The Canada Media Fund (CMF) on Monday invited industry members and organizations to help shape its 2024-2027 Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Accessibility (EDIA) Strategy by sharing their insights at in-person forums or via virtual sessions during the month of July.
EDIA community members can attend in-person sessions in Toronto (July 17), Vancouver (July 24) or Montreal (July 30). The meetings can also be joined virtually on Zoom, according to information on the registration form here. Industry organizations are invited to attend virtual sessions on July 29 in English and on July 31 in French. More information, including in-person meeting locations and all session times, is available on the registration form.
“As Canada’s largest audiovisual funder, the CMF is committed to inclusion,” reads a CMF press release. “We’ve developed targeted funding programs for underrepresented communities and removed many barriers. Our goal is to amplify diverse voices by closely collaborating with Equity-Seeking Communities.”
“Additional funding announced by the federal government and the CRTC in 2024 will enable us to build on our past work and ensure the CMF can continue to embed EDIA principles in every aspect of our operations,” Joy Loewen, vice president of growth and inclusion at the CMF, said in the release. “We believe the best way forward is by listening to the industry and incorporating a wide range of perspectives into our strategy. This new three-year plan builds on our past successes and sets the stage for a more inclusive future in Canadian media.”
Leveraging $60 million in equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) funding earmarked in Budget 2021 by the federal government, the CMF’s previous 2021-2023 Equity and Inclusion Strategy achieved the following: investing $37.5 million in the CMF’s Pilot Program for Racialized Communities over three years, supporting 293 projects by companies owned and controlled by Black and racialized individuals; investing $9.7 million in Sector Development, supporting 135 projects, with 85 per cent focusing on indigenous and equity-seeking communities, while also contributing to the creation of the Black Screen Office and the Disability Screen Office; a 23 per cent increase in projects through the CMF’s Indigenous Program; a 34 per cent increase in projects through the Diverse Languages Program (with 15 languages represented); and the development of 32 industry partnerships focused on indigenous and equity-seeking communities.
The CMF’s 2021-2023 Equity and Inclusion Strategy also resulted in an 83 per cent national uptake in its PERSONA-ID system, helping the CMF to make data-driven decisions and reduce systemic barriers; expansion of its growth and inclusion team; and a successful Seek More/Découvrons-NOUS campaign from the CMF’s MADE|NOUS brand that encouraged Canadians to search out content and creators from more backgrounds, cultures and communities, with the campaign seeing more than 173 million media impressions and 30 million video views.
The CMF says it is developing a separate Indigenous Strategy, in collaboration with the Indigenous Screen Office and indigenous storytellers, that outlines how the CMF will continue to provide support to indigenous screen content and companies. Plans for the Indigenous Strategy will be shared at a later date, the CMF says.
