Hello,
The CRTC wants to engage with stakeholders in Canada’s creative audiovisual communities on how they view definitions of Canadian content. We are looking for showrunners, producers, directors, writers, domestic television broadcasters, content distributors and exporters, domestic online broadcasters, broadcasting distribution undertakings, foreign online services, digital first creators, actors, composers, editors, directors of photography, and animators! Do you work in one of these fields and have experience with the definitions and with Canadian programming certification that you would like to share? Do you have views on how the CRTC could possibly update these definitions for the benefit of Canada’s broadcasting industry?
The CRTC is organizing a series of workshops across Canada which should take place in the months of February and March 2024. This email is to seek your interest and availability in participating in such a workshop. If you would like to be added to a list of possible participants, please click here to fill out the information form by December 22, 2023. According to interest levels, we will determine the list of participants to be invited to each workshop and official invitations will be sent in January 2024. Please note, that we may not be able to accommodate all interested parties in all cities, as space will be limited. Expressing interest at this point does not guarantee an invitation.
Further details on the workshops are below.
When will these workshops happen?
In-person workshops
*Note: Subject to change based on venue availability. The official invitation that will be sent in January 2024 will include final dates and venues.
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Why is the CRTC holding these workshops?
 Under the Broadcasting Act the CRTC is authorized to define Canadian content. We do it to support Canada’s creative industries, help Canadians tell their stories here and abroad and ensure that these stories can be seen. As part of the process of modernizing the Canadian broadcasting system, we determined that it was appropriate to review the definitions and indicated this in our regulatory plan published in May 2023. The recent Policy Direction from the Government reinforced that we are expected to proceed with consulting with Canadians and members of the creative and production sectors, and other interested parties, to determine what constitutes Canadian content.Â
These workshops are preliminary engagement sessions and the views collected will help inform the future broad public consultations on this topic – in other words, you will help us determine the right questions to ask in the next steps.
We look forward to hearing from a diverse set of perspectives, including from Indigenous creators. Please note however that, in addition to the definition of Canadian content, we are separately considering how best to define and support Indigenous content as a part of the co-development of the Indigenous Broadcasting Policy. You can visit crtc.gc.ca regularly for info on upcoming public consultations regarding this process.
Purpose of the workshops
These workshops are intended to be collaborative where participants interact, share, and discuss their various views and their experiences working with the current definitions.
The CRTC will use the services of a third party specializing in qualitative research, IPSOS, to facilitate the discussions. After the workshops, IPSOS will develop a What we heard report for CRTC and public use, to be posted on our website. CRTC staff will observe the workshops but will not participate. The report will not name or identify specific participants. IPSOS might record certain parts of the workshops for report writing purposes, however these recordings will not be shared with the CRTC and will not be made public.
Who should participate?
We are looking for participants from a variety of backgrounds who have experience in the Canadian broadcasting and production industries and who can share their views and engage in a respectful dialogue on whether the current definitions of Canadian content should be changed or improved.
Please note that these workshops are not the full public consultations. We expect participants to be ready to engage in a meaningful dialogue with other participants, including those with different views. If you wish mainly to state a view, rather than participate in a dialogue, we recommend that you wait until the full public consultations that will follow these workshops.
We think it’s important that these workshops have representation from different industry fields as well as from Indigenous Peoples and equity-deserving groups such as Black or other racialized communities, people with a disability, Official Language Minority Communities (OLMCs) and people who identify as 2SLGBTQ+.
Resources to encourage discussion
 The CRTC will prepare a discussion guide to be distributed to participants before the workshops. Also, the following websites could provide helpful background info to help prepare:
CRTC Canadian Program Certification Guide
Application Guidelines for Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit from CAVCO
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How do I signal my interest?
To signal your interest in attending the workshops, please click on the following link to provide the following info:
- Preferred language
- Name of workshop attendee
- Name of business (if applicable)
- Email & phone number
- Type of industry member(s) (e.g. producer, writer, etc.)
- All workshops that you are available to attend
It is possible that not all persons who express their interest will be able to participate. To ensure that as many participants as possible can attend, people will only be permitted to attend one workshop.
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact the CRTC broadcasting team at Radiodiffusion-Broadcasting@crtc.gc.ca.
Signal your interest by December 22, 2023, in order to be eligible for participation in the workshops!
Who should participate?
We are looking for participants from a variety of backgrounds who have experience in the Canadian broadcasting and production industries and who can share their views and engage in a respectful dialogue on whether the current definitions of Canadian content should be changed or improved.
Please note that these workshops are not the full public consultations. We expect participants to be ready to engage in a meaningful dialogue with other participants, including those with different views. If you wish mainly to state a view, rather than participate in a dialogue, we recommend that you wait until the full public consultations that will follow these workshops.
We think it’s important that these workshops have representation from different industry fields as well as from Indigenous Peoples and equity-deserving groups such as Black or other racialized communities, people with a disability, Official Language Minority Communities (OLMCs) and people who identify as 2SLGBTQ+.
Next steps
CRTC staff will send you an official invitation with all the information you need (like workshop location, date/time and all other important details) in January 2024 if you have been selected to participate.
Thank you,
Scott Shortliffe
Executive Director, Broadcasting
CRTC
