Broadcasting - Commission Letter adressed to Lalita Krishna (Canadian Independent Screen Fund for BPOC Creators)
Ottawa, 14 June 2022
Lalita Krishna
Co-Chair
Canadian Independent Screen Fund for BPOC Creators
1508 – 65 Harbour Square
Toronto ON M5J 2L4
insyncvideo@rogers.com
Dear Ms. Krishna:
Re: Request by the Canadian Independent Screen Fund for certification as an Independent Production Fund
The Commission approves the application filed by the Canadian Non-theatrical Film and Video Corporation, doing business as Canadian Independent Screen Fund (“hereunder referred to as CISF”), to be certified as an independent production fund, subject to the fulfilment of specific conditions of approval in the attached Appendix. The conditions of approval relate to amendments to CISF’s constituting documents and by-laws that are required to ensure that CISF operates in accordance with the criteria set out in Contributions to Canadian programming by broadcasting distribution undertakings, Public Notice CRTC 1997-98, 22 July 1997, subsequently clarified inPublic Notice 1999-29, 16 February 1999, and amended in Broadcasting Regulatory Policy, 2010-833, 9 November 2010 and Broadcasting Regulatory Policy 2016-343, 25 August 2016.
The Commission notes that CISF will be eligible to receive and administer contributions from broadcast distribution undertakings under section 34(1) of the Broadcasting Distribution Regulations once it has met the conditions of approval and been added to the list of eligible certified independent production funds found on the Commission’s website.
The present certification for the CISF will remain valid for as long as the fund continues to meet the criteria set out in the above noted policies.
A list of eligible independent production funds is available on the Commission’s website, where interested parties will find such information as the address, telephone and fax numbers and email of the funds and the name of the contact person.
Yours sincerely,
Claude Doucet
Secretary General
Appendix: Conditions of Approval
The Commission requires CISF to make the following amendments to its constituting documents and by-laws, and directs CISF to file, no later than 12 September 2022, an executed copy of its amended constituting documents and by-laws.
The constituting documents must be amended to reflect that, upon dissolution or winding up, monies held by the fund are to be transferred to one of the following:
- the Canadian production fund, as defined in the Broadcasting Distribution Regulations (the Regulations); or
- another eligible independent production fund, as defined in the Regulations.
The by-laws must be amended to reflect the proposed amendments filed with the Commission by 12 September 2022, (Sections 5.03, 5.04 and 10) as well as the following:
The addition of a section regarding the decision-making process and the follow-ups that reflects the following:
- The Jury assesses applications in accordance with program guidelines determined by the Board of Directors.
- The Jury’s recommendations regarding which applicants should receive funding, in addition to notes and scores, are provided to the Board of Directors.
- The decision as to whether a project should receive funding is made by the Board of Directors. If the Jury’s recommendations are voted on a slate:
- In the case of a slate not approved by the majority, the Board of Directors asks the jury to propose a new set of recommendations; the Board of Directors has the right to take a project out of a slate, and/or to add a project that has not been included in a slate.
- The above should be repeated until the Board of Directors approves a new slate of recommended projects.
- The Board shall supervise the implementation of its funding decisions.
- The deletion of Section 10.10 of the By-laws so that board members are not strictly prohibited, by by-law, from seeing applications.
- The addition of a section to ensure that all jury members are independent.
- The addition of a section to ensure that all board members must be Canadians, as defined in the Direction to the CRTC (Ineligibility of non-Canadians).
- Date modified: