-- By TonyWang - 15 Apr 2024

Section 2(b) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms gives Canadians a constitutionally protected right to Freedom of Expression, which the Online Streaming Act will inevitably violate because it promotes Canadian Content through Censorship.

Something feels off right? Well, before we unpack what this will mean, let’s understand what Proponents of the bill will argue.

Subsection B

Unpacking this Trojan Horse

The CRTC is given the power to define what content is Canadian enough. How could a commission‘s definition of what constitutes Canadian possibly become problematic? Here’s an example. A TV adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s novel The Handmaid’s Tale, did not qualify as CanCon? under the CRTC, never mind that the novel was written by a famous Canadian author and the TV adaptation was filmed in Canada. Whatever reason the CRTC had to not deem this Canadian enough, it is clear that definitions around what is Canadian necessarily includes biases about what one believes Canadian aspects are important. But to define what is Canadian will necessarily reject other interpretations of the Canadian identity. For example, one policy goal of the Act is to promote English-French bilingualism to protect equality of the Quebecois, but doing so will reject a notion of Canada where a majority of French-speaking population is limited to Quebec, with the rest of Canada not proficient in French. The CRTC operates at arms-length from the federal government, with the power to promote through licensing and regulation content they deem Canadian on streaming platforms. In prioritizing their version of Canadian culture, they paint a version of reality they want to emphasize, but must inevitably de-prioritize “non-Canadian” content.

Although this Bill does not directly regulate content creators on social media, it nevertheless influences the content they make by incentivizing the streaming platforms content creators use to draw attention towards CanCon? and away from everyone else. To illustrate by example: if tomorrow the CRTC decides that 30% of videos on YouTube? shown to Canadians on their ‘for you’ page must be “Canadian Content”, and failure to meet this requirement will result in penalties for Youtube, then what might happen? Clearly, YouTube? will promote and prioritize videos the CRTC deems is Canadian enough by bumping these videos to the top of video search results and pushing this content onto Canadian users. This comes at the cost of content creators whose videos don’t fit into the CRTC’s CanCon? definition, resulting in their loss of viewership and revenue. Over time, content creators will adapt by changing their content to fit within the CRTC’s CanCon? framework, and the CRTC can indirectly suppress and censor content they consider non-Canadian through promoting CanCon? .

While this newly passed Act has yet to operationalize itself on a large scale, one can see how a slippery slope can form, resulting in an Orwellian shadow over content creators and the version of Canadian culture Canadians will be exposed to.