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Speech

Notes for an address

by Charles Dalfen

Chairman, Canadian Radio-television
and Telecommunications Commission

at the opening of new facilities of the National Broadcast Reading Service

Toronto, Ontario

June 14, 2006

(CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY)

Thank you, Eric [Rothschild], for that kind introduction.

I'm very honoured that you asked me to be here today. This is truly a happy occasion.

The story of the National Broadcast Reading Service is really a Cinderella story. VoicePrint was launched on the air in 1990. But you had to struggle on for years with limited resources, and with limited opportunities to do what you wanted to do for the visually impaired and other print-restricted people of this country.

But here you are today, with a constantly-growing record of service to your audience. You're operating on a much more solid footing, moving into your new home here and into a much more promising future.

In this Cinderella story, I don't think the CRTC can claim to be the fairy godmother.

The real work has been done by the dedicated people of NBRS, supported by your listeners, who have made it quite clear how much your services mean to them. But I am very proud of the part the Commission has been able to play in helping you to carry out your mission.

We have in Canada a broadcasting system that is one of the greatest in the world. Why is that? Because it has to be. It has to cover a country that is bordered by three oceans and spans six time zones. It has to serve a diverse population that's urban and rural, that has two official languages, that includes Aboriginal peoples and cultural communities with their roots all around the world.

It would be unjust if a broadcasting system that can do all that could not also reach out to the Canadians who find it difficult or impossible to access print and the visual media.

It would be unjust if those Canadians were shut out from the mainstream of information and entertainment that most of their fellow citizens take for granted.

The Broadcasting Act makes it very clear: “[P]rogramming accessible by disabled persons should be provided within the Canadian broadcasting system as resources become available for the purpose.”

The Act also specifies that “The Canadian broadcasting system should be regulated and supervised in a flexible manner that […] is readily adaptable to scientific and technological change.”

Well, our broadcasting system is flourishing. And is keeping pace with the exciting new developments in communications. So the resources are there, and the technology is there. Financial and technical obstacles are steadily being overcome.

And the CRTC has heard the vigorous advocacy coming from the NBRS and many members of your audience. That audience is not a small one. VoicePrint aims to reach 4.2 million people with limited or no access to print. And your audience will only grow larger as the population ages and more people find themselves facing visual challenges.

So we have acted in recent years to increase accessibility through the services that you provide. We require the majority of broadcast distribution systems to distribute VoicePrint, and on an easily accessible channel. We require a monthly subscriber fee to be paid by the distributors in order to provide stable funding for NBRS.

Your other service, described video, allows the visually impaired audience to hear descriptions of the action on television. So we require or expect the major private networks and station groups to carry described Canadian priority programming at an average that is now reaching four hours a week.

We've increased the VoicePrint fee payable to NBRS from one cent per month per subscriber to four cents. You shouldn't have to rely on sources of funding that are expiring or uncertain – and the increase is giving you the resources to expand your programming. And we've ensured that airtime will be set aside for the promotion of mandatory services including VoicePrint.

The Commission is supporting you in your mission – and you're supporting us in ours, which includes the responsibility of seeing that all Canadians can share in the wealth of programming that our broadcasting system has to offer us.

So my heartiest congratulations to the management and the volunteer directors of NBRS – and, of course, to the hundreds of volunteer readers across the country who make it all possible.

At the end of this year, when I look back at the accomplishments of the Commission over the last five years, I know that one of the most satisfying will be this: that we have helped you build this wonderful service that helps so many Canadians across the country to see with their ears.

I very rarely get a chance to cut a ribbon, and it's a great pleasure to cut this one.

So thank you very much, and congratulations!

- 30 -

Media Relations:
   MediaRelations@crtc.gc.ca, Tel: (819) 997-9403, Fax: (819) 997-4245

General Inquiries:
   Tel: (819) 997-0313, TDD: (819) 994-0423, Fax: (819) 994-0218
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   TDD - Toll-free # 1-877-909-2782

This document is available in alternative format upon request.

Date Modified: 2006-06-14

 

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