My Culture, My Heritage and the North American Free Trade Agreement

My Culture, My Heritage and the North American Free Trade Agreement

By Norm Richards

I had the pleasure of reading the Globe and Mail feature story on Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland on Saturday August 12, 2017. I'm sure it's a very exciting time in her life charged with facing up to American President Donald Trump on the NAFTA file. A major steering point in the negotiations is Trump's insistance on his "America First" policy. The approach there is for American's to buy in America first. We ought to remind him that by virtue of location, Canada is part of "North" America as he is. Doesn't mean he's obligated to be contrite and play along but he can't ignore what has gone before, which is all of the positive trade that has taken place between our two countries since the beginning of Free Trade twenty seven years ago. Now, I personally believe in fair trade so I agree, we should sit down at the table and discuss with America how we can improve the trade agreement we now have between us.

My biggest concern is keeping our cultural life and interests of our own country safe from predatory ideas. I don't want to see it creep into these talks either. I'm concerned that the Trump side of the table wishes to include Telecommunications and E-commerce which is the business of the internet and the exchange of digital product between our two countries. Telecom is the wires to carry it. In film for example, there was a day when multiple metal cases containing feature films were shipped across the border to movie houses across Canada. That's how you got to see your favourite Hollywood movie. Today, you turn on your TV and it's right there, projected electronically and processed and originally recorded in digital format. Very little of this activity originates in Hollywood anymore. In fact, most major world class feature films are shot on location in Canada, in Canadian studios and post produced here, prepared for transfer to theaters and TV screens in digital transfer format and sent to where the story is shown to audiences. Big metal boxes never see the light of day. Hollywood does have input. They still buy stories earmarked for production. They invest in production and distribution. They control the markets around the world. Although it's changing, first window remains a theatrical release before it gets to television screens. That fact affords Hollywood control on releases including rights and ultimately who gets paid and when. This system is trusted as the best working model meanwhile even though we crew and even the lead stars and talent are Canadian in the big American films, most Canadian filmmakers have limited access to the whole thing. We should have better access.

I don't mean we should start making big American films for American audiences first, no, we need to make stories we like about ourselves as Canadians. We need to take pride in our own stories, no matter what the roadblocks are. For most, it's not possible. You have to spend too much money chasing people around the world who have the means to invest in your story and film you dream about making. We simply get starved out. I don't know if NAFTA is even the place to open such discussions on a more open and fair distribution exchange between our two states. Industry to industry talks in the past got little result. The big guy on the block is also the bully. American films dominate the world and they want to keep it that way. It doesn't make their product better than what originates elsewhere. Not at all. In fact more often the big box office movies are poorly written and rushed to market. The investment in the slate of films released from year to year depends on one big hit to pay for all the other films they released in that year. The risk is high and studios have gone broke trying. Let me let you in on a little secret. Studios have also been saved by small films they never thought would be a hit in the first place. I think there is a place in the market for a more diverse filmmaker and his ideas. We need screen time and investment to make our films in Canada and soon. Telefilm Canada  and the National Film Board will tell you we have already proved ourselves. Anyone who's ever worked on films in Canada knows the joy of doing it and the excitement for the results. I do. Gets in the blood. I graduate film school to write story and work in Canada's film and television industry.

I wish Chrystia Freeland well in keeping the train rolling, so to speak on what works well for agreements between our two counties and what doesn't;  these important subjects, if not included in NAFTA, get placed into separate equally important negotiations at another time. I fear our homeland of Canada get damaged further by corruption of one kind or another. We suffer now by American domination in the media. They have a way of ignoring what goes on in Canada. Yet, the story coverage of what goes on in the American streets is alarming. Music from America has it's way of encroaching on our way of life as well. I think we can have a world view without swallowing it whole and end up facing corruption we don't even understand we were hit by. Talk about Big Brother and the Marshall McLuhan view of the medium is the message all over again.