The Guild will accept submissions until Friday, November 1, 2024. Submissions may be sent electronically to: mail@dgc.ca.
In the historical aftermath of the #MeToo and Black Lives Matter movements, the Directors Guild of Canada took action, alongside others in Canadian film & television, to redouble our efforts to create safe and respectful spaces in our industry. Despite significant steps forward, a great deal of work remains to be done.
The film & television industry as a whole faces unique challenges in addressing and preventing incidents of harassment, racism, and bullying. Our members face long hours and often exhausting mental stress in a fast-paced, creative workplace. In an industry still striving to become more diverse and inclusive, many still feel a sense of isolation on sets or in office suites. Moreover, the “gig economy” nature of our work creates a precarious environment where candidates must – in effect – apply for their position on every new project.
In response to all of this, the Guild has stepped up with measures ranging from negotiating harassment complaints protocols in our collective agreements, conducting our historical Respectful Workplace Audit, to the launch of our HAVENonline.ca website providing access to counseling and reporting resources, and our “So Not Cool” campaign aimed at empowering bystanders. Now, that work must go further.
In this dynamic and demanding environment, where accounts of harassment, racism, and bullying behavior continue to occur, the DGC’s National Executive Board has decided to institute National Mandatory Respectful Workplace Training.
This training must not only inform, but empower. Action is needed. A cultural shift in our industry is required to achieve respectful workplaces for all, and mandatory training is an important step to focus on prevention and skill building. The Guild intends to continue to play a forward-leaning leadership role in this effort and is looking for a key contributor to assist in this effort. This new mandatory national course will not replace the existing training at the local district levels of the DGC, but rather offer a new avenue to train our members and effect needed change.
Scope of Training
The scope of the training must encompass the following:
- Recognition and understanding of all forms of harassment with consideration of most provincial harassment definitions, occupational law standards for health and safety, and provisions of DGC collective agreements (including employer’s obligation to implement Harassment Policy);
- Anti-harassment and anti-racism strategies including harassment prevention strategies or mindful bystander behaviour;
- Raising awareness of unconscious and cultural bias;
- Active promotion of inclusivity, diversity and equity in our industry;
- Options and resources available to all members who experience or witness harassment in the workplace.
Training Format Requirements
Given our members’ circumstances and limited availabilities, the training format must be:
- Bilingual or include a strategy to obtain and deliver a bilingual training program;
- Conducted virtually, as much as possible to smaller groups, but carried out repeatedly for all members across the entire country, thus requiring flexibility in scheduling training sessions;
- Describe strategies to address all types of harassment in our industry (sexual, physical, psychological, racial, ageism, ableism, gender-based, etc.) in a cohesive, comprehensive manner;
- Delivered in a 4 to 6 hours timeframe for the actual training time (additional or supplemental training on a modular scale is possible);
- If at all possible, be open to a “train the trainer” model allowing facilitators, who may be interested DGC Members, to teach the curriculum.
Submission Requirements
The successful submission will include:
- Extensive knowledge and/or experience in our industry as well as anti-harassment and anti-racism training;
- An established track record of assisting leading organizations in anti-harassment and diversity, inclusion, and equity training;
- A detailed understanding of anti-harassment and anti-racism strategies;
- The ability to translate training objectives into an engaging training experience for our members;
- The ability to ensure the curriculum is appropriate for all regions and available in both official languages;
- The ability to incorporate coping strategies and discuss triggering topics in the curriculum or training;
- Experience dealing with collective agreements and/or in a unionised, multi-stakeholder work environment will be considered an asset;
- A brief proposal (1-2 pages) including timelines, fees and other resources necessary to elaborate the curriculum and if applicable, the training delivery.
Submission Deadline
The Guild will accept submissions until Friday, November 1, 2024. Submissions may be sent electronically to: mail@dgc.ca.
