Mitali+Trivedi



 CENSORSHIP: INTRODUCTION OF BILL C-10 Censorship is a phenomenon that has been around for centuries, and because of its derivation it has been believed to be solely confined to literature. However Censorship also exists in Politics, Music, different forms of Art as well as many other areas. Some may say the struggle for freedom of expression is as early as the history of censorship, while some state its origins in the Old Testament and even before that time. Whatever its origins, no one can deny its ever-increasing existence in today’s day and age which is why The Oxford English Dictionary and Webster’s Third New International Dictionary have jointly defined Censorship as: “The act or system of changing the content of, or restricting or prohibiting access to information because an individual or organization finds the information unacceptable; the deliberate attempt of governments, churches, groups and individual persons to prevent others from freely expressing themselves.” (Cohen, 2001) Film Censorship more specifically has existed in Canada for as long as films have been shown. Starting as early as the years of world war one, and continuing every since with many ups and downs, it is a phenomenon which has had its share of supporters and oppositions. Most recently, the concept of censorship has been raised through a new tax bill also known as Bill C-10, which if enforced under section 120 would allow the Heritage Minister who is currently Josée Verner, to withdraw tax credits from productions determined to be “contrary to public policy.” (Noakes, 2008 ). The arrival of this bill has caused a sudden uproar among the filmmaking and acting community, leading to a detailed debate among a storm of actors and directors in front of the senate. This report will go on to discuss in more detail the extensive history censorship has gone through within Canada, while also considering this new bill and its many elements and controversies .

 History of Censorship:
Due to the major appeal and influence motion pictures have on mass audiences they have always been more rigorously scrutinized and censored than other forms of art or media. The fear of the many negative effects they may play on individuals and society as a whole has been considered too great a risk to allow them complete freedom of expression. Canada has had a long and hearty history when it comes to censorship and even to this day Canada is one of the few countries where film is the only art form which is subject to prior censorship. (Hutchinson, 1999) It is a process through which films must be submitted in to a film-censor board for approval and classification/rating before it is given permission to be publicly viewed. “ Since there inceptions in the years before the first world war, provincial censor boards have been busy banning, cutting and classifying films, many of which if produced aboard had been already cut in their country of origin.” (Hutchinson, 1999). Censor boards and censorship had been in existence for quite a while before opposition began to rise on the issue of limits of expression and human rights. It was not until the 1960s when conflict on the issue became more prominent due to the major restrictions that were being enforced. “By 1963, the average serious film circulating in Canada would be classified Restricted with a few minor incisions in Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia. In Alberta, it would be ‘chopped to pieces’ or banned. Saskatchewan would badly cut the film. Manitoba would merely cut it. And the Maritimes would condemn it outright.” (Clement, 2007 ). Every province had their individual censorship board at that time, after which however most changed the name to ‘classification’ board, through which the boards focused on rating the film instead of banning it. However this was criticized as being same as censorship and believed to have the same affects on film creation and production. “Classification simply means that films deemed unacceptable must be re-submitted with further cuts until they can be approved by a provincial board. The difference between ‘classification’ and ‘censorship’ is simply that boards which classify films do not provide their own editing services for distributors." (Clement, 2007). A similar problem is being faced at the moment with bill C-10 section 120, which will be discussed further on in this report. In 1982 Censorship and censorship boards were stated as unconstitutional by the Canadian charter of rights and freedom and “In its decision of March 25 1983, the Ontario high court of justice held that the Ontario censor boards ‘standards for classification and/or censorship’ were in violation to the charters because they were too vague and did not qualify as law.” (Hutchinson, 1999). The courts acknowledged the government’s right to censor or ban a film, however they did not deem such decisions worthy of an assigned official. “This decision put the onus on the provincial governments to overhaul their film control legislation, and until that happens film censorship in Canada is bound to remain more lenient.” (Hutchinson, 1999). This stand taken by Ontario high court of justice’s 1983 decision was one of the biggest turning points in the history of Canadian film censorship.


The most recent controversy raised by a change in censorship towards film production in Canada has been the introduction of the new Income Tax Bill referred to as C-10. “Just as the Canadian Senate was about to pass a 500-page Income Tax Bill (C-10) last week, an eagle-eyed lawyer spied the above-quoted 13 little words”(Soupcoff, 2008 ), which under section 120 gives authority to the Minister of Canadian Heritage to deny eligibility for tax credits to film or television productions determined to be contrary to public policy. Since then, concern and panic has spread throughout Canada and its filmmaking community as well as other countries and there filmmakers who produce movies in Canada. “What seems to have escaped Ottawa’s attention is that television programs and award-winning feature films require an entire industry — writers, directors, producers, actors, set designers, technicians, broadcasters and distributors. This is a $5-billion dollar-a-year industry employing 127,000 Canadian creators and technicians working through 600 English and French, small and medium sized businesses across Canada.” (Soupcoff, 2008). These are all high valued jobs, and if this bill were to be passed it’s only presumable how many jobs would be lost. Many have critiqued the fact that Canada being a government supportive of entrepreneurship is not speaking up. As was stated in the national post “where are the Ministers of Industry, of Finance, of Foreign Affairs, of Human Resources and External Commerce — people who, in the face of C-10, might have a concern about the economic health and survival of this industry?” (Soupcoff, 2008 ). Actors and Directors in Front of Senate

StakeHolders:
As mention above many people have risen up against section 120 of bill C-10. Most of these people against it include the stakeholders such as “Canada’s creative community, including the producers’ associations, the performers’ union ACTRA, the Writers Guild of Canada, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, as well as all the opposition parties.” (Noakes, 2008). These groups similarly believe that this new more revised review that films will have to go through in order to be considered acceptable material is a lot like an echo of censorship, as Liberal Senate leader Céline Hervieux-Payette has stated; "We are concerned that if Bill C-10 is allowed to pass in its current form, the way will be paved for the use of Canada's tax system as a de facto censor of film and video production in Canada,"( Bowness, 2008 ). Even though the ministry will not be banning films completely they will be instilling guidelines on filmmakers as to what is suitable material. NDP Canadian Heritage Critic Bill Siksay has also stated that new democratic believe that it; “Is no appropriate role for the Minister of Canadian Heritage or the government in making subjective judgments about what is appropriate film or video content. In a country as diverse as Canada we must rigorously protect artistic freedom. Enshrining guidelines that seek to define what is “offensive”, “odious” or “objectionable” are inappropriate” (Trosow, 2008). This also leads to the critique as to how the minister or panel of judges in the ministry of heritage may have the power to set a community standard for the whole country.

 Supporter's View:
In contradiction the heritage ministry has come out many times saying that "Bill C-10 has nothing to do with censorship and everything to do with the integrity of the tax system. The goal is to ensure public trust in how tax dollars are spent,"( Bowness, 2008 ). while Jim Abbott, Conservative MP to the Minister of Canadian Heritage has also said; "We simply want to ensure that public funds, in other words taxpayers' hard earned dollars, are not invested in productions which are highly objectionable and offensive in their content," ( Bowness, 2008 ). There have also been a share of other supporters that have come out to enforce this bill, which include “ The federal Conservative party; conservative religious leaders including Charles McVety, president of the Canada Family Action Coalition; lobby groups such as Canadians Concerned about Violence in Entertainment and Real Women of Canada.”(Noakes, 2008). One of the supporters, Charles H. McVety, president of Canada Christian College in Toronto and president of the Canada Action Family Coalition, has said in his effort to support the bill that it would not only lessen the depiction of sexuality and violence in films but also “not only improve society but also improve the box office for productions by Canadian filmmakers. “I believe that a lot of them want to be so racy they lose contact with the public who don’t want to go see these things,” (Austen, 2008).Thus he feels if bill C-10 is enacted, society will only be affected in a positive way.

Can Bill C-10 be considered Censorship?
The debate has been ongoing as to whether or not the new bill and its guidelines may be considered censorship or not, according to Krug “Censorship is the removal, suppression, or restricted circulation of literary, artistic, or educational materials – of images, ideas, and information – on the grounds that these are morally or otherwise objectionable in light of standards applied by the censor.” (Krug, 2005). According to this very definition this new policy could be seen as enforcing censorship as it not only brings forth the removal or restricted circulation of creative work but it also leads to suppression of it. As Screenwriter Rebecca Schechter, president of the Writers Guild of Canada, has said “What the guidelines will do is a force writer to self-censor and second-guess how a government committee might respond to any given production.” “They will be trying to decide how much violence is appropriate and whether the sexuality shown will meet the criteria for educational purposes.” (Noakes, 2008). Many creative people believe Bill C-10 to be a innovative version of censorship, as it works in everyway to limit the freedom of expression given to an filmaker, from setting guidelines, to cutting unacceptable work, etc.

Only time may tell the conclusions to this appending bill, however debates are in constant rebuttal, and everyone is trying to make their views heard. “ Citing the famous aphorism that the price of liberty is eternal vigilance, Cronenberg calls the fight against censorship "a constant struggle." (Bowness, 2008). It has been, is and always will be an issue in question. Bill C-10 has more recently raised major concern towards censorship not only in Canada but around the world within the filmmaking community. Canadian films have always been very diverse and vibrant, with filmmakers given complete freedom of expression, however with this new bill filmmakers believe everything could change. Not only will they lose the governments support in financing there movies but they will also lose out on their creativity and liberty, which according to them will lead to less films being made, thus less jobs offered, and in a whole a lower economy. The ministry of Heritage and many others nevertheless believe this bill will bring out a positive change in society and is in no way inflicting censorship. So what is your take on Bill C-10? Should it be enforced?

 Videos on Bill C-10:
media type="youtube" key="ccNu_-1jCPY" height="344" width="425" media type="youtube" key="I1TM4dQBKA8" height="344" width="425" media type="youtube" key="Ve6RfUacTHQ" height="344" width="425"

Bibliography
Austen, I. ( 2008). Tax Bill Fuels a Canadian Debate on Film Censorship. //The New York// //Times. //<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; color: black;">Retrieved from: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/03/movies/03cens.html?_r=2 Bowness, G. (2008). Bill C-10 an 'absolute catastrophe': Cronenberg. Retrieved from: http://www.xtra.ca/public/viewstory.aspx?&STORY_ID=4506&PUB_TEMPLATE_ID=9 Retrieved on: February 3, 2008. Clement, D. (2007). Censorship. //Canada’s Rights Movement : A History.// Retrieved from: http://www.historyofrights.com/events/censorship.html Cohen, M. (2001). Censorship in Canadian Literature. //McGill-Queen's Press – MQUP//. Edition 3, 1-205 Hutchinson, A. C. ( 1999). Interpretating Censorship in Canada. //University of Toronto Press// 1-<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> 438 Krug, J. (2005). Censorships in the Schools. //American Library Association.// No. 1, 1-12 Noakes, S. (2008). In Depth: Bill C-10 and Canada’s Film Industry. //CNN.// Retrieved from: http://www.cbc.ca/arts/film/billc-10.html Soupcoff, M. (2008). Arnie Gelbart: Censoring Canada's film-makers by stealth. //National Post// Retrieved from: http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2008/03/10/arnie-gelbart-censoring-canada-s-film-makers-by-stealth.aspx Trosow, S. (2008). Bill C-10 Triggers Censorship Concerns. //AkoComment Tweaked// //special// //Edition. V. 1.4.6.// Retrieved from: http://samtrosow.ca/content/view/32/2/

<span style="display: block; font-size: 160%; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; color: rgb(207, 12, 12); text-align: center;">