Dear ACTRA Toronto Members,

Last week, the Premier of Ontario announced that we would start to see sectors of our economy reopen. Effective this week, Stage 1 of this gradual reopening includes:

Office-based media operations involving equipment that does not allow for remote working. For example:

• Sound recording, such as production, distribution, publishing, studios.
• Film and television post-production, film and television animation studios.
• Publishing: periodical, book, directory, software, video games.
• Interactive digital media, such as computer systems design and related services (e.g., programming, video game design and development).

ACTRA Toronto is working with industry and government partners on the Ministry of Labour’s Section 21 Health and Safety Committee to draft Return to Work Health and Safety Guidelines. In the interim, the Best Practices – Voice Studios document on our website offers tips for eligible production studios looking to reopen. When you are auditioning and booking voice work, insurance and health and safety protections must be in place.

Return to work health and safety protocols were a main focus of ACTRA Toronto’s third Virtual Town Hall meeting last week. Over 200 members joined us during the meeting and another 240 have since accessed the recording on our website.

In addition to health and safety protections and the kind of changes we are likely to see as production starts up, we talked about the need to lobby our government to continue to support our industry and cultural workers who have been impacted enormously by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Canadian Media Producers (CMPA) study estimates that the impact of the pandemic on production volumes this spring is $2.5 billion across Canada. In Ontario, the impact is approximately $700 million in production volume, resulting in job losses for 45,000 people, each month we have been shut down.

While we expect to see production volumes increase as the economy reopens, it is going to take time. The federal and provincial government have responded well to ACTRA’s calls for benefits and programs to include cultural workers and independent producers. We need to make sure our voices are heard again. The Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) is only scheduled to last until October 3, 2020.

As the economy slowly starts to recover, it is more important than ever to be careful and heed the advice of medical professionals. While the uncertainty continues, it is also important to stay connected and make sure you are getting the support you need to stay mentally and physically healthy:

• Click here for resources available now through HAVEN and the Lifeworks app.
• Check out ACTRA Spotlight for links to professional resources, stories of

ACTRA members doing extraordinary and compassionate projects and, of course, our podcasts.
Stay safe. Stay healthy. Stay connected.

Theresa Tova