In my report at the last AGM I spoke about the importance of the low fees that our Canadian Entertainment Industry Retirement Plan, or CEIRP, has secured as a result of the large number of members who are enrolled in the plan and how much money those low fees can save each of you as you prepare for your retirement.  

To recap CEIRP currently has over 33,000 members enrolled and these are spread over 55 organizations from within the Canadian creative sector.  The plan fees have been reduced a total of 6 times between 2004, when the plan was created, and today.  The rate has dropped from the initial fee of 1.1% to the current rate of just 0.48%.  As of December 31, 2021 the total assets within the plan was almost $941 M.

So the big news is that sometime this year, likely in the summer, we’ll hit the $1Billion dollar mark.  That’s $1Billion dollars in the plan of CEIRP Member’s money.

Keep in mind that CEIRP doesn’t only offer RRSPs.  In the past several years available savings vehicles within the plan have been expanded and they now include -

• RESPs to save for your family’s educational needs.
• NRSPs (Non-Registered Savings Plans) which are unrestricted investment accounts. 
• TFSAs (Tax Free Savings Accounts) for flexible, short or long term, tax sheltered, savings.  
• RRIFs (Registered Retirement Income Funds) and LIFs (Life Income Funds) so you can keep your money in the plan during retirement and continue to maximize the savings that those low fees afford us.

As for selecting your investments, CEIRP offers a broad range of choices whether you’re the type of person who wants to dive into the intricacies of investing or you’d rather just decide when you’re aiming to retire and leave the details to the experts.  

If you fall into the second category, CEIRP offers target date funds called Cadence.  You simply select the fund closest to your intended retirement date and let the plan managers do the rest.  Over time your portfolio will shift from a more aggressive approach, in the earlier stages of accumulation, to a more conservative one as you near retirement age.

If you’d rather take a more hands on approach with your portfolio you can opt for CEIRP’s Target Risk funds.  CEIRP offers an Investment Personality Questionnaire that will help you determine your tolerance for risk, your savings objectives and other factors like when you want to use your money.  Knowing your investment personality will let you feel confident in the choices you make about where to put your retirement funds.

And by the way, if you joined the plan after 2008 and have done nothing to select where you want your money to go, the default for your funds is the target date fund closest to your 65th birthday.  This replaces this prior practice of Member’s contributions being automatically put into a Money Market fund which earns very little interest.

Contributions can be set up as regular transfers through your payroll or from your bank account.  You can also make lump sum contributions as easily as making a bill payment.  Keep in mind that while your Employers, on most productions, are paying a pension amount that will be contributed to your RRSP, you should consider making additional contributions to maximize your retirement savings.  Financial advisors commonly recommend putting away at least 10% of your salary for retirement over the course of your career.

Don’t worry if you don’t have a lot of extra money and have to start with small contributions.  For most of us it’s easier and more effective to make small transfers regularly than to try and contribute larger amounts all at once.  I might add that once you see your account balance begin to rise saving this way can become quite addictive.  

I also want to mention that the CEIRP and Canada Life websites have a ton of fantastic educational  and planning resources including videos and Calculators.  These are available for all levels of retirement planning under the four headings of — Getting Started, Getting Serious, Getting Close and Retired.

CEIRP and Canada List also have a very useful collection of articles on various topics related to financial matters including — Setting Financial Goals, Living Within Your Means, Managing Good and Bad Debt, Tweaking Your Fixed Expenses, How To Talk To Your Kids About Money and a whole host of others.

Before I finish talking about CEIRP I want to share that, in response to the Russian attack on Ukraine, Canada Life are conducting an assessment of the various funds within CEIRP for level of exposure to Russian Securities.  Fund Managers are making decisions accordingly and a letter outlining what’s being done will be posted to the CEIRP website soon.

If you’d like to add voluntary contributions to your CEIRP RRSP on top of what's already contributed for you by your Employers please contact Jamie Clark in our office for assistance.  Also, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me if you have questions about saving for your retirement. 

You’ve heard me speak several times in the past about the Creative Pathways project that’s being developed by Creative BC.  After a few delays the soft launch of the Creative Pathways website took place this past week on March 1 and the communications roll-out and “hard launch” will take place on March 21st to tie in with International Day for the Elimination of Racism.

For years it’s been evident that it’s incredibly challenging for young people who’re interested in a film career to get meaningful information about the industry and it’s many facets.  The mix of Unions, varied and highly mobile employers and the nature of sets being cloistered for all the obvious reasons are all factors that have contributed to this reality.  In addition, while many people aspire to work in the few coveted above-the-line positions that our industry presents, there have been less efforts made to systematically attract young people to the vast array of below-the-line jobs that are available. 

creativepathwayscanada.com will function as a comprehensive portal into the film and television industry including live action and animation.  It offers a one stop shop for all the information a burgeoning film worker would need to make headway into the industry.  Including a focus on the importance of networking, educational requirements, available roles both above and below the line and a curated list of opportunities for people to learn more and connect with others who are already in the industry.

The 2019 Labour Market Study on the Physical Production sector that was done in partnership with the BC Government and industry stakeholders indicated the following key information about the growth of our industry and the necessary workforce development - 

• Industry below the line wages are 34% higher than B.C.’s median individual income.
• The six BC film unions organize and supply 90% of the workforce.
• The industry labour pool grew by 33% to meet the surge in demand between 2014 & 2017. 
• The government predicts our industry to be one of the province’s strongest employment sectors with growth between 2018 and 2023 projected to be 3.3%.
• Average growth for BC overall, according to the most recent BC Labour Market Outlook, is between 1.1 and 1.5%.
• One of the most important findings from within the Physical Production study is that, based on current levels of content creation, our industry workforce needs to grow exponentially. 
• Over the next 8 - 10 years, the below-the-line workforce will need to increase by between 5% and 10% annually to cover the combination of expansion and replacement needs. 

** The complete study can be found on Creative BC’s website.

It is as a result of this information and the unprecedented level of engagement between our industry and government that Creative Pathways has been born.  Clearly the need to grow our workforce combined with the intent to diversify our industry presents an opportunity for both of these needs to support and build on one another.  Creative Pathways, with the ongoing support and participation of industry stakeholders, is designed to attract, inform, train and connect new entrants into the sector more efficiently and effectively than ever before.

For more information please visit creativepathwayscanada.com or reach out to myself and I will connect you with Kat Yee who is the Creative Pathways lead at Creative BC.

The work that’s being done to build Creative Pathways is supported and complimented well by the work of our own DGC BC Diversity and Inclusion Committee.  As you know this work is considered by the Executive Board to be key to the success of the DGC BC as well as the industry overall.  The goal behind the DGC BC’s D&I effort is to both make meaningful change in terms of the make up of our Membership and our industry as well as to assist in making our workplaces safer overall to support the many new Members that we hope to attract and retrain.

This past year the Committee were involved in a host of different efforts in this regard including the following:

• The addition of several new titles to our DGC BC online digital lending library
• Both digital and audio book formats are available for some titles.
• Anti-Oppression Training with Carmen Watson from Bakau Consulting delivered to the elected. 
• This course will be rolled out this year to staff and to the general membership.
• Messages shared with Members within our Focus on Diversity section in the weekly eBulletin on various topics including Residential School discoveries within 2021 and Black History Month.
• Creation of a Sponsorship and Charitable Request Point System for consideration of diversity based sponsorships.
• The Committee also selected EMBERS Eastside Works to receive a $10,000 donation just prior to the holiday break.
• Funds will be used to restart the Downtown Eastside Community Ambassador Program.
• Program places local residents who are rejoining the workforce after an absence, on film sets that require liaison services.
• This donation is supportive of both industry as well as the highly diverse community in Vancouver’s downtown eastside which productions have worked closely for many decades.

In addition to the work of the Committee there are various diversity based programs and initiatives that the DGC BC continues to run as follows: 

• The DGC BC Special Program that allows Directors to self-identify their diverse characteristics for hiring purposes.
• This program will be expanded to cover all positions in the coming year.
• The DGC BC Permittee Logbook Holder Equity Stream continues to support future DGC Members from within underrepresented groups.
• Various Diversity, Respectful Workplace and Leadership courses have been offered this past year including —
• Natasha Tony’s Inclusive Workplaces
• Natasha’s Inclusive Leadership Retreat for Supervisors is scheduled this year.
• We also offered two BCIT Leadership courses last year.
• This year we’ve also booked a course titled Respectful Workplace In the Arts that is funded by the Canadian Human Resources Council.

I’d also like to highlight that this year we hired Coral Santana as the DGC BC’s first ever Equity Coordinator.  Coral joined us late in 2021 and has already established herself as a valuable addition to our Staff.

While I’m on the topic of training, so far we haven’t returned to in person courses though we had scheduled to do so prior to Omicron taking hold in BC.  We will be reassessing as things progress and will likely return to in person instruction closer to the summer.

One of the positive impacts of COVID is that all our training can be offered in either online or in person format moving forward which will maximize flexibility for Members to attend, particularly for those who are in the outlying regions such as the Okanagan or on the Island.

In total 903 Members and Logbook Holders attended course for either Membership or upgrade in 2021.  We offered a total of 45 entry level and category upgrade courses combined.  This was in addition to various topic seminars.

I want to express my thanks again to our Training Coordinator, Karen Gabriel, and our Director of Operations, Andrea Moore for their tireless efforts in the transition to blended learning.  It has been a labour of love and we hear from Members all the time that they are so appreciative of the results.

Creative Industries Week planning is underway and the date has been set, later than usual this year, for the week of May 16 through 20th.  This is in the hopes that an in person event at the Legislature, which was online last year and was cancelled all together for 2020, will be able to go ahead.  Plans are in the works now for how we will celebrate and showcase our industry with a likely focus on workforce development and diversification.

I always like to mention Staffing Changes around the office and we’ve had a few since our last meeting.  I already mentioned the addition of Coral Santana who is our Equity Coordinator.  Coral actually serves in two capacities as she also replaces our Director Caucus Project Coordinator who was a shared employee with the National.  Coral’s added title is Director Member Services and we welcome her.

We also have a new Receptionist working the phones.  Maddy Stewart joined us late last year as well and we welcome her into the fold.

There’s a new National Employee in our midst as well.  We welcome Phoebe Fuller who's title is Administration and Events Coordinator and she is working with Catherine Middleton who’s been our resident National employee for many years.

I’d also like to take a moment to congratulate Catherine Middleton on her new position as Associate Executive Director of DGC National.  Well deserved and we’re so lucky to have you working with us shoulder to shoulder in BC.