John Vandenberg wrote:
On 1/19/10, Jeffery Nichols arctic.gnome@gmail.com wrote:
There has been some discussion about things we could do, but I think the most promising idea was the creation of a Commons and Wikisource site for the hosting of the huge amount of Canada-related content that is restricted to not-for-profit use.
A Wikisource/Commons in Canada is about much more than Canadian content. It is a separate jurisdiction which has more suitable copyright laws as opposed to the US.
Tthere are many Australian works that are PD in Australia but are not PD in the US; these works are also PD in Canada. Wikimedia Australia could start up its own Wikisource, however a "Wikisource Australia" would need to reject a lot of content that a "Wikisource Canada" would welcome.
It's certainly something that I have always been aware of. With Australia now in its transition from 50 to 70 year terms, I expect that the number of works that would be unacceptable in Australia will increase.
And so, we wait for Canada to pull together.
How much interest is there in this outside of Canada?
You can put me down as a potential member, if the eventual bylaws will accept overseas members.
I think there should be a place for overseas members as some kind of auxilliary members. General control and legal responsibility would still be in Canadian hands.
As one of the main people who pulled Australia together, I strongly recommend that you focus on identifying which province provides the best environment for incorporation. In Australia, each state has different incorporation laws. We incorporated in the state of Victoria because its laws were the simplest to work with.
Canada has a choice of federal or provincial incorporation. A provincial corporation, however, requires additional continuance to do business in any other than its home province. Federal incorporation under the new federal law will be much easier than under the old law. The new law has been passed by parliament and I am waiting for it to come into effect. The government still needs to write regulations and adjust its bureaucracy, and I expect that they will be ready some time this year. The new law also makes new provisions for electronic communications. Unlike possible changes to the Copyright Act, the new law for non-profit corporations was not controversial legislation.
Once everyone in Australia agreed that Victoria was the best state to incorporate, people from other states helped us work through the incorporation process via email. Due to the vast size of Australia, we planned it from the outset to be a "virtual" organisation, with our bylaws permitting AGMs and committee meetings to be held via IRC. Our interim committee was not elected; it consisted of whoever was willing to be responsible for a) increasing membership and b) preparing for the first AGM which is when we held the first committee election.
Now that Wikimedia Australia is into it's second year with an elected committee, we are again looking at how to better support the other states, perusing non-profit status, etc. If we had tried to get these things "right" before incorporation, we might still be "discussing" them.
Under the new law most of the detailed by-laws do not need to be filed prior to incorporation. One will have a year *after* incorporation to file them, and prior approval by the Minister before by-laws or their amendments will no longer be necessary. Charitable status will be important, and the design and wording of the purposes should keep that possibility in view. The purposes still need to be stated in the corporation application.
Ray