The Canada Media Fund, the country's top TV financier, has unveiled a new visual identity to expand investment and inclusion for the country's Indigenous creators.
The redesign includes translating the organization's name and spark-themed logos into an initial 12 Indigenous languages and dialects to reflect homegrown TV content funded by the CMF in the Dene, Gwich'in, Inuvialuit, Maliseet, Mi’kmaq, Michif, Northern East Cree, Ojibwe, Oji-Cree, Plains Cree, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Sníchim (Squamish) Woods Cree languages.
Valerie Creighton, CMF president and CEO, said the rebrand is part of a move to decolonize her organization and show Canadians that the country's Indigenous communities have a specific and vital creative and cultural voice in Canada. "Indigenous peoples are central to this land, not just because they were the first people, but they add to this rich cultural tapestry that Canada has," Creighton told The Hollywood Reporter.
"So it's critical that organizations like the CMF break down barriers to what has been a colonial approach to funding and content," she added, as the TV financier also expands its financial support for underrepresented Black Canadian creators and other people of color as part of an on-going drive for diversity mandated by the federal government in Ottawa.
First Nation creators and on-screen talent in Canada include Mohawk director Tracey Deer, whose movie Beans debuted at the 2020 Toronto Film Festival, Kawennahere Devery Jacobs, a Quebec-raised actress who starred in American Gods, Cardinal and The Order, director Danis Goulet, whose debut feature Night Raiders was executive produced by Oscar-winner Taika Waititi, and Ron E. Scott, creator and director of First Nation-inspired dramas like Blackstone and Tribal.
Creighton added the CMF, after 15 months of consultation with Indigenous communities and creators, crafted a new brand identity that can lead by example to encourage greater diversity and inclusion in the Canadian entertainment industry.
"Clearly there's no going back from any of this, nor should there be," she insisted.
