Cultural diversity improving on Canadian screens: report

The Canadian TV landscape gets poor marks when it comes to the representation and portrayal of Indigenous people and people with disabilities, but is generally better than it was in representing diverse populations, suggests a CRTC-commissioned study on cultural diversity in Canadian media. “There was a widespread impression that, on the whole, the representation and portrayal of members of segments of Canadian society in Canadian broadcasting has generally improved over the past decade or so,” said a report by Phoenix Strategic Perspectives Inc. about cultural diversity — namely “visible ethno-cultural minorities, Indigenous peoples, women, people with disabilities and the LGBTQ community” — in Canadian media. “That being said, there was an equally widespread impression that there is still room for improvement, in particular, for people with disabilities and Indigenous peoples.” The report, submitted to the regulator at the end of March and posted online recently by the government, was commissioned to “inform a potential review of the Cultural Diversity Policy as identified” in the CRTC’s three-year plan. It added that the CRTC “needed to understand whether Canadians feel that the diversity of Canadian society is reflected in the Canadian broadcasting system.” Research was conducted between Jan. 16 and 21 via six focus groups in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Halifax, Vancouver and Quebec City, the report said. According to the report, participants were “more likely to disagree than agree” when faced with the statement “Canadian television is becoming a mirror in which all Canadians can see themselves,” adding that “just over half expressed disagreement with it compared to just over one-quarter who agreed with it.” When giving reasons for positive impressions of representation, the report said focus group participants often pointed to “growing representation of visible ethno-cultural minorities in television,” such as in CBC/Radio-Canada shows like Kim’s Convenience, or having newscasters from “different visible ethno-cultural groups,” and by having ethno-cultural stations like Rogers Communications Inc.’s OMNI. However, critical perceptions of diversity also focused on ethno-cultural representation, with participants expressing “that although programming was becoming more diverse, it did not necessarily reflect the diversity of Canadian society or suggested that diversity in programming tends to focus mainly on visible ethno-cultural representation and not on other groups.” For example, some suggested “that the range in terms of representation of visible ethno-cultural groups tends to be more focussed on the Black community rather than reflecting the diversity of Canadian society (e.g. few characters who are of Middle-Eastern descent, Chinese, or Indigenous peoples).” Overall, women were generally perceived to be well represented, visible minorities had mixed perception, members of the LGBTQ community were seen as becoming more visible, though representation focused more on gay and lesbian members of the community, and limited representation and visibility of people with disabilities was viewed for that group. Notably, “Indigenous peoples were consistently described as faring poorly in terms of representation,” the report said. “In the words of many participants: ‘Indigenous peoples are virtually invisible on Canadian networks’.” Participants were asked to pick types of shows that represent various groups well, and were most likely to select dramas and comedies, sports, documentaries, and news/current affairs shows. “Participants had difficulty identifying types of shows that do a good or better job in terms of representing Indigenous peoples,” the report noted, and said that the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network, instead of any particular show, was the “only example provided with any frequency.” “When it came to people with disabilities and Indigenous peoples, participants had more difficulty explaining their limited representation in Canadian media apart from a general sense that they are not as ‘vocal’ and/or do not seem to have the “visibility” of other groups," the report added. "In other words, they do not seem to be on the ‘radar screen’ either in terms of numbers and/or in terms of advocacy.” With respect to how people are portrayed on-screen, most groups had the perception of improvement, though there was still some stereotyping at play. Again, the study found “Indigenous peoples were consistently described as faring poorly in terms of portrayal. There was a widespread impression that when they are portrayed the depiction tends to be stereotypical (e.g. depicted as poor, alcoholic, sniffing glue or gas).” — With reporting by Charelle Evelyn at cevelyn@thewirereport.ca and editing by Ahmad Hathout at ahathout@thewirereport.ca

Cultural diversity improving on Canadian screens: report

Broadcast | July 14, 2017

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