Streamers may be required to feature more Cancon. But what should qualify as Canadian?

Try to guess which of these movies is Canadian: Disney's Turning Red, which tells the story of growing up as a Chinese-Canadian teen in Toronto and stars Ottawa-born Sandra Oh, or the Oscar-winning sci-fi epic Dune from Montreal director Denis Villeneuve and a team of Canadian collaborators.

Under Canada's broadcasting laws, neither is considered to be a homegrown film.

Policy-makers and experts in Canada's creative industries are now grappling with the thorny issue of what, precisely, makes a film or television program Canadian.

The definition is at the heart of new legislation before Parliament that would require streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+ to feature a certain amount of Canadian content, similar to the obligations long placed on traditional broadcasters.

Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez says he plans to ask the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to spell out what counts as Canadian content after Bill C-11 passes through Parliament. The legislation would increase investment in Canada's creative industries, he says, allowing Canadians to more widely tell their own stories.

Interested parties will have the opportunity to share their views during public proceedings after Rodriguez issues his policy direction, says the broadcast regulator.

Should Bill C-11 pass, it would "create a more equitable playing field for Canadian creators and corporations, while ensuring that audiences will benefit from the enhanced visibility of Canadian content," says Christa Dickenson, executive director and CEO of Telefilm Canada.

But some experts warn the current definition of Canadian content needs to be broadened and modernized to reflect the way television programs and film are made today.

Otherwise, they caution, it could create a disincentive for studios to invest in Canadian talent if their work doesn't officially qualify as Canadian.

This could lead to less investment in co-productions or Canadian-led big budget films, and more time spent on small, cheaper Canadian productions that tick the right regulator's boxes, warns Michael Geist, Canada Research Chair in internet and e-commerce law at the University of Ottawa.

He argues there should be more flexibility about defining what makes a film Canadian.

"It's one of the most restrictive, narrowly defined systems in the world, even excluding Canadian authors," he said, pointing to The Handmaid's Tale, a hit TV adaptation of the novel by Canadian author Margaret Atwood, which did not count as a Canadian production.

"Government policy is already a success in enticing productions to Canada," Geist said. "This is where we should be starting — from an economic perspective."

The major streaming companies are already investing huge sums in Canadians' creative work, he said, and their algorithms encourage Canadians, and people around the world, to watch it. Canadian films or television programs that might not tick all the official boxes can still show up in a Netflix search.