Canada’s public broadcaster emphasized the importance of Canadians telling their own stories, while the Canada Media Fund called for increased contributions from broadcasters on the eighth day of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications (CRTC) Cancon definition hearings in Gatineau, Que.

On Monday (May 26), Barb Williams, EVP of CBC’s English services, said the federal Crown corporation opposed “proposals that would give away the ultimate narrative control and/or financial control to non-Canadians,” and that relaxing rules regarding Canadian intellectual property ownership and exploitation is a “slippery slope.”

CBC/Radio-Canada favours an approach that requires a Canadian program be created “by Canadians occupying certain mandatory key roles and owned by Canadians,” she said, noting that such an approach would also be consistent with the federal government’s policy direction to the CRTC that it “supports Canadian ownership” of IP in determining what constitutes Canadian programming.

Bev Kirshenblatt, executive director of corporate and regulatory affairs at CBC/Radio-Canada, said to “ensure that Canadian and Indigenous content can flourish in a global streaming environment,” any updated definition of a Canadian program needs to “recognize the key role of Canadian producers, Canadian talent as well as Canadian broadcasters” in creating content.

“We can’t rely on foreign undertakings to tell our stories, to sustain our cultural identity or to deliver our news and information programming,” she said.

Dany Meloul, EVP of Radio-Canada, stressed that the process for defining what constitutes a “Canadian program” must be separate from the process “of determining how Canadian companies contribute to the creation and presentation of Canadian content,” underscoring that the certification rules for Canadian programs need to apply to both Canadian and non-Canadian creative projects.

Meloul said that if the CRTC expands the list of creative positions in the points scale, “it would need to ensure that each continues to exercise significant control over the creative aspects of the production,” with Meloul recommending that the CRTC maintains the requirement that at least 60% of key creative positions be held by Canadians, including mandatory roles like the director, writer and the lead or second lead actor.

If the position of showrunner is added, it “must be held by a Canadian because of its importance in the entire production context,” she said, noting that she agrees with other stakeholders presenting who believe that the point system should be adapted for productions that do not employ a showrunner.

On the investment side, a new contribution framework should prioritize “creation over collection,” Valerie Creighton, president and CEO of the Canada Media Fund (CMF, pictured), told commissioners

“Buying previously produced content is no substitute for its creation,” she said. “A dollar invested in production funds through the CMF or the Certified Independent Production Funds is vastly more beneficial to the broadcasting system and the Canadian public, than a dollar invested in acquisitions.”

Creighton said that since many acquired programs are likely to have been paid for “by the Canadian system at the outset,” the CMF recommends that the commission eliminates the ability for foreign streamers to redirect up to 75% of their CMF contribution.”

Mathieu Chantelois, EVP of marketing and public affairs at the CMF, emphasized to commissioners that production funds are “an extremely effective cultural policy tool” and that without them, “essential genres such as drama, documentaries and children’s and youth programming are at risk.”

As a result, Chantelois said the CMF proposes the CRTC expand the 5% base contribution to funds to include Canadian broadcasters, BDUs and streaming services with revenues of $25 million or more on a broadcasting group or standalone basis, not solely for foreign streamers.

He added that the CMF would also like to see the elimination of the measure that allows streamers to redirect their contributions to the CMF – and, as the CRTC has proposed, “allow [companies to] choose to contribute more to the funds rather than [meet] a Canadian programming expenditure requirement,” said Chantelois.

“These measures would effectively support high-risk programming while respecting the flexibility of the new system.”

On a regulatory definition of Canadian content, Creighton said the CMF supports the inclusion of cultural elements, “such as a Canadian setting” as an optional component.

“We also propose a project-centric approach to content certification that recognizes the unique creative structures of different genres and formats, while ensuring creative control remains in Canadian hands.”

On issues of equity and access, Winnie Luk, executive director of the Disability Screen Office (DSO), said that Canadian programming expenditures (CPE) and expenditures on programs of national interest (PNI) should be maintained and extended to non-Canadian streamers – particularly given the current American climate “and the seeming rush to get rid of equity incentives and programs south of the border.”

She said that the DSO also supports an “equity CPE” representing 30% of the Cancon CPE that every broadcaster and streamer will be required to spend “on programming produced by members of equity-deserving communities.”

Commissioners also received regional perspectives at Monday’s hearing.

Jeff Peeler, co-chair of the board of directors of On Screen Manitoba, said that CPE and PNI – “the only regulatory tool that directly supports investment in Canadian production” – should also apply to domestic and foreign undertakings.

“Regulatory mechanisms, such as CPE and PNI that include independent Canadian production spending requirements are critical to ensuring authentic, regional perspectives,” he said, adding that Manitoba’s media production industry association would like to see a percentage of CPE requirements allocated to “original independent, Canadian-owned” production expenditures in which the producer retains 100% of the IP and ongoing exploitation rights.

Appearing alongside Peeler, Connie Edwards, chair of the broadcast and regulatory affairs committee at the Alberta Media Production Industries Association, said that “upholding strong Canadian ownership, and control of IP and financial elements form the core of our creative and economic sustainability,” adding that “the dollars generated by the sale of our programs help keep the doors open and contribute to new development, as national development funding programs are under stress.”

But representatives of Quebec’s official language minority community (OLMC) told commissioners that production in Quebec has plummeted over the past quarter-century and called on the CRTC to “take positive measures” to stop and reverse this decline, according to Arnie Gelbart, a producer and co-chair of the Quebec English-language Production Council.

“We ask you to implement a meaningful definition of OLMC production,” he said, which would be “modelled on the definitions for Indigenous, racialized and disabled producers.”

Image courtesy of CPAC