The PEI Home and School Federation was invited to speak to the Prince Edward Island Standing Committee on Education and Innovation on Tuesday, September 30, 2014. The following is the text of the presentation that was delivered. The presentation was followed by 10 minutes of questions.

Mr. Chair, members of the committee, thank you for the invitation to present to you today on behalf of the PEI Home and School Federation.

Our Federation represents local Home & School associations in 53 English language public schools across Prince Edward Island. We count in our membership all of the parents & guardians, administrators, teachers and staff in those schools: roughly 40,000 people who share one important thing in common: direct day-to-day involvement in the education of Prince Edward Island’s children in the home, and in the school.

Many local Home and School associations hold “movie nights.” This can be an excellent way of providing an inexpensive night out for your school families. 

Changes to the Copyright Act passed in 2013, however, have significant implications for Home and Schools, and what was permitted in the past under a province-wide educational license with film distributors is no longer allowed.

To legally show a movie in public – which includes showing it to students in the school as part of a “movie night” – requires a “public performance license” be obtained. In the past, the PEI Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, through the Provincial Library Service, has purchased province-wide “public performance site location license agreements.” With changes to the Copyright Act that define educational use as “fair use,” however, these licenses are no longer required and have not been renewed.