Canadian Heritage minister Sheila Copps staunchly defended the right of artists to be compensated for the use of their works at an April 4 Forum on the Future of Copyright in the 21st Century held in Ottawa. The forum, held in conjunction with the Juno Awards, brought together artists, users and others in the field. She likened the right of an artist to get paid for his/her work as being the same as the compensation paid to a pharmaceutical company every time someone takes one of its pills. After the conference, Copps spoke with Canadian Communications Reports about copyright and the need to compensate creators. She also discussed funding issues. While many in the film and TV production industry lament the fact that only 51% of requests to the Canadian Television Fund will be filled, the Canadian Heritage minister says that a decline in the production of Canadian drama can’t all be tied to the government’s cutback of its contributions to the fund (CCR Update, April 2/03). She also touches on the industry’s push to have tax credits increased for Canadian programs. Here is what she had to say.

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