The Documentary Organization of Canada (DOC) has issued a call to action for Canada’s public funding institutions to provide more transparency and change to address systemic inequities for Indigenous, Black and racialized filmmakers.

The callout stems from a new report from the DOC Institute, which found low levels of support and representation for Black, Indigenous and people of colour (BIPOC) documentary creators at several key Canadian institutions as well as a severe lack of data to resolve knowledge gaps about such inequities.

TVO, the only funder in the study that had collected data on BIPOC documentaries and artists, showed a decline in the number of BIPOC creatives supported over the three year-period (2018 to 2020) analyzed by consulting firm Nordicity for the report.

“DOC requests that Canadian funding institutions make public their equity policies, commit to clear equity targets, and release annual reports about their progress,” the organization said in a news release, which noted almost half of the DOC’s 1,100 members identify as Indigenous, Black or racialized.

“The Documentary Organization of Canada also calls for an increase in executive roles across the screen sector for Indigenous, Black and racialized leaders and where these are new positions, for these roles to have the appropriate authority, budget, and staffing to not only make an impact but to set up these new offices and employees for success.”

The release pointed to other recent studies showing systemic issues, including the BIPOC Community Mapping report issued by the Racial Equity Media Collective in October, which found BIPOC-led production companies and organizations are struggling to sustain and stabilize their operations due to a lack of funding, among other issues.

Then there was the October release of the Racial Equity Screen Office (RESO)’s racial equity audit on productions funded by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB), which showed low levels of support for Black and racialized filmmakers and producers at the government agency; and the Black Screen Office’s Being Heard report, which outlines 10 key barriers facing Black talent (producers, creators, actors, and crews).

The DOC call to action release honed in on the NFB, claiming that the organization’s Nov. 23 announcement about the adoption of specific racial equity targets only committed to the implementation of a data-collection mechanism and not the other 23 goals from its Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Plan released in February 2021.

That NFB announcement was part of a parting note from outgoing NFB head Claude Joli-Coeur, whose term came to an end on Nov. 25, the same day Suzanne Guèvremont was appointed as his replacement.

The DOC said it’s now requesting “transparency” with regards to the NFB’s 2021 EDI plan, specifically asking it to make public its progress in four areas, including its commitment to establishing an annual action plan with measurable targets, and its implementation of a governance structure in matters of diversity, equity and inclusion.

The DOC also wants the NFB to be transparent about progress on a commitment to publish an audit and annual report on the issues and progress made, and its offering of independent quarterly reports to the executive committee and the board of trustees on issues related to diversity, equity and inclusion, unconscious bias and systemic racism at the NFB.

When asked by Playback Daily for comment about the DOC call to action, a spokesperson for the NFB pointed to the organization’s Nov. 23 release mentioning its data-collection commitment and other intentions for “specific targets with respect to racial equity, by the end of next fiscal year.”

“In 2021, the NFB announced its commitment to achieving 24 very specific goals contained in its EDI Plan. In the plan, the NFB also stated its firm intention to publicly report on the progress of each of these commitments, which will be done in the coming months,” added the spokesperson in an email.

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