Senate Committee — TRCM — Brief — 2022-06-10_trcm_brief_doc_e

TRCM / Brief / 2022-06-10_trcm_brief_doc_e

Senate Committees

MAY 2022

ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION WHO WE ARE The Documentary Organization of Canada (DOC) is the collective voice of Canada’s independent documentary creators. DOC began in 1983 to represent the interests of Canada’s growing community of indie doc filmmakers. Today DOC has over 1000 members across six chapters from coast to coast. DOC’s National office leads on research and advocacy work that strengthens the ecosystem for documentary production while DOC chapters provide local programming and community support.

DOC’s mandate as a member-driven organization is to advocate for an equitable, sustainable environment for documentary production and to strengthen the sector within the broader cultural industry.

OUR ROLE Canadian documentaries are a national treasure and have been likened to Canada’s National Art Form. A thriving documentary community connects Canadians coast to coast with shared stories and values, and brings our perspective to the world. Documentaries expose audiences to ideas that question or challenge received wisdom and the status quo, and reflect our geographic, cultural and linguistic realities and identities. Canadian documentary programs have been and continue to be a powerful and effective tool in ensuring that we see ourselves and our ideas on screen.

OUR MEMBERS Today, DOC has over 1,000 members across six chapters from coast to coast. The vast and expansive network of documentary creatives in Canada that we represent often face extreme challenges to access and participation based on their socioeconomic status, demographic community, and / or systemic forms of oppression based on one’s background or identity. Approximately 40% our members self-identify as Indigenous, Black or People of Colour.

DOC has prioritized actively working to address a number of the structural barriers that these members face through initiatives such as a free two-year introductory membership for BIPOC creators, free consultations with industry veterans via our Business Concierge program for BIPOC DOC members, partnerships that lower or waive the costs for program participation, and research aimed at providing quantitative and qualitative data reflecting the realities documentarians face as well as the unique needs and challenges faced by our remote members across Canada.

Documentary production in 2021 was $319 million, an increase of 30.5% from 2020. This important genre within the screen sector has gone from niche art form to mainstream content, even though broadcast support for documentaries goes down year after year.

The public can’t get enough, whether it’s the Canadian documentary “Fire of Love” that sparked a bidding war at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, or the smash hit Canadian documentary series “Political Blind Date” that followed politicians at all levels of government for five seasons, as they humanely explored some of the most important policy issues across Canada. Committee member Michael Coteau explored Quebec’s Bill 21. Members from across the parties, from Andrew Scheer to Marco Mendicino to Jagmeet Singh to Elizabeth May, and many others have taken part.

This is just one of hundreds of documentary projects made every year that help examine Canada for its citizens - the audience. Beyond being key to our cultural expression, and a major export, documentary is the gateway into the screen sector for many creators who have been historically marginalized and excluded due to systemic forms of oppression. Documentary is the low hanging fruit: relatively inexpensive to create, boasting an incredibly diverse community of creators, whose highly successful, award- winning content fulfills broadcaster and funder mandates to present Canadians voices. OUR IMPACT

BILL C-11 NO SUB-TITLE NEEDED? DOC actively supports passing Bill C-11. The modernization of the Broadcasting Act is critical to the survival of Canada’s independent documentary creators and the future of the Canadian cultural community. As broadcasting revenues decrease, so do opportunities for documentary filmmakers. Bringing online streamers into the Broadcasting Act and ensuring they contribute to the sector’s continued growth is critical to ensuring a healthy documentary industry and a future for Canadian filmmakers.

However, while the Bill is a massive and necessary leap forward, there are changes that need to be made to protect Canadian content, uphold the Government’s stated objective to see greater equity and inclusion in the broadcasting system, and create fair negotiations where imbalance exists.

DOC PROGRAMMING AND INITIATIVE HIGHLIGHTS BILL C-11: AMENDMENTS DOC believes that C-11 is an incredible opportunity for this Government to put concrete measures into place to ensure that its goals for the broadcasting sector will have long lasting, effective results. DOC proposes one modification to the Bill, and two Policy Directives to the CRTC to ensure we are supporting all Canadian creators and the all important genre of documentary film.

Directive 1: A policy directive that protects the definition of Canadian content, maximizes the use of Canadian creative resources in Canadian programming and ensures Canadian content is owned by Canadians. Directive 2: A policy directive that recognizes the special role of documentary film in the Canadian broadcasting system by creating separate and distinct requirements that ensure continued investment in documentary film within the Program of National Interest (PNI) under revised content obligations.

Bill Change: Modifying Subparagraph 3(1) (d) (iii) to add in iii.2.a: "provide opportunities to Black and racialized persons in Canada and support and assist their development by taking into account their specific needs and interests through supporting the production and broadcasting of original programs by and for Black and racialized communities,”

CONCLUSION MOVING FORWARD Documentary has been at the heart of Canada’s film, television and now streaming culture for over 70 years. We are a multi-faceted community with a rich diversity of perspectives and lived experiences. Our documentary filmmakers bring a uniquely Canadian point of view while they entertain and inform audience all over the world to enormous success. The documentary genre perfectly fulfils each part of

Section 3 (1) (

i) of the Broadcasting Act, epitomizes the cultural argument for Canadian content and continues year after year to be a shining star pinpointing excellence in Canadian production.

THANK YOU DOC National is: Contact: Sarah Spring Executive Director, Documentary Organization of Canada / sarah@docorg.ca / 514 961-7026 Austin Pantherbone Operations Manager Laura Duenas Communications and Membership Coordinator

Document details

Collection	Senate Committees
Citation	TRCM / Brief / 2022-06-10_trcm_brief_doc_e
Type	committee
Volume / chapter	441 / Brief / 2022-06-10_trcm_brief_doc_e
Language	en
Format	pdf
Source	COMM_SEN
Identifier	3ad214dbc715eb9910cd00ea02a2ae34708968c3

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