On Tuesday (Sept. 9), the Black Screen Office (BSO), together with Advance Music and Cultural Pluralism in the Arts Movement Ontario, launched the first-ever Anti-Black Racism (ABR) Policy Framework for Canadian cultural industries at the Access Canada Summit in Toronto.

The Framework is a practical tool to help cultural institutions move from intention to action, creating real change for Black professionals across the screen, music, performing arts, and literary sectors. It fills a critical gap.

When I first started working in Canada’s screen industry, I loved television and film so much that I was willing to lose myself in every frame. But the truth was hard to ignore: the industry didn’t see me — or my community — back. Our stories were either missing or distorted, and when we did appear, it was usually through stereotypes or from the margins. That absence wasn’t just frustrating; it was distorting the cultural mirror for all Canadians.

That’s why we built the Anti-Black Racism Framework.

The idea came to me in 2021 during a conversation with a funder. Every idea I pitched — training programs, funding initiatives, mentorships — they said “yes” to. At first, that rush of support felt affirming. But over time it hit me: those “yeses” weren’t building anything lasting. They were pieces scattered on the floor with nothing to anchor them. What was missing was policy — a foundation strong enough to make all those efforts coherent, accountable, and sustainable.

The Anti-Black Racism Framework starts there. It isn’t a compliance checklist, and it isn’t about punishment or finger-pointing. It’s a voluntary, transparent, community-informed set of tools designed to help cultural organizations build real policies that reflect equity and accountability. It offers a way in and a place to start.

Because I’ve heard the same thing over and over from leaders across cultural sectors: “We want to do better, but we don’t know where to begin.”

The Framework gives you that starting point. It asks the right questions: Whose stories are chosen? Who is being paid to participate? Who’s getting the chance to lead? Are opportunities being nurtured widely, or recycled through the same familiar circles?

And while it was designed for Canada’s screen industries, its reach is much broader. The same principles apply in music studios, publishing houses, theatres, galleries, festivals, granting bodies and boardrooms. Because when Black creators are absent from production offices, writers’ rooms, editing suites, rehearsal halls and leadership tables, the culture we build and export is incomplete.

This isn’t just about who gets hired; it’s about who we become as a country. Our kids grow up on these stories. If they don’t see themselves reflected with accuracy and respect, they grow up questioning whether they belong, and audiences everywhere keep consuming a version of Canada that’s only half true.

The Framework doesn’t claim to fix everything. No single document could. But it does something essential: it sets policy first. Policy is clarity: it defines values, sets direction, and holds us accountable so our strategies don’t fall apart under pressure or drift with the news cycle.

Some organizations will move quickly. Others will take longer, and that’s fine. What matters is that we begin and that we keep going.

A mirror only shows us what we are willing to see. For too long, Canada’s cultural mirror has excluded or distorted Black creators. It’s time to fix that mirror — for the screen industry, yes, but also for the music we hear, the books we read, the theatre we watch, and the art on our walls.

The Anti-Black Racism Framework is one way to start. Learn more at the Framework website.

Joan Jenkinson is the executive director of the Black Screen Office. She is an accomplished television executive and an outspoken advocate for Black Canadians working in the screen industries. Under her leadership, the BSO has been named the 2022 Changemaker Organization of the Year. Joan is a founding partner at Artemis Pictures, which is focused on developing and producing scripted content for television.