Gender-based analysis plus

Section 1: Institutional GBA Plus Capacity

As a small organization, the NFB is integrating GBA+ into its very governance structure, with its Strategic Planning and Government Relations team assuming responsibility for the GBA+ process. Two employees have been assigned (on a part-time basis) to the task of integrating GBA+ into the NFB’s decision-making processes, in addition to fulfilling an advisory role and overseeing monitoring and accountability. In February 2021, the NFB announced that within the year, it would be creating the position of Director, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, a senior management role responsible for ensuring equity and the implementation of anti-racist practices within the organization.

In February 2021, the NFB released a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Plan that aimed to drive sustainable and meaningful change, and to make the NFB an egalitarian, open and diverse organization. In 2021–2022, the NFB filled the newly created position of Director, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (commitment 4), to lead the execution of strategic DEI initiatives and programs, coach and guide all levels of NFB management, and build cultural competency and inclusive leadership skills. Another director-level role was filled as well, the Director of Indigenous Relations and Community Engagement (commitment 5), responsible for helping to forge closer relationships with Indigenous communities and advising the NFB on issues related to the production and distribution of its works.

Section 2: Gender and Diversity Impacts, by Program

Core Responsibility: Audiovisual Programming and Production

Program Name: Audiovisual Programming and Production

Target Population: Creators of audiovisual works, including documentary films, animated films and interactive productions. The NFB also pursues initiatives that more specifically target women, creators from Indigenous communities and visible minorities, and emerging filmmakers.

Distribution of Benefits: 

* 2021-22 or most recent

Other Key Program impacts on gender and diversity:

Presenting perspectives that are seldom or never seen on screen is an integral part of the NFB’s mandate. The NFB gives a voice to the communities that are systematically underrepresented in the media landscape, in front of or behind the camera, such as women, Indigenous peoples, official-language minority communities, racialized and diverse cultural groups, sexual minorities (the 2SLGBTQIA+ community) and people living with disabilities. The NFB’s programming reflects this diversity, but the organization has pushed its commitments further with its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Plan. 

In 2021–2022, the NFB achieved gender parity as well as the objectives that it had set for production budgets allocated to Indigenous creators. The organization made progress on its commitments regarding diversity, equity and inclusion and is now working on setting clear targets for increasing diversity in front of and behind the camera.

It should also be noted that the NFB continued to focus on its relations with official-language minority communities as well. Over the past year, the NFB held bilateral meetings with the Fédération culturelle canadienne-française and its members, as well as with the English Language Arts Network and the Quebec English-language Production Council. The NFB also contributed actively to the process of renewing the Collaboration Agreement for the Development of Arts and Culture in the Francophone Minority Communities of Canada, which expires in 2023.

Supplementary Information Sources: 

Gender Parity at the NFB

NFB RELEASES HIGHLIGHTS FOR 2021–2022. Results from the past year in creation, diversity and inclusion, gender parity, Indigenous works and distribution (press release, June 27, 2022)

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. NFB Commitments and Objectives

Indigenous Action Plan

GBA Plus Data Collection Plan:

The NFB is now developing a self-identification questionnaire for its creators and partners that will provide it with data to help it become an organization that better represents Canadian society.

Core Responsibility: Content accessibility and audience engagement

Program Name: Distribution of works and audience engagement

Target Population: All Canadians in all parts of Canada. Some initiatives also target the following sub-groups more specifically (but not exclusively):

• Indigenous people;
• People who identify as 2SLGBTQIA+;
• Young people (particularly via CAMPUS, the NFB’s online education platform);
• Members of visible minorities;
• People with disabilities.

Distribution of Benefits: 

* 2021-22 or most recent

Other Key Program impacts on gender and diversity:

Diversity of expression continued to be a priority for the NFB in 2021–2022. The institution wants to ensure that its productions reflect Canadian diversity, and that all people in Canada have access to a wide variety of voices and stories from across the country. It makes its projects accessible to everyone by including descriptive video and closed captioning in every completed film.

Indigenous Cinema, the NFB’s online collection of Indigenous-made films, now features 440 free titles, with the number of free online titles by Indigenous creators more than doubling in 5 years. Indigenous Cinema currently makes up 8% of NFB online titles but accounts for 16% of all views at nfb.ca/onf.ca, reaching over half a million viewings in 2021–2022. Fifteen titles are currently available in Indigenous Languages.

In addition, in 2021–2022 in Canada, more than 600 unique screening events were organized (in-person or virtual) where Indigenous titles were showcased. There were more than 17,000 views of Indigenous titles during in-person screening events and over 54,000 in virtual settings (both in Canada), for a total of more than 70,000 views. This represents approximately 23% of all views, for all titles (i.e., Indigenous and non-Indigenous), in the Public Screenings category in Canada.

Supplementary Information Sources: 

NFB RELEASES HIGHLIGHTS FOR 2021–2022. Results from the past year in creation, diversity and inclusion, gender parity, Indigenous works and distribution (press release, June 27, 2022)

Indigenous Cinema portal

GBA Plus Data Collection Plan:

Nothing to report for 2021–2022. In compliance with privacy legislation, the NFB does not collect disaggregated data on GBA+ components from its audiences.

Core Responsibility: Content accessibility and audience engagement

Program Name: Promotion of works and National Film Board outreach

Target Population: All Canadians in all parts of Canada.

Distribution of Benefits: 

Other Key Program impacts on gender and diversity:

In 2021–2022, several NFB works exploring topics such as Indigenous experiences, race, ethnicity, religion, culture, disability, gender and sexuality won both national and international awards. 

One example is Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy, an intimate portrait of survival, love and the collective work of healing in the Kainai First Nation in Southern Alberta. This film received eight awards in 2021–2022, including the Emerging Canadian Filmmaker Award and the Rogers Audience Award for Best Canadian Documentary at Hot Docs 2021, as well as the Colin Low Award for Best Canadian Director at DOXA 2021.

The documentary Someone Like Me, featuring the journey of a young gay man from Uganda, is another example of a work that focusses on diversity. The film won three awards, including the Rogers Audience Award at Hot Docs, the Alternative Spirit Grand Prize at the Rhode Island International Film Festival, and the Best Feature Documentary Award at the Las Cruces International Film Festival (United States).

Lastly, the feature-length documentary Stateless, produced in 2020, dealt with racism and discrimination, among other issues. Following a successful festival run and in-person theatrical screenings, Stateless was released for free streaming on nfb.ca/onf.ca on February 1, 2022, for Black History Month. The NFB’s social media channels helped amplify the documentary’s reach with additional social content and posts targeting NFB fans. The NFB also worked with local community partners, including the Toronto and Montreal Black film festivals, and did on-the-ground outreach in the Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver Caribbean communities to raise awareness about the film’s release. Since February, the doc has been viewed approximately 6,000 times on nfb.ca/onf.ca.

These are just a few examples of how the NFB, through the “Promotion of works and National Film Board outreach” program, is fulfilling its mandate of offering audiences new perspectives on the world and fostering diversity and the inclusion of artists from all backgrounds. Overall, in 2021–2022, 66% of the awards received went to female creators and 13% went to Indigenous artists.

GBA Plus Data Collection Plan: Nothing to report for 2021–2022.

Core Responsibility: Content accessibility and audience engagement

Program Name: Preservation, conservation and digitization of works

Target Population: Audiovisual production industry.

Key Program impacts on Gender and diversity: Not available

GBA Plus Data Collection Plan: Nothing to report for 2021–2022.

Core Responsibility: Internal Services

Program Name: Internal Services

Target Population: NFB employees

Distribution of Benefits: 

Other Key Program impacts on gender and diversity:

Fiscal year 2021–2022 was the first year of implementation of the NFB’s objectives and commitments regarding equity, diversity and inclusion. To be an egalitarian, open and diverse organization, the NFB has made lasting changes in accordance with the 24 commitments in the plan. One of the highlights this year was the appointment of the Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, who reports directly to the Commissioner. The NFB also made progress toward eliminating systemic racism and unconscious bias, and thus better reflecting Canadian society. Toward these ends, several key people in Human Resources, in senior management and involved in the recruitment process received awareness training on unconscious bias and on diversity and inclusion. A mandatory diversity-training program for all employees is now being developed and will be launched in the fall of 2022. In addition, to promote retention of employees from the designated groups, the NFB provided employees with various resources to support their psychological wellness in the workplace. Also, to achieve its employment-equity objectives, the NFB solicited the views of Indigenous people, members of racialized communities and minority religious communities on several occasions.

The appointment of a Director of Indigenous Relations and Community Engagement, who also reports directly to the Commissioner, enabled the NFB to continue its collaboration with the Indigenous Advisory Committee. Work was undertaken to measure the progress achieved since the launch of the 2017–2020 Indigenous Action Plan and to continue along this path by setting priorities shared by the entire organization. It should be noted that, as of March 31, 2022, the percentage of Indigenous people with continuous employment status at the NFB has increased in comparison to the previous year. The current percentage represents an almost 100% employment-equity success rate, based on the availability of the members of this group in the relevant segment of the labour market. The NFB is committed to achieving a minimum of 4% Indigenous representation by 2025.

With regard to gender parity, the NFB continued to achieve highly positive results and received Gold Parity Certification from Women in Governance. This is the fourth consecutive certification awarded to the NFB by this organization. In addition, to reach the various underrepresented groups, the NFB has expanded its recruitment pools by building new relationships and retaining the services of specialized recruitment firms.

Supplementary Information Sources: 

NFB RELEASES HIGHLIGHTS FOR 2021–2022. Results from the past year in creation, diversity and inclusion, gender parity, Indigenous works and distribution (press release, June 27, 2022)

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. NFB Commitments and Objectives

GBA Plus Data Collection Plan: Nothing to report for 2021–2022.

 

Definitions

Target Population: See Finance Canada definition of Target Group in the User Instructions for the GBA Plus Departmental Summary)

Gender Scale: 

• First group: Predominantly men (e.g. 80 per cent or more men)
• Second group: 60 per cent - 79 per cent men
• Third group: Broadly gender-balanced
• Forth group: 60 per cent - 79 per cent women
• Fifth group: Predominantly women (e.g. 80 per cent or more women)

Income Level Scale: 

• First group: Strongly benefits low income individuals (Strongly progressive)
• Second group: Somewhat benefits low income individuals (Somewhat progressive)
• Third group: No significant distributional impacts
• Forth group: Somewhat benefits high income individuals (Somewhat regressive)
• Fifth group: Strongly benefits high income individuals (Strongly regressive)

Age Group Scale: 

• First group: Primarily benefits youth, children and/or future generations
• Second group: No significant inter-generational impacts or impacts generation between youth and seniors
• Third group: Primarily benefits seniors or the baby boom generation