward!” reading in Fredericton, NB on 29 February that was one of many held in at least 42 countries worldwide.

I was one of several hundred Canadian arts and culture professionals who attended, in person or via webinar, Canada Council for the Arts coordinated presentations on a European Union Cultural Program for 2013–2014 with project funding designed to partner three or four European cultural partners with Canadian or Australian cultural partners for projects in the 50,000– 200,000 Euros range. One time application deadline is 31 May 2013. Large, complex projects to develop and coordinate with 50 per cent of the activity of each approved Canadian-partnered project to take place in Canada. The League Executive and staff feel this would be too demanding an undertaking for the League to consider at this time. Consider writing a short article for us on your international poet–poetry activities.

Associate Members Report Sherrene Kevan As I am writing this report, I reflect on the accomplishments of the National Council (see their reports). For the associate members, I conducted a Christmas poem contest on the list serve. We had a number of poets that shared their poems online, and for me, it gave me motivation to start writing again, and to dust off those old poems and perhaps revise them or throw them in the trash. We put the poems on the LCP website for others to enjoy.

The next item is holding a wine and cheese for associates at the AGM this year. This event has not been done before, and I am excited to be able to meet with other associate poets in a relaxed environment.

The last event accomplished, was the poetry chapbook workshop which was held in Toronto this year. This workshop hosted by LCP, and taught by James Dewar. We had a full workshop (15 ) and a full day of information and assistance on how to put a chapbook together. I hope that we will be able to have more chapbook workshops spread across Canada, to help associates and other members achieve this publication. It was a great way for me to go back over my poems and see what I still liked or those that needed revisions. Getting a chapbook published is a good way to increase your own publications especially for your Access Copyright claims. I am still working on my first chapbook as I find it will take time to put the right poems

17 together, and also create new ones. I hope associate poets from each province will be motivated to initiate more chapbook workshops.

The first item on the agenda for associate poets for this coming year is to create a new survey just for associate members. I will be asking for all associate members to provide me with questions that can be added to the survey. If you have a question that needs to be answered than likely other associates are wanting the same.

I look forward to this new year of serving our associate members!

Report from the Feminist Caucus Anne Burke, Chair This has been a very busy and fruitful year for the Caucus. Our planned programming, since the 2011 annual general meeting in Toronto, has been fully implemented:

• Celebration of our 30th Anniversary of The Living Archives Series of publications, dealing with Women, Poetry and Language, will take place in Saskatoon. The League office has made available 2 copies of each title for display and sale. • 2) A Retrospective of Drawings by internationally-known artist and award-winning author Heather Spears. She has offered originals of portraits she produced during the League meeting over the years. These will be displayed and available for sale. Copies of Heather’s Line by Line: Poems and Portraits of 50 Canadian Poets, published by Ekstasis Press, will also be available. • 3) our Feminist Caucus Panel: “Poetry and the Disorganized Mind”, is on Friday, June 15, at 2-3 p.m. Thank you to fellow panelists, Penn Kemp, Glen Sorestad, Janet Vickers, and our moderator Lynda Monahan, for all their contributions. POPLAR ROOM • Friday, June 15, our Feminist Caucus Meeting & Launch/Readings 3-4 p.m. Please bring your ideas for next year! Open Reading All welcome. POPLAR ROOM • Launch of Epiphanies: Moments in Your Writing Life Which Change You Forever papers by Magie Dominic, Katerina Fretwell, and Susan McCaslin. Other epiphanies are by Brian Campbell, Cathy Ford, David Fraser, Suparna Ghosh, Linda Hutsell- Manning, Crystal Hurdle, Candice James, Penn Kemp, M. Travis Lane, Bernice Lever, Honey Novick, Claudia Coutu Radmore, Nela Rio, and Carolyn Zonailo. This will take place on Friday, June 15, during the Feminist Caucus Meeting & Launch Reading 3-4 p.m. POPLAR ROOM • On Saturday, June 16, there will be readings, from 4:15 to 5:15 p.m. by featured guest readers: Bernadette Wagner, Katherine Lawrence, Mary Ellen Csamer, and Terry Ann Carter OAK ROOM

On the fiscal side The League administers the sale of certain publications referred to as Living Archives on behalf of others. Prior to 1997 sales revenues in excess of expenses were accounted for as deferred contributions on the statement of financial position. Beginning in the year ended March 31 1997 the annual revenues and expenses have been accounted for as revenues and expenses of the League in the statement of operations and changes in net assets. Cummulative revenues and expenses, since the beginning of the year ended March 31, 1997, are as follows: Total revenues 2011 $5,815 and $5,308 2010. Total expenses 2011 $2,661 and $2,647 2010. The positive balance for 2011 is $3,154 and $2,647 in 2010.

Thank you for your continued support and enthusiasm.

18 Public Lending Right Report Beatriz Hausner The Public Lending Right Commission is hard at work on your behalf. 2011 turned out to be a year of several milestones, including the beginning of what I would say was a needed “modernization” of the program.

The year began with an internal audit of the program. Among the objectives of the audit was the possibility of bringing greater clarity to bear on the relationship between the PLRC and the Canada Council and to reexamine the sampling methods. As a member of the Executive committee, I was interviewed during the process. The results of the audit are proving helpful in ongoing discussions around the program, its governance and the impact of electronic books on the program.

Related to this process was the development and release in June of 2011 of the report on ebooks, authored by Paul Whitney. It is a fine analysis of the current situation surrounding ebooks in Canada, their publication, distribution and use through public libraries. The report is available through the PLR web site at www.plr-dpp.ca (once in the site, click on the “News Archive” link). I recommend it to anyone interested in the subject.

The ebook report, commissioned by the Canada Council, fits within a larger review of the PLR program currently underway. I support this review, because, having turned the quarter century corner, as it were, the program needs to be fortified in the face of a political climate often hostile to the arts. More importantly, the program needs to be kept relevant. To that end, Roy MacSkimming was commissioned by the Canada Council to investigate and report on the history and foundation of Public Lending Right in Canada. His policy report was presented to the Commission in December 2011. MacSkimming’s research paper (also available through the website) makes for a very interesting and good read about the history of PLR, which so closely parallels the history of poetry publishing in this country.

2011 marked the 25th anniversary of Public Lending Right in Canada. Celebrations began with the League’s dedication of National Poetry Month to PLR. You will recall that the readings held to celebration NPM were themed around Public Lending Right. The other writers’ groups represented on the Commission marked the 25th anniversary with conferences and literary programs of their own, including the closing event organized by UNEQ and held at the Grande Bibliothèque in Montreal, this past February, when the fiscal year and the celebrations were concluded.

Access Copyright Report Kelly Ann Riess

Background Access Copyright meets the needs of educational institutions, businesses, governments and other organizations across Canada with copyright licensing solutions. Founded in 1988 as a not- for-profit organization, by a group of authors and publishers, Access Copyright strives to protect the value of their intellectual property by ensuring fair compensation when their works are copied. Through agreements with other copyright organizations around the world, Access Copyright provides licensees with access to a growing repertoire of more than 20 million books, magazines, newspapers and other publications. Access Copyright represents the reproduction rights and distributes royalties to over 10,000 Canadian authors and visual artists and 600 publishers. Since its inception, Access Copyright has distributed over $300 million in royalties to rights holders.

Access Copyright faced a culmination of licensing and legislative challenges in 2011 detailed below.

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Access Copyright Interim Post-Secondary Educational Institutions Tariff, 2011-2013 Post-secondary educational institutions could continue to make photocopies from portions of published works on the same terms as the institutions’ previous licence agreements with Access Copyright, while ensuring that creators and publishers continue to be fairly compensated for the use of their works. The Copyright Board examined the history of the relationship and negotiations between Access Copyright and the educational institutions and found that Access Copyright had acted reasonably during the process.

The Copyright Board’s Decision on Transactional Licensing A number of post-secondary educational institutions decided to try to operate without the need of the Interim Tariff. But in order to do so, many of them needed to replace the Interim Tariff with individual transactional licences, and in June 2011 asked the Copyright Board to force Access Copyright to clear works on a transactional basis. In September, the Copyright Board issued its decision on transactional licensing. The Board refused to force Access Copyright to clear works on a one-off, transactional basis. The Copyright Board agreed with Access Copyright that, for now, transactional licences are not well suited to a digital environment. The Board stated that “based on the information available, in this market and for the time being, a digital transactional business model does not ensure that rights holders get paid for the uses of their works.” The Educational Institutions have since applied for judicial review of this decision.

K-12 Tariff In December, the Supreme Court of Canada heard the appeal of the K-12 tariff by the Council of Ministers of Education (excluding Quebec) and the Ontario school boards. Access Copyright is cautiously optimistic as it awaits the decision of the Supreme Court, which is expected sometime in 2012.

Copyright Reform – Working together to make changes to Bill C-11 Bill C-11 was introduced last September and is a carbon copy of its predecessor Bill C-32. The new copyright bill proposes to expand the Copyright Act’s existing fair dealing exceptions to add three new allowable purposes. At the top of the list is education. Without a clear, practical amendment to the bill, this significant change would create marketplace uncertainty costing writers and publishers millions in lost revenue at the same time that they will need to undertake costly and long drawn out litigation to have the courts interpret the new law. Groups such as the Association of Canadian Publishers (ACP), Association National des éditeurs de livres (ANEL), Canadian Authors Association (CAA), the Canadian Society of Children’s Authors Illustrators and Performers (CANSCAIP), the Canadian Educational Resources Council (CERC), COPIBEC, the Canadian Publishers’ Council (CPC), Literary Press Group (LPG), Playwright’s Guild of Canada (PGC), the Professional Writers Association of Canada (PWAC), the Writers’ Union of Canada (TWUC), Unions des écrivaines et des écrivains Québécois (UNEQ) and many others have been galvanized to work together as a result of this legislation. The motivation to work together is due in part to the concerns that these groups have about the bill.

Payback In 2011, Payback distributed $3,824,016 to 9,342 individuals. Payback is an annual royalty payment for writers and visual artists that recognize the values that affiliates contribute to Access Copyright’s repertoire of works. Each year all eligible affiliates receive a share of Payback payments depending on how much they contributed to the number of works that are licensed by Access Copyright.

Payback Satisfaction Survey Access Copyright surveyed creators involved in the 2011 Payback program. The topic was creator affiliate satisfaction with the Payback program, including the communications process,

20 access, cost, fairness, responsiveness and reliability and overall satisfaction. In all, 2,104 creator affiliates responded to Access Copyright’s invitation by providing feedback on the Payback process. Overall satisfaction with Payback scored well, 83 per cent of respondents expressed satisfaction with Payback. ace for Creator and Publisher Affiliates ace Creator is a comprehensive, password protected web-based service that allows affiliates to access their content anywhere at any time. Creators will be able to store multiple file formats, archive, retrieve, repurpose and track writing edits. Creators will be able to manage their entire collection of works in digital form from one secure location and maximize their earning potential.

Compliance As part of Access Copyright’s ongoing efforts to educate and promote copyright compliance, Access Copyright helps businesses, academic institutions, copy shops and other users of copyrighted materials comply with copyright through Access Copyright’s range of listening solutions. To ensure compliance with the Copyright Act, Access Copyright actively investigate unlawful copying of published works across Canada. In 2011, Access Copyright was successful in three copyright infringement cases.

Coalition for Cultural Diversity Report Fortner Anderson In April of this year, the Canadian Coalition for Cultural Diversity was informed by the Ministry of Heritage that the Harper government will reduce the Coalition’s funding by half in 2012 and eliminate federal funding of the Coalition in 2013. This loss of $150,000 represents about half of the operating budget of the Coalition. Though the Quebec government will continue to support the Coalition, the loss of Federal funding will likely mean a drastic reduction in its staff and its overall capacities.

The elimination of Federal funding to the Canadian Conference of the Arts, to the Coalition and other Canadian cultural institutions including the voluntary contributions to the UNESCO International Fund for Cultural Diversity presents a worrisome signal to the cultural sector for the years to come.

These cuts come at a time when the Canadian government is seeking trade liberalization with a number of countries including the European Union, India, Japan, Korea, Morocco, Thailand and the countries of the Transpacific Accord. The elimination of funding to the Canadian Coalition will reduce the capacity of civil society as a whole and civil society in Canada in particular to respond to proposed new trade agreements. It is likely that these agreements will have a direct impact on Canadian cultural policies, regulations and financing.

The Coalition, which hopes to continue functionning, is currently studying its options and will make an announcement of its plans to cope with the cut following a board meeting in early June.

Background “The members of the Coalition affirm that cultural diversity is a fundamental human right and that countries and governments be entirely free to adopt the policies necessary to support the diversity of cultural expression and the viability of enterprises that produce and disseminate this expression. Consequently, the Coalition defends the following principle: Cultural policy must not be subject to the constraints of international trade agreements.” Mandate of the Coalition for Cultural Diversity

Founded in 1998, the Coalition brings together 34 of the leading Canadian cultural associations working together to protect and promote Canadian cultural sovereignty. The League of Canadian Poets is a member of the Canadian Coalition for Cultural Diversity.

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The Canadian Coalition has been central to the effort to create and support an international network of national coalitions. These came together in 2007 as the International Federation For Cultural Diversity. The 76 member coalitions of the Federation have exerted pressure on their respective governments to sign and implement the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions.

As of May 2012, 121 countries as well as the European Union have ratified the Convention. Canada was one of the first signatory countries. This was due in large part to the strong support for the effort from cultural associations across Canada.

Current work of the Coalition The Coalition continues its international work, trying to increase the number of countries which are signatory to the UNESCO convention. The International Coalition of which Canada is the chief participant is active as the representative of civil society within the UNESCO negotiations as they negotiate the regulations that will give life to the instrument.

The International Coalition and its sister organizations are also working in several different countries to increase the force of the instrument by using it within the context of civil case law. This is done within the context of court cases, which are relevant to the issues of cultural diversity. As civil judges refer to the UNESCO treaty in their judgments, the instrument will gain presence and force within civil society. This work is slow and to date has had a few minor successes.

The United States has not signed the UNESCO instrument, and it is clear that will never sign. It continues to hinder the implementation of the regulations that would give the instrument strength and it undermines the instrument with bi-lateral free-trade treaty negotiations in which they consider culture a commodity. As such it is not allowed for either country to create preferential market conditions to protect or promote their cultural industries.

Recommendation Though the Coalition is undergoing a difficult period, I recommend that the League re-affirm its support of the mandate of the Coalition and renew its membership within it. Membership in the CCD places the League in a context where its voice is heard among the other leading Canadian cultural associations on an issue of national consequence.

For more information on the Coalition, see the following websites: www.ifccd.com International Federation of Coalitions for Cultural Diversity; www.cdc-ccd.org Canadian Coalition for Cultural Diversity; www.unesco.org and search under the title of the Convention for its full text and further information.

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