Canadian Constitutional Law

The Copyright Board of Canada and that various tariffs that it certifies rarely attract media attention. But a tariff recently certified received coverage by most major media outlets. That tariff, mandating payments for playing recorded music in weddings and other events for the years 2008-2012, will be collected by Re:Sound, a private organization representing record companies and performing musicians. If the events include dancing, the fee is double. This unusual media attention, often describing the fees as a “wedding tax” or “dancing tax”, is not surprising because it reflects how undemocratic some aspects of Canada’s copyright system have become. If that is not enough, Re:Sound now contemplates a threefold increase in the “dancing tax” according to its newly proposed tariff for the years 2013-2015.

This commentary was first published by Prof. Ed Morgan in The Globe and Mail on May 9, 2012.

A public school in Toronto thinks a clergyman can be invited to conduct Islamic prayers at lunchtime on school grounds. As a school trustee explains it, “What we’re doing is what we should be doing as a school board and that is accommodating students’ needs no matter what their religion is.”

A public school in Chester Basin, N.S., thinks a student can be prohibited from wearing a T-shirt with a Christian message on school grounds. As school trustees explain it, “It is expected that students will not wear clothing with messages that may offend others’ beliefs, race, religion, culture or lifestyle.”

Does Canadian law really get such a failing grade?