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Send a letter to your member of parliament!

Current letters

You can send these letters unmodified, or mix-and-match ideas from them into your own. They are sample letters which you are encouraged to personalize before sending.

General Copyright letter
Themes: balance vs unrepresentative intermediaries, TPMs on devices, Sony-BMG Rootkit, homeland security, petitions, C-11 FAQ

Postal Code lookup
Request that the database used to determine the MP from a postal code be publicly released. Search for PCFRF on this site for more information. Currently it costs $2,900.00 for the first file, and an additional $500 per update after that (updates twice yearly).

Historical letters


Still useful to read if you wish to send a similar, but updated letter to your MP.

General Copyright letter
Generic letter talking about Copyright, past Bill C-60, and the upcoming copyright bill (Still useful in Dec 2007/Jan 2008)
French General Copyright letter
A volunteer translated the above letter if you wish to send it in French.

FLOSS Outreach project
Letter informing MP about the FLOSS outreach project

Private Copying levy
In February 2007 the Canadian Private Copying Collective submitted a proposal to the Copyright Board to apply a levy on "Removable electronic memory cards in the Secure Digital, MultiMedia", "digital audio recorders; and" "any medium prescribed by regulations pursuant to sections 79 and 87 of the Act (support audio vierge)". Even though the Federal Court of Appeal has already disallowed a similar levy proposal, the Copyright Board approved the levy. Many Canadians, including musicians, oppose this levy as being unfair.

December 2007/January 2008 pre-bill letter
While a new copyright bill was expected in December 2007, it is now delayed until after the end of January 2008 when parliament returns. This letter is intended to be sent prior to that bill being tabled to let MPs know your concerns. It is focused on the 1996 WIPO Internet treaties, a very controversial treaty, and something we have been told will be part of the bill.
French version of the above pre-bill letter
Thank go to Raymond Lutz for this translation.

Letter focused on C-32
Themes: 1996 WIPO treaty ratification, claim Canadian law is weak or harming copyright holders, complexity of bill, C-32 FAQ.

Please encourage others to send letters as well.

Watch the count of letters rise.

Please also sign the Petition for Users' Rights and the Petition to protect Information Technology property rights.

Petition opposing ACTA, the dishonestly labelled Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement

We have other petitions we are sending to the Canadian parliament. Please print and sign all of them.
We currently have text for a petition, and are looking for feedback and people to help get signatures. Please join the discussion in the mailing list. Even though we never officially launched this petition, signatures have been collected which will be tabled in the House of Commons.

Please print and sign the following!

The text of the petition is available in English (PDF)/ English (OpenDocument)

Facebook groups of interest

Michael Geist has created a Fair Copyright group to discuss the upcoming bill/etc. We also have a group for Digital Copyright Canada.

Petition to protect Information Technology property rights

We have other petitions we are sending to the Canadian parliament. Please print and sign all of them.
"It's very important to remember that it's your intellectual property -- it's not your computer. And in the pursuit of protection of intellectual property, it's important not to defeat or undermine the security measures that people need to adopt in these days."

- Stewart Baker, then US Department of Homeland Security's assistant secretary for policy, speaking to a group of copyright holders in 2005.

Rather than using the term "digital locks", it may be helpful to understand these as "digital handcuffs". When "technological measures" are applied to our devices by other than their owners, they are like handcuffs being put on without us having committed or even being accused of any offense. We merely want to own and control our own computers, and use them for any law abiding purpose.

Please print and sign the following!

The text of the petition is available in English (PDF)/ English (OpenDocument) or French (PDF) / French (OpenDocument).

Petition for Users Rights

We have other petitions we are sending to the Canadian parliament.

2012 Update

While this was the first first petition we launched in 2004, it may now be the least effective. Please only sign this in addition to other petitions, not as a substitute.
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