The National Film Board has signed a three-year agreement with the English Language Arts Network (ELAN) and the Quebec English-language Production Council (QEPC) to boost minority-language arts in the province.

The cooperation and collaboration agreement is part of the NFB’s mandate to support official-language minority communities across Canada.

It covers four main areas: research, production, accessibility, and improved consultation. Measurement and KPIs will be developed to monitor progress against NFB objectives and in the area of production, the NFB will “will take steps to continue to improve its communication with Anglophone Quebec producers, filmmakers and their associations and work to stabilize overall production levels with this community.”

The NFB will also work to improve accessibility to its historical material for educational purposes and says it will establish a forum to encourage conversation with the Anglophone Quebec film sector.

“This ground-breaking agreement guarantees future English-language production levels in Quebec, and is a huge step forward in meeting the needs of our official language minority community,” said Kirwan Cox, executive eirector, Quebec English-language Production Council, in a statement.

Photo: from left to right (bottom): Claire Benoît (co-chair, QEPC), Claude Joli-Cœur (president, NFB), Daintry Dalton (co-chair, QEPC), Guy Rodgers (executive director, ELAN). From left to right (top): Kirwan Cox (executive director, QEPC), André Picard (DG creation and innovation, NFB)