The Canadian Publishers’ Council (CPC) is the national membership organization for Canadian publishing. Since 1910, we have represented publishers across trade, education (K–12 and higher education), professional, and research. Our members create print and digital books, journals, and learning resources used in classrooms, campuses, libraries, and homes across Canada and around the world.
We exist to champion publishing and to give our members what they need to thrive. We advocate for practical policy on copyright, education, research, trade, accessibility, diversity, and AI. We turn complex issues into clear guidance, share market data and research, and coordinate submissions and campaigns that move decisions at the federal and provincial levels and in the hearts and minds of consumers.
CPC is an association where members come together to solve problems. We convene briefings and working groups, connecting peers and partners. Through initiatives like our Doors Open Publishing webinar series, we help build a stronger, more diverse talent pipeline for Canadian publishing.
Our work has helped change laws, improve business conditions, and open new opportunities for Canadian content and expertise at home and abroad. We believe in the power of reading to make life better, and we champion a publishing ecosystem where diversity thrives.
Our members employ more than 2,800 Canadians, collectively account for nearly three-quarters of all domestic sales of English-language books and pay more than $25 million in royalties to Canada’s writers.
The Council represents the Canadian publishing community on the international level in the International Publishers Association (IPA) and is a member of the International Federation of Reprographic Rights Organizations (IFFRO).
The CPC also maintains liaison with other Canadian professional publishers’ associations, with the Association of American Publishers and the U.K. Publishers Association, as well as with Canadian colleagues in all areas of the literary arts, educational, library and retail communities.
CPC has embarked upon several major initiatives aimed at improving diversity, equity and inclusion in the Canadian publishing sector. These initiatives are a key focus for CPC this year and beyond. For more information see our ‘News’ tab.
Membership in External Organizations
Collaboration
Our advocacy work includes collaboration with industry groups that share CPC’s areas of concern; ACP, TWUC, Access Copyright, Copibec, ANEL and others are examples where close collaboration has helped amplify our message and strengthen our influence with key stakeholders and decision-makers.
Memberships
The Canadian Publishers’ Council is a member of the following organizations:
Land Acknowledgement
The Canadian Publishers’ Council operates within the city of Toronto, on the traditional territory of many nations including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat peoples, and is now home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples. We also acknowledge that Toronto is covered by Treaty 13, signed with the Mississaugas of the Credit, and the Williams Treaties signed with multiple Mississaugas and Chippewa bands.
To learn more about the traditional Indigenous lands you are on, please visit Whose Land or Native-Land.