The Writers’ Union Meets the Royal Commission

In November 1970, a crisis arose in the Canadian publishing industry: The Ryerson Press, English Canada’s oldest publishing house, was soldto American branch plant McGraw-Hill. In response, the Ontario government mounted a Royal Commission to investigate the businessconditions of publishing in Canada. The commission accepted briefs from anyone who wanted their say and heard hundreds of hours oftestimony. But it wasn’t until Farley Mowat bumped into Richard Rohmer at a party and demanded to know why the commissionwasn’t talking directly to writers—they had actually heard from the few who had sent in briefs—that the date was set for 9 December1971 for a group of writers to give their testimony. Some of those who testified went on to found The Writers’ Union of Canada (TWUC)in 1973. Jack Gray went on to separate the Writers Guild of Canada (WGC) from the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) in order to get a better deal for scriptwriters. The writers testifying before the commission here include June Callwood, Margaret Atwood, Ian Adams, Hugh Garner, Al Purdy, Farley Mowat, Max Braithwaite, David Helwig, Jack Gray, Graeme Gibson, Fred Bodsworth, and Dennis Lee.