Hello everyone! Below is an advocacy letter I am attempting to get before our Federal Government to provide urgent aid to struggling Canadian Film Workers in desperate need of assistance. Until the WGA and SAG in the US are able to obtain the fair and respectful contracts they deserve, their friends to the North are struggling with minimal resources and assistance. Help me gain the traction to bring this matter to those who have the ability to provide aid to the hundreds of thousands of Canadian workers who need it to weather this storm. Please take a read, sign and spread this campaign far and wide! 

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Re: Emergency Aid To Canadian Film Workers 

To whom it may concern:

As you may already be aware, Canadian Film workers across the country are experiencing a crisis. With the exception of a handful of Canadian productions, the industry has all but shuttered its doors due to the ongoing Writers Guild of America (WGA)  and Screen Actors Guild (SAG) strikes, the former of which began in early May. This has had a detrimental impact on Canadian citizens who not only work directly on these US Film and Television productions but also film related businesses such as catering companies, rental houses, and sound stages. Workers, barely back on their feet from the pandemic, are now the collateral damage of these coinciding US labour disputes showing no sign of resolution in the near future. 

As of now, our Provincial and Federal governments have been all but silent on the issue. It is imperative that immediate action be taken to provide relief to these workers to preserve an industry that makes a considerable impact on the Canadian economy and creates over two hundred thousand jobs nationally. Many already have and will continue to leave the industry permanently as their EI’s run out, savings run dry and financial emergency support options are minimal at best. 

Decades have been spent building the Canadian Film Industry into a globally recognized leading film hub, especially in the Greater Vancouver and Toronto areas. Allowing Canadian Film Workers to face this struggle without aid dismantles this progress. While finding temporary jobs is important for those who are impacted, finding new careers altogether isn’t the answer. Post-strikes, US productions will need these professional trained crews to be ready and willing to return. In BC alone, the industry has invested tens of billions of dollars into the provincial economy in the past decade. It is in the best interest for all of Canada for government assistance to be administered rapidly. 

I ask, for consideration, for any Canadian film worker to be allowed a one time renewal/extension of their EI for an additional 36 weeks waiving the need to have worked the minimum hours required since their last claim. This would be granted to the individual based on the expectation that they worked more than 1800 hours in a Canadian Film Industry job, or film adjacent business, within the 2022 year. I would also like to ask that this extension/renewal be allowed to be backdated to July 14th 2023, which was the start date of the Screen Actors Guild strike. The necessity for action to be taken now cannot be undersold. Canadians do not have the luxury of waiting until parliament resumes session at the end of September.

Thank you for your time and consideration, I hope to hear from you in the near future.

Tawni Duhamel