If Mariah Inger can’t pinpoint one specific moment where she’s received unequal treatment in the hair and makeup chair, it’s because of the sheer volume of incidents in her 30-year acting career.

“I’ve had times where they’ve whitewashed me with makeup, because I’m of mixed race and have many different tones and they would choose the most pale tone,” Inger (pictured), chair of the ACTRA National Diversity and Inclusion Committee, tells Playback Daily. “I’ve come out looking gray, I’ve come out looking too red. I’ve had all of those kind of horror stories.”

The core cause? A lack of proper training for many on-set hair and makeup artists on how to treat the textured hair and skin tones of performers who are Black, Indigenous and people of colour.

ACTRA National alleges it’s a systemic and human rights issue. The actor’s union filed a policy grievance against the Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA) and the Association québécoise de la production médiatique (AQPM) on Dec. 22, 2021, which is awaiting an arbitration date.

ACTRA says the grievance is for inequitable treatment of Black, Indigenous and people of colour (BIPOC) performers in the provision of hair and makeup services on film, TV and media production sets across Canada.

“The CMPA believes this is an important issue, and we remain committed to working with ACTRA, and other industry stakeholders, to ensure performers who are Black, Indigenous and Persons of Colour have equitable access to hair and makeup services,” said the CMPA, in a statement to Playback Daily.

Said the AQPM, in a statement provided to Playback Daily: “While we consider that the context varies from one province to another (and involves a different group of technicians in Quebec) and believe that the grievance is, as it concerns our members, ill-founded, we share the CMPA’s belief that it is important to be equitable to all our performers, and we remain committed to working with ACTRA and other industry stakeholders to ensure that performers who are Black, Indigenous and Persons of Colour have equitable access to hair and makeup services.”

The grievance stems from a survey done last fall by ACTRA National and its Toronto branch, asking members about their experiences in the hair and makeup departments on sets. The union says both surveys revealed that experiences shared by Black, Indigenous and people of colour performers — especially Black ACTRA members — are not in line with the treatment of white performers.

During negotiations for a new Independent Production Agreement (IPA) last November, ACTRA says its bargaining team pushed producers for equitable hair and makeup services for all performers. ACTRA says it faced inadequate assurances from the producers and decided to pursue the legal process of arbitration.

On Dec. 16, four days after the CMPA and AQPM reached a new three-year term of the IPA, the two unions along with ACTRA released a joint information bulletin about the topic. The bulletin stated the goals for the Canadian screen industry to recognize, acknowledge and eradicate the inequitable provision of hair and makeup to Black, Indigenous and people of colour performers on production sets.

Despite the bulletin, ACTRA says it feels “Canadian producers have not taken steps to create a short- or long-term solution to these challenges. An information bulletin alone does not fulfil the obligations mandated by the applicable human rights legislation, nor is it enforceable by either party.”

Eleanor Noble, ACTRA National president, tells Playback the union wants to ensure hair and makeup artists learn the proper skills and that producers employ those who are properly trained. Inadequate education in those fields leads to a host of discrimination on sets, says Noble, such as a lack of proper makeup colour palettes or hair products, which forces performers to do their own hair and makeup — sometimes out of pocket and without credit.

“We’ve heard horror stories of performers having hair that’s been completely burnt with flat irons and things like that,” she says.

“This has put our BIPOC members at a real disadvantage when they get onto set. And it hasn’t been reported for so long because they don’t want to suffer any retribution.”

Adds Noble: “This goes against our human rights in Canada. It is a fundamental right for anybody to be treated equally in the workplace across this country.”

Inger cites a slew of other discriminatory situations and microaggressions she’s faced regarding the topic — from her hair being “helmeted” to her head with too much product by someone who didn’t know how to work with it, to having to pay out of pocket to heal her skin from damage caused by the wrong makeup used on her face. The problem affects the camaraderie and professional prep time performers should be able to enjoy in those situations before they get into character, she says.

The problem has “gotten slowly better,” says Inger, noting she isn’t afraid to speak up about her needs anymore whenever such issues arise on set. She’s now focused on helping other Black, Indigenous and people of colour performers with the issue and ensuring she’s “having the ugly conversations with the people in charge” about it.

“A producer and a director want the best product and the best end-result, so if they’re treating a percentage of their cast as lesser-than, then how are they expecting the best product in the long run?” she says. “Wouldn’t you want everyone to be part of the same machine? It hits many points. It’s not, ‘I don’t like how they did my eyeshadow.’ It’s not that basic. It affects a lot.”