Iqaluit (July 19/04) - Say you're one of Nunavut's 3,000 artists, or one of the NWT's 5,400 people involved in making fine arts and crafts.

You had an idea, you created a work of art, and you sold it to a buyer down south. Now somebody wants to make postcards or greeting cards with it. Who gets paid the royalties? Who owns the copyright?

Kowisa Arlooktoo works on carving a walrus statue during some exceptionally hot weather last Monday in Iqaluit. - Brent Reaney/NNSL photo

You do, and that's something Pat Durr, the national representative for Canadian Artists' Representation, wanted to make clear last week at a workshop in Yellowknife.

"When you sell the object, you do not sell the copyright," she said.

Unless you've signed a contract turning over copyright to the buyer, you should get royalties for commercial reproductions of your art, said Durr.

One artists' right unique to Canada is receiving royalties for exhibits of artwork in a public gallery, if the gallery receives public funds. This only applies to artworks created since 1988 and does not apply to commercial galleries, where the artwork would be for sale.

"U.S. artists are so jealous of this right," said Durr. In the U.S., only famous artists can negotiate compensation for having their art shown in public institutions. In Canada, it's the law and it applies to all artists, no matter where they are in their career.

Representatives from Canadian Artists' Representation (CARFAC) visited Rankin Inlet last month during the Nunavut Arts Festival, Yellowknife last week, Inuvik today and will visit the Yukon in the near future. Durr said CARFAC is making these visits to assess the needs of Northern artists.

"We need to hear your voices so we can express them to the politicians," she said.

Expanding rapidly

Over the past decade, CARFAC has been expanding across the country. CARFAC was founded in Ontario in 1968 by artist Jack Chambers. Most recently, the Quebec affiliate came on board in 2000, and Alberta's began in 2002. CARFAC now has members in all 10 provinces. By recruiting in the North, the organization would have members all across Canada, which would give it more clout in negotiations with national institutions.

"We need you as much as you need us," said Durr.

"Artists up here have a lot of questions about copyright. They're not getting the information they need."

Durr is an artist herself. She paints, does printmaking and creates installations. She joined CARFAC in 1969.

"I went to a meeting and ended up on the board," she said.

She described a couple of simple ways artists could demonstrate the ownership of their copyright.

"In Canada, copyright is automatic," she said.

"An idea can't be copyrighted. You have to take the idea and create something tangible. But when you do that in this country, you have automatic copyright."

She puts the copyright symbol -- a small c inside a circle -- on all her artworks, along with the date and her name.

"That symbol is recognized all over North America and Europe as ownership," she said.

Copyright is valid during the lifetime of the artist and for 50 years after his or her death.

There's also the old trick of sending yourself a copy of your work by registered mail, so that if a problem arises, you have proof of when you created the art.

CARFAC also has a separate copyright collective (CARCC) under its umbrella that will negotiate licensing fees for member artists or their estates.