Balance in a quest for stability: that was top of mind in the early years of the cftpa.

Kevin DeWalt, a Regina-based, two-term chair who says he was the first non-Ontario appointment in the history of the cftpa and both its precursor organizations, was instrumental in pursuing this balance.

DeWalt – whose chairmanship also yielded The Guide, the national training program and the Ottawa blitz – credits the 1993 bylaws stipulating provincial balance with a subsequent spike in memberships. ‘From 1993 to 1995, the organization grew by 100 members as a direct result of reaching out to the whole country. And you have to represent the whole country if you want to be an effective national voice.’

In the early days, this meant connecting with provincial associations and asking for them to suggest people for the board, to ensure that the board was composed of those well-connected in the community from which they originated, and paying the travel expenses for those far-flung members to attend meetings.

‘It’s a big step for such a small organization with limited resources to commit to pay travel costs [so representatives from all over the country could attend meetings] and to hold meetings by conference call, but we knew it was an issue relative to credibility,’ says board member Douglas Barrett.

In fact, the suspicion that greeted the formation of the nationwide body was considerable. When the cftpa approached Edmonton-based Great North Communications president Andy Thomson, through the Alberta Motion Picture Industries Association, with an offer that included a place on the board and a plane ticket to Toronto, ‘The attitude was ‘No way are we going to send a delegate to this Eastern-controlled organization,” says Thomson. ‘And I argued and I argued and I argued. I said if you have a problem with Eastern domination the best way to combat that is to let me be on the board.’

Eventually Thomson went, although the Albertans refused to accept the offered airfare, willingly ending up $1,500 out-of-pocket instead.

Julia Keatley of the British Columbia branch says that in 1994, when the cfta approached the bcmpa to become a branch it was a timely move. ‘We felt we needed a clarity. Tax credits were in the wind; there were issues like that floating around. We needed a focus.’

Chris Zimmer, of Halifax-based imX communications, says as a ‘regional’ board representative he has ‘never felt out-shouted or overshadowed. The organization has moved from being a Toronto-based organization with satellites to being a national organization. The physical distance in the country is always going to be a problem, but we have meetings on the phone and all the board meetings include representatives from across the country.’

Calgary-based Lance Mueller of White Iron Productions characterizes the role of provincial representative on the board as ‘answering the mandate of the cftpa and seeing how we can liaise between the provincial organizations and the cftpa to see our concerns about regional issues being met. It’s a balance.’

Balance is a concept integral to arriving at a consensus with such a variegated group. Linda Schuyler, chair of the board, says the experience of chairing a meeting of these widely varied independent producers is ‘like herding cats.

‘They’re independent, they’re smart, they’re freethinkers, they’re used to making it work whichever way they can. Oftentimes our meetings are very lively. We make sure we have representatives from all regions and [genres]. So you can imagine, we can have some extremely lively meetings. My job is to make sure they all have the opportunity to have their voices heard and to come up with a position we can all stand behind,’ says Schuyler.