User:Cajundouble/Coalition for the Diversity of Cultural expressions

The Coalition for the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (CDCE) is a non-profit organization that brings together the main Anglophone and Francophone professional organizations in the cultural sector in Canada.

Originally known as the Coalition for Cultural Diversity (CCD), the CDCE works primarily to ensure that governments maintain their cultural sovereignty and their ability to implement policies in support of culture. The CDCE has called for the maintaining of cultural exemption in all trade agreements negotiated by Canada since its creation (NAFTA, CETA, CPTPP, USMCA, WTO). It also seeks to ensure that the diversity of cultural expressions is present in the digital environment. Since 2018, it has been calling more forcefully for cultural policies to be applied online, notably through the revision of Canada's broadcasting and copyright laws. It is recognized for its contribution to the worldwide mobilization movement that led to the adoption by UNESCO of the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions.

The CDCE is a member of the International Federation of Coalitions for Cultural Diversity (IFCCD), for which it provides the secretariat.

History
The Coalition for Cultural Diversity (CCD) was founded in the spring of 1998 by Quebec's main cultural associations in response to the challenge to the proposed Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI) and the negotiations at the World Trade Organization (WTO) aimed at liberalizing cultural goods and services. The Government of Quebec quickly supported the organization and, by the fall of 1999, the CCD expanded to include the major professional associations in the cultural sector in Canada.

The Government of Canada also supports the Coalition, whose objective is to take action at the international level to preserve the capacity of States to adopt and implement their cultural policies. The CCD is thus undertaking international mobilization work to rally cultural sector organizations to this objective. A first meeting of the professional associations of the cultural milieu took place from September 10 to 13, 2001 in Montreal. This dynamic gives rise to the International Liaison Committee (ILC) of Coalitions for Cultural Diversity, the forerunner of the IFCCD, which will be founded in Seville in September 2007.

The CCD's work in collaboration with the governments of Quebec and Canada, other civil society organizations, and numerous academics and cultural professionals around the world led to the adoption of the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions in 2005. The CCD then actively mobilized to obtain the ratification of the Convention by a majority of States, which it achieved in the following two years. The Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions thus enters into force in 2007.

In the years that followed, the CDC continued its international work within the IFCCD. At the national level, a number of issues engage its members, including trade negotiations in which Canada participates: the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), and the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA).

In 2018, the CCD changes its name to the Coalition for the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (CDEC). Today, the CDEC has forty member organizations representing creators, artists, producers, publishers and distributors working in the book, film, television, new media, music, performing arts and visual arts sectors.

The review of Canada's Broadcasting and Copyright Laws
Since 2018, the CDCE has been calling for the review of several Canadian laws, mainly the Broadcasting Act and the Copyright Act, so that Canadian cultural policies can apply to the digital environment. The CDCE participated in the consultations conducted by the Broadcasting and Telecommunications Legislative Review Panel. It also led the national Save Our Culture campaign in 2019, before Canada's federal election, to call on federal parties to take action to get the Tech giants to help fund and promote local cultural expressions.

Cultural Exemption in the Age of Digital Trade
The renegotiation of NAFTA requested by Donald Trump has suggested a possible loss of the cultural exemption that Canada has enjoyed since its first treaty with the United States. The CDEC and its members have been very active during the negotiations to argue the need to maintain this exemption. With the support of all cultural communities and the involvement of the federal government, the cultural exemption was finally maintained.

The CDEC is also taking a close interest in the negotiations on electronic commerce to be held at the WTO.

Regular Members

 * Association of Canadian Publishers (ACP)
 * Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA)
 * Association des distributeurs exclusifs de livres en langue française (ADELF)
 * Association québécoise de l’industrie du disque, du spectacle et de la vidéo (ADISQ)
 * Association nationale des éditeurs de livres (ANEL)
 * Alliance nationale de l'industrie musicale (ANIM)
 * Association des Professionnels de l’Edition Musicale (APEM)
 * Association québécoise de la production médiatique (AQPM)
 * Association des réalisateurs et réalisatrices du Québec (ARRQ)
 * Canadian Actors’ Equity Association (CAEA)
 * Canadian Federation of Musicians (CFM)
 * Canadian Independent Music Association (CIMA)
 * Canadian Media Production Association (CMPA)
 * Directors Guild of Canada (DGC)
 * Directors Guild of Canada-Ontario (DGC Ontario)
 * Fédération culturelle canadienne-française (FCCF)
 * League of Canadian Poets (LCP)
 * Music Managers Forum Canada (MMF)
 * Songwriters Association of Canada (SAC)
 * Société des auteurs et compositeurs dramatiques (SACD)
 * Société des auteurs de radio, télévision et cinéma (SARTEC)
 * Société civile des auteurs multimédia (SCAM)
 * Screen Composer Guild of Canada (SCGC)
 * Société canadienne des auteurs, compositeurs et éditeurs de musique (SOCAN)
 * Société professionnelle des auteurs et des compositeurs du Québec (SPACQ)
 * Union des artistes (UDA)
 * Union des écrivaines et des écrivains québécois (UNEQ)
 * Writers Guild of Canada (WGC)
 * XN Québec

Associate Members

 * Access Copyright
 * Agence artistique Duchesne
 * Agence Claude Girard
 * Agence Goodwin
 * Association des libraires du Québec (ALQ)
 * Book and Periodical Council
 * Centre des auteurs dramatiques (CEAD)
 * COPIBEC
 * Culture Montréal
 * Fédération nationale des communications (FNC-CSN)
 * Saskatchewan Arts Alliance