Minorities, Aboriginals still struggle in Canadian new media, WIFT-T study finds

Women working in Canada’s screen-based media have never been better represented, and they are "significantly increasing their share in film and TV," but the sector is still dominated by men, especially when it comes to the high level positions, such as senior management, and top creative and technical positions, a new study, Frame Work: Employment in Canadian Screen-Based Media-A National Profile, has revealed. The study that measures diversity, skills and employment in screen-based media was commissioned by Women In Film and Television -Toronto (WIFT-T), a professional organization that recognizes, trains and advances women in film, television and new media, and was guided by a steering committee and a new media committee made up of Canadian film industry leaders. The results of the research were published June 11. According to the survey, visible minorities, Aboriginal people and disabled persons are relatively underrepresented, although visible minorities have made inroads in some segments of the industry, especially in new media. Similarly to women, members of visible minorities are well represented in lower and middle level positions, but they are significantly underrepresented when it comes to senior management positions at private production companies and their ownership, the teaching staff of new media programs, and top senior managers at the national public service CBC/Radio Canada. Disabled persons are poorly represented in new media, and amongst the teachers and students of screen-based programs, as well as in the higher and top positions in the industry. The least represented group in the screen-based media are Aboriginal persons, and the study has shown they are poorly represented "in almost all areas of screen-based media industry." Just 1.5% of new media employees and 1.3% of new media freelancers are Aboriginal, and no senior executive in new media company in Canada is of Aboriginal origin. "I would have to definitely agree that in the media industry in Canada there isn’t equal representation based on a population diversity," says Raja Khanna, president of Snap Media Corp. "In reality, we have such a diverse population who would be eager to consume content that is relative to them culturally. So, why aren’t content producers making that content? The answer could be that there aren’t enough diverse content producers. That’s a sort of cycle, and I don’t know where the bottleneck is - if is it not enough people from diverse communities wanting to get to this industry, or they’ve been held back in some way. Certainly, I think that’s the problem, something that has to be addressed directly. We have to promote the industry within diverse communities and get more people involved, and also promote the inclusion of diversity in existing organizations," Khanna says. The film and television workforce in Canada is highly skilled, with some of them working as freelancers or on a contract basis. Many Canadians working in this sector work for micro- (1-4 employees) and small- and medium-sized enterprises (5-19 employees), or are self-employed in their own companies. The Canadian film and TV industry is in the process of transition and substantial change as a result of technological advancements, globalization, and an increasingly diverse and multicultural population and audience, the research has found, and the greater cultural diversity of the media content is a cultural and business imperative. Technological and structural changes, as well as poor job security and lack of appropriate training are causing significant skills shortages in almost all segments of the industry, especially in key technical and financial occupations. This problem must be dealt with effectively, because it can affect productivity and economic prosperity, the report concludes. Canadian screen-based media of the future will demand well-educated professionals who are able to operate digital technology and combine creativity and business talent with technical know-how, who are entrepreneurial and globally oriented, who are able to multitask between converging media platforms, and who have sophisticated financial and business expertise. The most important film and television industry issues are media diversity, skills training and workforce competition, and the industry’s most valuable resource is intellectual capital, which is sine qua non for success in a global and knowledge-based economy. The study recommended systematic and wise use of national statistics, which is necessary to understand the most important employment trends, such as skills gap and workforce composition. The film and television industry in Canada is heavily concentrated in Quebec (29.2%), British Columbia (20.3%), and Greater Toronto Area (GTA), where one third of the motion picture and video industry workforce is based. The study was based on five main sources: Statistics Canada data from the 2001 Census, the department’s 2003 Labour Force Survey, and the film and video industry studies it conducts; employment equity data obtained from Human Resources and Skills Development in Canada (HRSDC); a series of national surveys conducted in key sectors of the country’s screen-based media industries; data provided directly by CBC English Television, the National Film Board (NFB), and the CRTC for broadcasters with fewer than 100 employees, and literature on screen-based industries. A series of roundtables will be held as follow-up to the report, including one in South Africa. Frame Work will be presented there in November as part of an international roundtable on diversity and the media. As well, the NFB is sponsoring a national roundtable on diversity in the screen-based media. The City of Toronto will fund a discussion on screen-based media in the Toronto area.

Minorities, Aboriginals still struggle in Canadian new media, WIFT-T study finds

News | 06/25/2004 4:00 am EDT

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