In June 2002, ACTRA launched what it called its "campaign for Canadian programming," a broad-based effort to take a leadership role in reviving Canadian drama.
But it was also a coming-out party of sorts for the union; a declaration that ACTRA was undergoing a paradigm shift, moving beyond its role as bargaining agent for performers' rights.
For much of the previous decade, the union, which had traditionally been active on such concerns as the North American Free Trade Agreement and copyright law, had retreated from public policy issues as it focused on rebuilding internally.
That all changed in June of last year following the union's first-ever policy conference. Having watched domestic dramatic production volumes plummet and with it the prospects for actors working in Canada, ACTRA decided it was time to chime in on some of the key issues concerning performers in Canada.
The union did not tiptoe out of the gate. Since last year, ACTRA has taken a lead role in just about every major cultural issue concerning performing arts in Canada.
Most recently, ACTRA Toronto Performers mobilized on the issue of declines in production in Ontario with the launch of the Ontario Film and Television Consortium, gathering together an unprecedented coalition of talent unions, Ontario producers along with the Ontario Media Development Corporation with the goal of promoting production in the province.
ACTRA has long asserted that the CRTC's 1999 Television Policy was the central villain in the decline of drama production. This spring, a sweeping review of the broadcast landscape by the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage came out in favor of ACTRA's stance and echoed that the Television Policy needs be reopened as soon as possible. The union was first out of the gate with a strongly worded reaction to federal cuts to the CTF. The union was also first in reacting to a report on English-language drama by retired broadcast executive Trina McQueen and a study of Canadian content regulations by former Telefilm Canada executive director and chairman Francois Macerola.
The union, now celebrating its 60th anniversary, has picketed federal Finance Minister John Manley on the CTF cuts, and has lobbied Ottawa, sending its members, including actors Paul Gross and Gordon Pinsent, to meet federal ministers. Gross has become ACTRA's face and voice on the drama issue.
Some credit national president Thor Bishopric for articulating a need to be more proactive on the big issues facing Canadian culture. Others point to national executive director Stephen Waddell, or Brian Topp, executive director ACTRA Toronto Performers.
Whoever may ultimately be the catalyst, what is remarkable is the willingness the union has shown in working with organizations that are traditionally considered its adversaries, whether producers or broadcasters, for the common good of bettering prospects for the Canadian production community.
There's an old adage that in times of crisis true leaders emerge - think Winston Churchill and Rudy Giuliani. Under the pressures of the current declines in Canadian production, ACTRA and its leadership have stepped out from behind the Independent Production Agreement and are leading the charge.
(Peter Vamos, July 21, 2003, p. 11)
