Earlier this month, Member of Parliment Charlie Angus spoke about his campaign to help the kids of James Bay when he was a featured speaker at the Future of Music Coalition policy symposium in Washington. He was surprised to find himself on the agenda along with musicians like T Bone Burnett, but there he was – the punk rocker turned politician.

Along with speaking about the rights of musicians in the digital age, Mr. Angus said the participants wanted to hear about the plight of youth on James Bay. There was so much interest that later this week he is holding a conference call with the principals of the coalition to see what can be done to help. Although it’s early days they are looking at mentorship programs with American musicians or appearances by U.S. bands.

“Making kids feel like they’re not left totally forgotten – with digital culture it’s possible to make contacts that never would have been possible before,” Mr. Angus said. “They [members of the coalition] just really wanted to get behind something. … They said they thought this was something that really excited them.”