M embership of Black, Indigenous or people of colour (BIPOC) at the Directors Guild of Canada (DGC) saw a modest increase last year, but still remains below Canadian national average ratio, according to the organization’s third annual census report.

The DGC Census 2024, released Monday (June 9), shows that 19.9% of survey respondents identify as BIPOC, up from 19.4% the previous year. That left 80.1% identifying as white or Caucasian, about 10% overrepresented when compared to national census data.

Breaking that 19.9% figure down further, 9.5% identified as Asian, 3.2% as Black, 2.7% as Indigenous, 2.4% as Latin American and 1.2% as Arab. An additional 0.9% of respondents did not specify their ethnicity. South Asians represent the largest deviation from Canada’s population statistics, only making up 2.3% of respondents compared to 7.1% of Canadians.

As the DGC noted in the first two iterations of the report, BIPOC representation was more in line with national averages among its new members. New respondents to the survey split 25% BIPOC and 75% Caucasian. The trend originates from DGC’s recruiting strategy as, since 2020 and up to 2023, BIPOC recruitment consistently surpassed 25% and reached 50% for directors that have joined as of 2023.

As in previous reports, Ontario continued to log the highest percentage of BIPOC-identifying members with 23.2%. It was followed by Manitoba at 20.4%, B.C. with 18.7% and Alberta with 13.5%.

Since 2022, the DGC has asked its members to fill in a census report, providing the guild with insight on its makeup, industry trends, areas that require further work and research and opportunities available to guild members.

For this year’s report, the organization canvassed 7,848 members with 5,728, or 73%, responding. Factoring out incomplete responses, 5,329, or 67.9%, fully completed the survey. New respondents made up 479 of the completed surveys.

“Yearly updates to this census allow us to take stock of who we are as a Guild, as we continue our efforts to ensure that our membership represents Canada and Canadian stories,” said DGC president Warren P. Sonoda in a statement.

Compared to data collected from last year’s report, the average member’s income dropped 22.4% in 2024. The DGC attributes this to the SAG-AFTRA and DGA strikes that stalled work for many Canadians. Caucasian, Asian and male-identifying members saw their incomes impacted the most, dropping 25.6% compared to the 20.4% drop when those three are filtered out.

Caucasian members averaged an income of $63,038, falling from $82,814 the previous year, ahead of Black and Asian members at $61,377 and $60,455, which fell from $73,021 and $81,119 respectively. Indigenous respondents’ yearly income averaged $53,455 from $63,913, with other BIPOC-identifying members coming in at $55,517 from $71,530 in 2023.

Woman-identifying members held the highest income at $63,052, dropping from $77,748. They were just ahead of male-identifying respondents who dropped from $85,872 to an average of $62,261. Gender non-conforming, non-binary or those that preferred not to disclose their gender identity averaged a yearly income of $38,934, sliding from $54,356 in 2023. With the limited amount of income data the DGC currently has, the organization says that drawing conclusions on income gaps would be premature and that trends will solidify in future census releases.

Men remain overrepresented in the Guild as, according to DGC membership records, those that identify as male make up 55.8% of the Guild with women-identifying members comprising 43.2%. However, the DGC notes that its internal data may be incomplete as many have not updated their membership status since the organization added the gender non-conforming option.

Members with disabilities were more likely to work in the production assistant, sound editing and locations caucuses, with the report saying that further research is required to determine if the day-to-day work in those fields is more accommodating to those with disabilities than others. Of survey respondents, 8.5% indicated they have a disability, with 9.1% preferring not to answer, compared to 15.6% of the workforce.

The results for the DGC Census 2024 collates answers collected between June 2023 and June 2024.

Image: Unsplash