The Documentary Organization of Canada is thrilled at Heritage Minister solidarity with documentary filmmakers in rejecting key Senate Amendments to Bill C-11

Toronto – March 8th 2023 – DOC is thrilled to see the Heritage Minister stand with documentary filmmakers and all Canadian content creators by disagreeing with two Senate Committee amendments to Bill C-11 that put our cultural autonomy at risk.

Documentary filmmakers across the country are deeply moved that Minister Rodriguez supports maintaining a protection within the Bill for key genres such as documentary, that tell uniquely Canadian stories but are vulnerable within a global streaming landscape. We also celebrate the Minister’s disagreement with the Senate’s 7th amendment, as this ensures that the guiding light for future definitions of Canadian content will continue to be Canadian creators.

Documentary filmmakers are one of the most socio-economically, culturally and racially diverse creative communities in Canada, deeply committed to a genre of filmmaking that has never been more important to helping us make sense of the world around us. Half of the Documentary Organization of Canada’s members are Indigenous, Black or racialized. Two Canadian documentary filmmakers are competing for an Academy Award this weekend! Documentaries bring our evolving Canadian identity onto the world stage and are key to our cultural autonomy.

Providing specific protections for this creative community within C-11 and requesting that Canadian content is defined by our own creators are important tools to ensure that the Bill can nurture our Cultural autonomy. Canadian owned and Canadian creatively led content is by no means the majority of the programs produced in Canada. But if we can pass Bill C-11, especially with these key changes, we are one step closer to ensuring we’ll still be here.

Download the PDF Press Release Here:

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About DOC

The Documentary Organization of Canada / l’Association des documentaristes du Canada is the collective voice of diverse independent documentary filmmakers across Canada. DOC is a member-driven, not-for-profit association representing over 1000 directors, producers, and craftspeople in the Canadian documentary community. DOC advocates on behalf of its members to foster an environment conducive to documentary production and strives to strengthen the sector within the broader screen industry.

For more information, please contact:

Sarah Spring, Executive Director
Documentary Organization of Canada
sarah@docorg.ca
514-961-7026