CBC will carry the award show from The Black Academy honouring Black talent. The first awards show is scheduled for autumn 2022.
"Beyond creating a kick-ass award show like you’ve never, ever seen before, our intention is to shine a light on the incredible Black talent across this country and inspire generations to come," said Stephan James, The Black Academy co-founder. "CBC is the right home for this show.”
James co-founded The Black Academy with his brother Shamier Anderson.
There are a lot of unsung Black acting talent in Canada. These are names of some who I have noticed in the last few years. The following is a small sampling of the many Black Canadian actors in Canadian TV and Canadian film. Not even close to a complete list.
Kandyse McClure, Kevin Hanchard, Jim Codrington (The Border), Karen Robinson, Cory Bowles, Adrian Holmes (19-2), Cree Summer, Oluniké Adeliyi, Gloria Reuben, Clé Bennett, Maurice Dean Wint, Amanda Brugel, Chantel Riley (Frankie Drake Mysteries), Rae Dawn Chong, Lyriq Bent, Tattiawna Jones (Strange Empire), Tonya Williams, Lisa Codrington (Letterkenny), Vinessa Antoine (Diggstown), Ronnie Rowe Jr. (Black Cop), Eli Goree, Clark Johnson, Karen LeBlanc (Nurse Fighter Boy), Dwayne Johnson aka The Rock, Shailene Garnett (Murdoch Mysteries), Thom Allison (Killjoys), Aisha Brown, Andy McQueen, Roger Cross (Coroner), Cara Ricketts, Trent McClellan (This Hour Has 22 Minutes), and Guled Abdi and Tim Blair (Tallboyz).
We should also mention Black filmmakers such as Charles Officer, Stella Meghie, Sudz Sutherland, Kelly Fyffe-Marshall, Director X, and Cory Bowles, among others.
We commend James and Anderson for all the hard work they have put in to lift up others while developing their own careers.
The fact that Vinessa Antoine became the first Black Canadian woman to lead a prime-time drama on network television in 2019 shows we have a long way to go.
Canada is a country of immigrants from all over the world. That should be reflected in Canadian television and Canadian film.
Canadian film case study: Race
Canadian film review: Across the Line
Canadian film review: Black Cop
Canadian film notebook: Kelly Fyffe-Marshall drawing attention with short films
The CBC did a really nice job with the 2021 Junos on Sunday. These award shows should be on the public broadcaster.
APTN and CBC will carry the Indspire Awards: Celebrating Indigenous Achievement on June 22. The ceremony will feature 12 outstanding Indigenous achievers from a diverse list of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis communities. The broadcast will also be available at 8 pm Eastern on CBC Gem, CBC Radio One, and CBC Listen.
The Canadian Screen Awards have not been on television for the past 2 years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Junos tried a lot harder than the Canadian Screen Awards.
There was a recent story in The Globe and Mail on how the CBC has confirmed carrying the 2022 Canadian Screen Awards. This may amount to nothing but could be a concern.
CanadianCrossing.com Canadian TV coverage
CanadianCrossing.com film coverage
CanadianCrossing.com television coverage
Watching the Junos Sunday night reminded us of what the Canadian Screen Awards were before the pandemic.
Cramming the best of TV and film into a single night is problematic since neither gets a chance to shine as much as Canadian music during the Junos. As we learned from Game 3 of the Montréal-Winnipeg series, the CBC television reach makes an impact.
Here is to hoping the 2022 Canadian Screen Awards returns to its former glory of being on CBC and available on YouTube. Canadian television and Canadian film deserve that level of recognition.
photo credit: Across the Line film
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