ICTC’s Future of Canada Series
Culture and Economics
Gig work, the Arts, and Our Uncertain Future
This series has been produced in response to the COVID-19 crisis of Spring 2020. Be sure to check out the other articles in this series, including a recent piece on the future of education.
Losing track of what day it is seems to be part of social distancing. We find ourselves staring longingly outside while Netflix streams endlessly in the background. We clutch our phones and map the route our SkipTheDishes driver travels to deliver our dinner, quietly appreciating his or her efforts amid the circumstances. We wait for 8 p.m. to log in and watch our favourite artist perform — in lieu of handing our tickets over at the entrance to the concert hall. And we eagerly anticipate the much-needed break from our daily cycle of work, eat, sleep, repeat.
As Canadians, we often don’t value what we take for granted. Whether it’s the arts or the value that individuals working in the gig economy bring in maintaining a semblance of our “social norms.” Particularly now, these workers are overshadowed by public health concerns, economic security, and the long-term plans for recovery. Being overlooked, however, isn’t new for the arts and culture community and gig workers press on seemingly due to lack of economic alternatives and their own history of being undervalued.
The inability to find space for a meaningful conversation about the gig economy in an cluttered political landscape is an unfortunate reality today, but the arts and culture industry continues to evolve thanks to technology. Gig workers are also using this time to advocate for better social and economic protections to safeguard their futures.
While ICTC monitors the ongoing effects of COVID-19 and its potential impacts on policy development through a series of research initiatives in the coming months, we’ve connected with experts across Canada to gather initial feedback on technological innovations or developments that could transform a post-COVID-19 Canada.
Spanning arts and culture, technology, education, healthcare, and insurance, this ongoing series comprises insights provided by various contributors on technology’s role in shaping Canada’s future.
This installment in our “Future of Canada” series provides unique insights by Ian Laplante into Canada’s arts and culture industry followed by ICTC Senior Research Analyst Trevor Quan, who assesses the impact of the pandemic on Canada’s gig economy.
How the Cultural Sector is Innovating in a Time of Crisis
By Ian Laplante, PhD Candidate - York University
When all this is over, Canadians will remember the key role that arts and culture played to help us get through this. While it’s devastating to see theatres closed, concerts cancelled and libraries and bookstores shut down, it’s been heartening to see new content bloom on streaming services and the social media platforms we’re all accessing daily. The cultural sector, in a period of profound crisis, has mobilized to come up with creative ways of producing content to more Canadians than ever before.
As film festivals have been cancelled or postponed, some of their submissions are moving online: CBC Gem (free to access) has become the home to first-run docs from the postponed 2020 Hot Docs Film Festival; films from the now-cancelled 2020 SXSW Festival will be available to watch on Amazon Prime later in April (it will be free to access, even for those without an Amazon Prime account); and Crave now hosts live Q&As and specialty screenings, as part of “Stay-at-Home Cinema” from the Toronto International Film Festival. By providing Canadians outside of major city centres access to festival content for the first time, this new approach to hosting film festivals can also encourage audiences to watch more independent films by diverse filmmakers.
As the weeks of social distancing have dragged on, there has been an explosion of free online concerts on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and local radio stations across Canada. Some artists are performing live from their homes, often while raising money for charity. Some artists are making back catalogues of live performances available to watch for the first time. For lovers of live music, especially those who could seldom afford to attend concerts or music festivals, there has never been more free, live music to experience at home.
For those seeking to read more while staying home, Open Library, Overdrive (an online platform used by many Canadian libraries to host e-books and audiobooks from their catalogue) and Audible are providing Canadians with free books (in e-book and audio formats). Audible, for example, has hundreds of audiobooks for kids (everything from classics to Harry Potter, in seven different languages) that are free to download.
When this pandemic is over, and Canada’s public health crisis has turned into an unprecedented economic crisis, Canada’s arts and culture community will likely be facing the threat of drastic public funding cuts. Independent theatres and bookstores will struggle to reopen and re-hire staff. Local artists, musicians and gig workers will struggle to recover from the devastating economic blow that may come from falling between the cracks of most economic support programs. But Canadians will remember the key role that arts and culture played in our lives while we stayed home. Canadians will remember how the cultural sector brought film festivals, concerts and audio recordings of classic books to our living rooms. Canadians will remember this and, hopefully, find ways to protect the livelihoods of the filmmakers, artists, musicians, writers, curators and arts administrators.
COVID-19’s Impact on Independent and Flexible Work
By Trevor Quan, Senior Research Analyst, ICTC
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has put additional strain on the pre-existing tensions between the economic opportunity provided by the gig economy and the lack of stability inherent in independent gig work. In addition to the lack of guaranteed income for independent contractors, issues such as the absence of unemployment protection, sick days, and health benefits have been brought to the forefront throughout this developing crisis. While these criticisms have been around for many years, they were easier to ignore in a stronger economy when the ties to health and safety were less prominent (and when gig work was predominantly seen as affecting a small number of people choosing to undertake alternative forms of work.)
While independent gig work can act as an opportunity that offers flexibility in when and how work is done, it must also be noted that many gig workers feel forced to participate in this type of work. Some workers have turned to gig work to make up for a lack of reliable working opportunities in traditional employment or may use it to supplement insufficient wages. For example, there is evidence of higher participation in gig work during times of economic downturns such as the 2008 Recession or the 2019 US government shutdown.
These impacts are often felt disproportionately for lower-end, commodified gig workers (as opposed to highly specialized freelancers) who are more economically vulnerable. Sadly, in recent times, many participants of the gig economy have felt that they face difficult tradeoffs in personal safety, oftentimes having to choose between practising social distancing, and the need to participate on various platforms to earn a living.
COVID-19 has also brought forward new challenges for the digital-platform companies themselves as they try to balance the need to continue operations, ensure public safety, and manage their role in the protection of the service providers. There is an emerging response from companies like Lyft and Uber to offer financial support to those who provide services and are diagnosed with COVID-19. However, there remains the challenging question about how to provide benefits and security, while maintaining that gig workers like food deliverers or drivers are independent contractors — this is an ever-evolving and contested topic that has been thrown into the spotlight by COVID-19, some of them — like the Uber driver that died from COVID-19 after picking up a sick passenger — making international headlines.
Perhaps some of the most significant developments for the gig economy has been the increased media coverage and outcry as a result of its connection with emerging dangers to public health and the economy. Governments around the world (including Denmark, France, Norway, United States, and Canada) have all responded with economic rescue measures and financial support that can benefit self-employed workers who would not typically be eligible for unemployment insurance. While this situation changes by the day, it will be interesting to see how these recent actions and developments will impact digital-platform economies and the status of the gig workers who participate on them.
ICTC’s Future of Canada Series
In times of crisis and recovery, Canada maintains a strong track record of social advancement. As we find ourselves re-evaluating how we’ll respond to a world permanently altered by a pandemic, the larger outcomes remain unknown. What is clear however, is our need for socially-minded, ethical innovation that moves the needle forward to advance Canada’s evolving digital economy.
Other posts in this series:
*The views and opinions shared as submissions to this article are those of the authors and do no not necessarily reflect the opinions or positions of The Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC).
