6.5 Protecting Culture in Canada


One important way governments protect and preserve culture is through cultural content legislation. A nation creates laws that encourage the promotion of its own culture. Canada has a unique culture, sometimes called a cultural mosaic. That means our culture is composed of the values, traditions, and ways of life of people of many different backgrounds.

Canada today shares a common language and the world's longest border with the powerful United States.  Many people see the influence of the rich and powerful American media as a threat to Canada's distinct identity.

How does this constant bombardment of American culture and values influence us as Canadians? Is our culture different from that of our neighbors to the south, or are we becoming a more homogeneous culture? If we never see our own way of life reflected in the media, do we start to lose a sense of who we are?




"Now, obviously, when you're contending with an elephant you can't hope to be bigger or better or stronger than that elephant. What you can do is select those areas in which you can perhaps perform better. You know, a man is smaller than an elephant but perhaps he has certain talents which the elephant doesn't have."

Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau; TB interview in New Zealand, May 14, 1970



Cultural protectionism

Although Canadians developed the means of mass communication, most of what we see and hear through the media originates in the United States. To preserve our unique Canadian identity in the face of American popular culture, various forms of government have enacted cultural-content legislation. Most of these laws were to protect Canadians from the spread of other cultures through the media, to protect Canadian cultural industries—especially from American culture.

Canadian content legislation (CanCon)

The Canadian Radio and Telecommunications Commission grants licenses to radio and television broadcasters. Canadian broadcasting policy is defined by Section 3 of the Broadcasting Act, which stipulates that

  • radio frequencies are public property

  • broadcast programming provides a public service essential to national identity and cultural sovereignty

  • the Canadian broadcasting system should provide a wide range of programming that reflects Canadian attitudes, opinions, ideas, values, and artistic creativity by displaying Canadian talent in entertainment programming


To give effect to this policy, the CRTC established a system of quotas to regulate the amount of Canadian program content broadcast in Canada. The resulting Canadian content rules were devised to stimulate Canada's cultural production by ensuring greater exposure for Canadian artists in Canada's marketplaces.

  • Radio Guidelines

  • Television Quotas

  • Copyright Legislation