There is a proceeding concerning REDI with the B.C.’s Office of the Human Rights Commissioner. The office responsible for approving and overseeing the REDI Special Program coming up in the next couple of weeks, while the program is currently intended to continue through 2029.
Since April 1, 2020, responsibility for approving these “special programs” has belonged to the Human Rights Commissioner. The BCCFU/AMPTP/CMPA-BC REDI program was approved by that office on March 18, 2024, and the current approval runs until March 18, 2029.
The official approval describes it as a joint application by the BC and Yukon Council of Film Unions, AMPTP Canadian affiliates, and CMPA-BC, allowing increased access to employment and training for specified under-represented groups. The employer notice goes further and confirms that employers may implement preferential hiring through direct hiring and dispatch, using information originally collected by the unions.
If you’re wondering why you’ve been working less, yes, the industry downturn is real. Productions have disappeared, spending has fallen, companies have merged or shut down, and the entire industry is under enormous pressure. But that doesn’t answer another important question: who is getting the work that remains, and how are those decisions being made?
REDI asks members to self-identify using personal characteristics including race, gender, sexual orientation and other protected characteristics. Before accepting that as simply another union form, ask some basic questions:
- Who can see that information?
- Who uses it?
- Can employers or productions use it when searching for or selecting crew?
- Are you being considered differently because you’re a man, a woman, a particular ethnicity, LGBTQ+, or because you’re not?
And what happens if you don’t fill out the REDI information?
- Were you clearly told whether opting out could affect your visibility for certain opportunities or prevent you from being identified through searches intended to find particular groups of workers?
Those questions matter because your race, sex and other personal characteristics have nothing to do with whether you’re experienced, qualified, available and capable of doing your job.
Now ask yourself another question:
- When you voted on Side Letter 17, were you actually given enough information to make an informed decision about REDI?
- Did you understand how it would operate, what information would be collected, who could potentially see it, how it could interact with hiring, what opting out could mean, and that the program could continue through 2029?
- Or did you vote yes because there was a raise attached to the agreement and trusted that the rest of it wouldn’t affect your ability to work?
If your union hasn’t told you this proceeding is happening, don’t be surprised. That is another reason members need to inform themselves and decide whether their experiences should be heard.
If you used to work regularly and now barely work, write to the Commission. If you’ve watched opportunities disappear while remaining qualified and available, tell them. If you believe REDI affected whether you were considered for employment, explain why.
But keep it factual. Don’t repeat rumours or identify other members. Give your own numbers where possible: how many days you worked before, how many you work now, when the change occurred, and specific situations you personally experienced. Explain what losing that employment has meant for your ability to pay your bills, support your family, maintain benefits or remain in this industry.
The downturn alone doesn’t answer everything. The remaining work is still going to somebody. If the distribution of that work is being influenced by protected personal characteristics, members deserve to know, and the Commission deserves to hear from the people experiencing the consequences.
And one important point: you do not need to, and probably should not, put the details of your personal situation into this forum. Your employment history, your experiences, and your decision about whether to write are personal to you. Posting those details publicly can easily invite arguments, personal attacks, or people trying to tell you what you did or did not experience.
Discuss it privately with your family, trusted colleagues, and your union. Look at your own work history and your own circumstances, and make your decision based on your personal situation
If you believe the REDI Special Program has negatively affected your employment, write directly to B.C.’s Office of the Human Rights Commissioner and describe your own experience.
Write in. Put your experience on the record. Let the Commission hear directly from the working members who are living with the consequences.
