“I had been working as a TV producer/director on a current affairs show in Ghana for three years before moving to Canada. When I first arrived, I applied to the CBC three times, and each time they “lost” my application. Finally, I asked to speak to someone, and a nice person came down and said that the way to get in here was through getting ‘Canadian experience.’ They never went out and said they wouldn’t hire your kind, but there was a sense that there was a gate closed to you.

To this day, I refuse to work with the CBC.

“So I went to Ryerson and got an internship at the Toronto Star in 1972. I worked for a few newspapers and magazines, but began working at Citytv in 1978. If I wasn’t the first African-Canadian in the Toronto market, I was the second. I was the black man with the exotic name and accent, which was rare at the time. Most people didn’t go into that field, because we didn’t think we could get in. That’s one of the advantages of today’s generation: they aren’t afraid to apply to TV stations and radio stations because they didn’t face the same things we did.

Everywhere I went, I made sure I did a good job, because people look at you with more scrutiny. I did a five-part series on people with mental problems living in Parkdale in 1985 that was nominated for a Gemini Award. It was quite a compelling piece of work, but the best work that I’ve done is the work I do every Black History Month.

“Each February, I tell the story of an African-Canadian and his or her contribution to the country. I did one on Richard Pierpoint [an African slave who, through fighting in the American Revolution, received the land that is present day St. Catharine's and Fergus] and, for me, it’s my best work, because it sheds light on some things Canadians don’t know. We just didn’t arrive here; we helped make this place. It’s important to tell these stories to inform not just the white community, but people in our community, that we are a part of this nation. You’re less likely to destroy something if you’re a part of it. Give kids a positive image and they’ll respond. I know a lot of people looked at me and thought that they could do the same thing.”

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“I come from a musical family, and was a singer for eight years. When I started getting tired of the musician’s lifestyle, I wanted to do something that was self-contained. I started off in musical theatre and just happened to be at the right place at the right time.

A lot of people don’t know this, but Canada’s film industry started in Montreal during the mid to late 1970s and they were doing a lot of American-themed films. They were looking for a black actor to give it that American feel and I had very little competition at the time.

So I was rolling up TV and film credits, but at the time most actors were making their living through commercials and advertising companies didn’t want to use visible minorities. It’s against the law now, but casting agents back then had no problem saying that they weren’t hiring minorities.

“The nature of the industry forced me to do activist work early in my career. We started the Montreal Black Performers Society to lobby advertising companies to create fair opportunities for visible minorities and I was blackballed for two years. The government realized what was happening and helped apply pressure. By that time I’d moved to Vancouver to do Airwolf for two years and then moved to Toronto.

“I was asked to be the host of In the Black, which was a talk show, featuring interviews with prominent African-Canadians from all walks of life. At the time, no show like that existed on Canadian TV. I was very happy to be part of that because it had a positive impact on Toronto. There was a void on Canadian TV of positive news from the African-Canadian community. It’s important that we create stories from other communities so we don’t always see the same stories from the same community.”

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Occupation

Contribution: Since moving to Canada from Texas in 1967, Rita Shelton Deverell has used her career in journalism to create a voice for Aboriginal Peoples. In 2005, Shelton Deverell completed her term as director of news and current affairs for the world’s first Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN). It was her skills in team building and producing that gave the network its stability and an Aboriginal successor.

Inspiration:
“I was almost shocked that there was so much unexamined racism on the Prairies. Things have changed over the years and are a great deal better. But, racism is racism. At first, I couldn’t even adjust to the idea that people thought they were only being racist if they were disparaging against Black people … the largest visible minority are Aboriginal People and those are the people where I could see my history, my conflicts or whatever it is I was on about social justice. Those were the people who were important.”

Advice to young women:
“The more skills you have, the better off you are. If you want to be a television director, that is the type of occupation that is extremely difficult, if not downright impossible, to be continually employed at. So, what you need to do is amass as many skills as possible in the areas of work that you are interested in. Putting all those things together may keep you working. Also, get a wonderful education.”

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By Annmarie Morais

You can judge the value that you place on something by the time and finances that you devote to it. So if we use that as the bar, we see that the Canadian TV industry doesn’t highly value black Canadian experiences. Our goal as black communities is to see ourselves reflected in some way. But disappointingly, perhaps the one way that Canadian networks do mirror the American television format is that you don’t see us on prime time; and you don’t see us being decision-makers regarding what is televised during prime time. That’s not an accidental thing; that’s taken years to cultivate and it will take years to change.

We’ve got to make active progress in turning that around. In the United States there are foundations and studio-based initiatives that are specifically aimed at training minorities, women and actors of colour, and these programs allow studios to take new talent under their wings.

Now, it may not happen overnight, but one day these people will be running a studio. You slowly begin to change the faces who are involved with the studios and what is presented. I believe that we need to adopt that model and say, “We’ve got amazing talent and a lot of different voices that people want to hear.”

I don’t think that anyone can ignore the fact that we’re in trouble in Canada, in terms of making a concentrated effort to develop shows and writers reflecting our unique and diverse voices. If our goal is just to make poor imitations of American shows, then I suggest that we rethink that situation. There are things that we Canadians do very well, which are unique and find popularity. Shows like da Kink and Little Mosque have strong fan bases because these are stories that are unique to Canada and people want to hear them.

While in the States, I work with a lot of teenagers and preteens, and every one of them knows about Degrassi. Now, that show doesn’t have an O.C. formula or Beverly Hills 90210 formula; it’s unique and it has a Canadian voice. Shows like Degrassi prove that we can develop shows that have strength across the border.

Now, there are a lot of things that have to click in place for us to create viable representations of our communities that reach across race, borders and nationalities. Primarily, we need producing entities that are open and receptive, and believe that our communities have something to be said. We also have to remember that everything doesn’t have to be a critical darling! Trailer Park Boys is a huge hit because it taps into a culture and a market and has broad-based appeal.

I realize that being so close to the States, we can’t help but be influenced by their airwaves. But we shouldn’t be led. At this point it seems as though we are being led by American culture, instead of having a voice and identity unto ourselves. I hope that, within the next five to 10 years, all of our networks will have a different perspective on their programming. We have to stop looking to Americans (who incidentally, look to the British for their programming anyway!) and rethink what it is people really want to see. Let’s reflect ourselves on the television landscape and do what we do well.

Annmarie Morais is a Canadian writer best known for penning the feature film How She Move, and Canadian TV series da Kink In My Hair and Hotel Babylon.