Focus: Impression and People

focus: The report, based on questions posed to a half dozen focus group sessions in mid-January, found there was a widespread impression among participants that Canada's broadcasters have improved their portrayal of certain segments of the population in their programming, according to CTV. But near equal numbers indicated that, compared with visible minorities, women and members of the LGBTQ community, they saw fewer TV shows portraying Indigenous people and the disabled. The findings were provided to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission in March, shortly before Heritage Minister Melanie Joly launched public consultations to examine how the federal government could support the creation of Canadian content, but were only released last week on the government's public opinion and polling database. Research firm Phoenix SPI, which conducted the focus groups in Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City and Halifax, stressed that the views of participants could not be extrapolated to represent the beliefs of Canada's overall population. Participants were asked to rate their level of agreement or disagreement with the statement Canadian television is becoming a mirror in which all Canadians can see themselves. Rather, the findings were a snapshot of how specific groups of people from divergent backgrounds saw themselves reflected in the broadcasting system. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.