The Canadian film and television industry is not “delivering on racial equity,” partially due to a lack of “meaningful data,” according to a report from the Racial Equity Media Collective (REMC) examining the state of funding for Black, Indigenous and person of colour (BIPOC) creators in Canada.

The report examines 2023-24 quantitative and qualitative data from 30 national funders, broadcasters and film offices on BIPOC staffing and leadership, the amount of projects supported, key creatives involved and the organizations’ EDIA policies. The data was supplemented with interviews when available.

However, REMC stated that they struggled to collect much of the meaningful data needed to put together a full image as many organizations either withheld or do not collect the relevant information.

This result leads directly to the first of five calls for action put forth by REMC: further transparency in data from Canadian organizations, and that the collection and publication of information related to racial equity no longer be treated as optional. It also asked for organizations to set public targets for BIPOC participation across funding and leadership, as that is more likely to push organizations to meet those goals.

Five of the report’s 30 participants have public goals for racial equity, according to the report: Telefilm Canada, the National Film Board of Canada, SODEC, Bell Media and Knowledge Network. Another three organizations provided wider equity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility goals: CBC/Radio-Canada, Creative BC and Canadian Heritage via its Creative Export Canada initiative.

In addition, the report requested that the CRTC regulate the reporting of race-based data in regards to how broadcasters spend their money. While the Commission does require annual reports on cultural diversity from licensed broadcasters, the reports do not include a breakdown of the level of funding direct to BIPOC-led programming.

“Canadians deserve to know how public funds are disbursed,” the report stated. “But lack of regulation has left broadcasters with no real impetus to monitor and report on racial equity.”

Through the data collected, the report found an increase in BIPOC-involved projects – defined as those with at least one key BIPOC creative – but said that BIPOC-involved alone is not enough to combat inequity in the industry.

REMC argued that true equity comes with ownership, pointing to programs such as the Canada Media Fund’s Indigenous Program (now administered by the Indigenous Screen Office) and Program for Racialized Communities as ways to further support BIPOC creators.

The report also found that French-language BIPOC creators faced the largest barriers in representation and funding, with lower levels of projects selected and supported compared to their anglophone counterparts. It proceeds to call on the industry to recognize the acute challenges faced by francophone BIPOC creators, and to make sure the gap does not continue to widen.

Despite the concerns of entrenched inequity in the Canadian system, REMC said progress is still possible and that good policy, smart regulation and thoughtful program design can bring meaningful change.

The English-language executive summary of the report can be found here.

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