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Dear Honourable MLAs of British Columbia:
Hope this email finds you well.
Please find attached the press release from a group (435+ strong) of filmmakers and citizens (calling ourselves Equity Justice) asking for accountability and change in executive leadership at Knowledge Network, BC' sole public broadcaster, after a 7 year audit revealed staggering inequities in funding to BIPOC filmmakers in the community. In this group are renowned filmmakers, theatre artists, indigenous matriarchs, architects, politicians but also people from many other walks of life - grandmas, college students, professors, activists, sisters, scientists and retirees. We hail from every ethnicity across the province and are speaking with one voice to you.
We have attached the Equity Audit Report below.
The audit was initiated by external pressure from stakeholder groups like Vancouver Asian Film Festival, Racial Equity Screen Office and Doc BC. In response, the Ministry and the Honourable Minister Mark installed 3 diverse board members and targeted mandates for "equity-deserving groups" over the next three years. But the same executive leadership remained in place, having created and perpetuated an institution of inequitable practices over the last 15 years.
The Board of Directors of Knowledge have so far resisted calls for a brand new vision and leadership for the tax-payer funded entity.
Change of executive leadership is important at Knowledge Network. Why?
Broadcasters exude enormous cultural power over our collective imagination and histories, and are a powerful tool of colonizing culture, language and minds of audiences and stakeholders. People implicitly trust public broadcasting. Knowledge has not kept faith with its audiences and donors, packaging content directed by white male filmmakers and white-owned companies as "authentic", "diverse" and "indigenous" history. It is disingenuous, paternalistic and affects us all.
Here is an opinion in the Georgia Straight from three of us.
https://www.straight.com/news/joella-cabalu-kris-anderson-and-meghna-haldar-sound-of-silence
The Chinese and South Asian local media have also covered our press release and there is more interest in the media in the upcoming days.
We need our MLAs of all ethnicities, but most importantly those who are IBPOC to speak up on our behalf and to show leadership on behalf of the many communities that have sent them to the legislature. Nothing will change until our political leadership has the courage to act on its conviction.
When institutional and systemic racism is called out openly by a group of very many discerning voices, then our leaders must act on it. Otherwise all that anti-racist talk is mostly sound and fury, signifying very little.
Looking forward to hearing from you!
Splendor sine occasu -
Meghna Haldar, Joella Cabalu, Kris Anderson, Rachel Rocco, Kat Jayme, Ying Wang on behalf of Equity Justice