Toronto ––  Directors Guild of Canada President Tim Southam released the following statement with regard to the newly appointed Chair and Vice Chair of the CRTC:  

“On behalf the Directors Guild of Canada, I would like congratulate Ian Scott and Caroline Simard on their appointment as CRTC Chair and Vice-Chair, Broadcasting. We wish Mr. Scott and Ms. Simard success in their new roles, and look forward to working with them. We are hopeful that this signals a new approach by the Federal Government and the Commission that is forward-looking and comprehensive, and recognizes the primary role Canadian creators play in building Canada’s brand as a global content leader.”  

“The DGC, along with others in the creative community, has called on the government to emphasize greater diversity in its appointments and seek out candidates for public service with experience creating content. Our creative talent is fully integrated within an international screen economy at the highest level, and their deep understanding of how IP actually comes to life and reaches consumers would contribute enormously to the work done by our regulatory agency. While we are disappointed that the government did not use these appointments to add diversity or production experience to the Commission, we are hopeful they will address those concerns in upcoming appointments representing Manitoba/Saskatchewan and Ontario. 

The Directors Guild of Canada has also petitioned the government, one of 89 interveners who filed an appeal, to review and send back the May 15th CRTC Group Licence Renewal decisions. The CRTC’s English-language rulings will strip as much as $911 million in broadcaster investment from independently-produced scripted programming over the next five years and along with $1.15 billion from our GDP and nearly four thousand middle-class jobs. In the wake of the French-language decisions, three original French-language series have already been cancelled in Quebec. Across Canada young, emerging and diverse creators are already seeing many of their best opportunities lost with the elimination of MuchFACT, Bravo!FACT and vidéoclip financing.

The DGC looks forward to engaging with the CRTC in a constructive discussion on these important issues.