IIC Canada Chapter Webinar

On Thursday, May 28, 2020, the Canadian Chapter held a one day virtual conference to discuss the latest developments in Communications and Copyright law. It attracted 537 registrants, primarily from Canada but also from the US, the UK, Taiwan, Ecuador, South Africa, Lebanon and Turkey. This figure was far higher than our in-person conferences had ever attracted as our registrations usually number between 200 and 300. Counting our predecessor conferences, our history dates back to 1980 so we were pleased with the level of interest.

Participants heard speakers deal with the following subjects:

• Resolving the broadcasting crisis
• Contact tracing applications in pandemic times
• Reimagining publicly-funded Canadian content
• Communications Law and Copyright
• Indigenous media in Canada
• Access to infrastructure for broadband deployment
• Mental health and the workplace

This virtual conference replaced our previously-scheduled in-person conference on April 20-21 which had to be cancelled as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Post-conference commentary was positive-in fact 100% of those who have responded to date have said they found it worthwhile and would consider registering for another such conference.

The entire event was simultaneously translated into/from both French and English.

A Canadian Chapter Board meeting was held on June 2, 2020 to debrief and to begin thinking about our next Conference. We have booked the Shaw Centre in Ottawa, our usual venue, for May 10-11, 2020, and plans are being made.