Is Employment Equity Lost in the 21st Century?
In the early 90’s there was a call to action in many of Toronto’s culturally diverse arts communities. The main reason was a lack of access to cultural institutions. People of colour weren’t being hired, weren’t being asked to sit on boards, weren’t being invited on to juries, and weren’t being encouraged to apply for acceptance at the Canadian Film Centre. When it came to the provincial, and national arts councils (the Toronto Arts Council was the exception) artists of colour and first nations artists in particular, felt their culturally specific concepts were not being understood and hence not being valued and not being funded. This was before interactive producing was a part of the creative landscape so attention was focused on traditional film and television unions. People of colour were woefully under represented, and when it came to representation of women in the camera, grip and electric departments they were almost not present at all.
Many groups were formed in the Asian, South Asian, African Canadian and First Nations communities. We came together, strategized and organized workshops and conferences together to understand what our specific experiences and issues were. Then we met with the arts councils, the training institutions, and the unions. Internships were set up and some unions began a concerted effort to encourage qualified people of colour to join. I benefited from an internship with Marilyn Stonehouse, David Cronenberg’s Line Producer on his feature “Crash.” It was a life changing experience because when I was through, I knew that I wanted to be a producer.
On the educational front I was the first coordinator of the Canadian Film Centre’s Summer Lab initiative. The focus was to get talented and emerging filmmakers of colour and First Nations filmmakers from across Canada for an intensive series of workshops, lectures by visiting filmmakers and develop their feature scripts. Mina Shum “Double Happiness”, Clement Virgo “Rude” and Stephen Williams “Soul Survivor” successfully developed their projects at the CFC and made their first features. All to critical acclaim!
The Canada Council for the arts would eventually embrace cultural diversity which would see peer representation on their juries include artists of colour and first nations artists. Their biggest stride however was the creation of the Equity Office. It exists to this day and has grown. The office maintains a strategic focus on “supporting Canadian artists of African, Asian, Middle Eastern, Latin American or mixed racial heritage, and their artistic practices.” The office works closely with the Aboriginal Arts Office “to integrate the distinct history, experience and contributions of Aboriginal artists into a wider equity framework.”
As an interactive producer in the 21st century I hope to bring my unique history to the table when it comes to hiring a team as well as keeping an eye on content. Today despite the fact that employment equity is a law in Canada (the Employment Equity Act, requires employers to engage in proactive employment practices to increase the representation of four designated groups: women, people with disabilities, Aboriginal peoples, and visible minorities), it appears that we’ve left employment equity and cultural diversity behind in the workplace. I think it’s a huge mistake as the demographics around us have changed. If we can’t deliver content that’s entertaining as well as culturally aware, we are going to get left behind. If Shonda Rhimes can create successful shows like “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Scandal” with a talented and culturally diverse cast and creative team, I know we must strive to hit those benchmarks in the interactive media industry in Canada.
