The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) will begin data collection in fiscal 2023 to support the adoption of racial equity targets, said outgoing commissioner Claude Joli-Coeur.

The government film commissioner and chairperson of the NFB announced the plans on Wednesday (Nov. 23) as part of a statement to overview his eight-year term with the Crown corporation, which ends this week.

Joli-Coeur tells Playback Daily that the NFB had to delay its previous plan to launch a self-identification survey at the start of the 2022 fiscal year due to complications of implementing it within the organization’s workflow.

“It’s now technically ready, we know that it works, and we are now at phase two to communicate it,” he says, adding that they wanted to give the creative community advance notice, as self-identification can be a “sensitive topic” that some find “intrusive.”

Joli-Coeur says the current version of the survey uses the same categories as Telefilm Canada’s self-identification questionnaire, allowing them to “create a common baseline” for the film industry.

As for the NFB’s commitment to racial equity targets, Joli-Coeur says the organization is in consultation with equity-seeking organizations such as the Black Screen Office and the Indigenous Screen Office to determine specific goals. More details are expected to be announced in March 2023, just ahead of the start of fiscal 2023 on April 1.

Joli-Coeur said the timing of the announcement – days before he finishes his term as commissioner – was to reiterate the NFB’s commitments toward equity, diversity and inclusion in light of unforeseen delays in the execution. “I think it was important to say that it’s not just something that was my vision and my goals,” he says. “It’s also the vision and the goal of the entire organization.”

The outgoing commissioner also responded to industry criticism that he was part of the hiring committee tasked with recommending his successor to the Minister of Canadian Heritage, stating he had an “obligation” to be part of the committee as chairperson of the NFB.

Joli-Coeur says the Minister and the federal government are “in agreement” that the position of commissioner and chairperson of board should be divided into two roles, which has been a request from filmmaker group NFB/ONF Creation for several years, but the decision has been delayed due to the pandemic. “I’m sure it will be the last time that the exiting [commissioner] and chair is involved in the process,” he says.

Photo by Stephan Ballard