Good afternoon.
My name is Joan Jenkinson. I'm the executive director of the Black Screen Office, which is a non-profit, non-partisan advocacy association.
Our mission is to make Canadian screen industries equitable and free of anti-Black racism and to empower Black Canadians working within the screen industries to thrive and share their stories.
The BSO was founded in the fall of 2020 with the support of Telefilm Canada and the Canada Media Fund in response to Canadians' growing awareness of the need to take action to fight anti-Black racism. By this fall, the BSO will have released three research studies. One is on creating authentic and inclusive content. A second report will be Canada's very first race-based audience survey. A third report is a comprehensive labour market study of Black professionals in the Canadian screen industries. We also support Black producers and creatives with content incubators, by creating pipelines to decision-making roles in the sector and in attending international film festivals and markets. We work with industry partners to fund Black content creators.
Thank you for inviting the BSO to talk to you today about Bill C-11—the bill to amend the Broadcasting Act. The BSO supports the Racial Equity Media Collective's submission to this committee with proposed amendments to the bill. We agree with others about the need to ensure that all the players who work within the Canadian broadcasting system that compete for Canadian audiences and earn revenues from it should also contribute to it. However, the bill could be improved with a few small consequential amendments.
Canadians of all backgrounds have not had access to programming within the Canadian broadcasting system that authentically reflects the diversity of this country. The proposed amendments in Bill C-11 will prioritize greater equity and inclusion. We welcome Bill C-11's references to serving the needs and interests of racialized Canadians, but wherever the word “racialized” is used, we ask that it be replaced with “Black and racialized”. We request this amendment as recognition there has historically been greater oppression of Black Canadians and greater barriers to inclusion for them than with other racialized Canadians.
For example, in the 2019 Statistics Canada survey, 45% of Black Canadians expressed that they experienced discrimination in the past five years compared to 27% from other visible minorities. This discrimination can play out in education, health care, employment, housing and, yes, the Canadian screen industries. There needs to be a targeted strategy to break down these systemic barriers and fight anti-Black racism. Lumping Black Canadians in with all other racialized Canadians risks policy and regulation being adopted that do not consider the specific needs and challenges of Black communities.
I would also like to address comments I've heard at this committee that under-represented Canadians have access to unregulated platforms, such as YouTube, for content that reflects them. I would like to ask why Black Canadians should be limited to user-generated and short-form content found on YouTube and TikTok and not have access to longer form stories found in serialized dramas, sitcoms and documentaries that reflect their lives, experiences and interests.
It is true that Black Canadians have access to content from the U.S. and the U.K. that is created by Black screenwriters, directors and producers, but that content does not reflect the Canadian Black experience. This is important. Canadian Black communities are incredibly more diverse than African American communities. We consist of communities in Nova Scotia and southern Ontario that are older than Canada, newer communities made up of people from the Caribbean, and more recent communities from Africa. With limited exceptions, the many stories of these various communities are not being told.
Why can't there be everyday Black Canadians in romcoms, sitcoms, sci-fi series, kids' show and documentaries?
The Black Screen Office looks forward to the swift passage of Bill C-11, with the proposed amendments and the subsequent CRTC proceedings that will create a regulatory framework that will support the creation, delivery and promotion of more Canadian programming that reflects the lives and experiences of Black Canadians.
Thank you, Madam Chair.