Issue 1
The weekly digest: the week of October 12
Editor's letter
CanConWire published 5 stories this week.
On policy and funding, 5 stories. The CMF’s 2025-2026 annual report, released September 28, shows $338.8 million invested in 1,248 audiovisual and interactive digital media projects, generating $1.93 billion in total industry activity and nearly 17,000 full-time equivalent jobs. On September 23, the CMF announced two company-focused programs: a $5 million Business Development pilot for small and mid-sized Canadian producers, and an Indigenous Company Impact Support program offering up to $50,000 per Indigenous-owned company with a history of creating interactive and digital media content; applications close October 29. The CMF’s 2026-2029 Indigenous Action Plan, “Answering the Call,” published September 14, outlines seven priorities anchored in Indigenous narrative sovereignty and institutional allyship. Through its POV Program, the CMF committed $6,966,000 to 23 one-off point-of-view documentaries, with $4,671,000 going to 13 English-language projects and $2,295,000 to 10 French-language projects, all from Quebec. And a coalition of 50 Canadian screen sector organizations, including ACTRA, the Directors Guild of Canada, and the Writers Guild of Canada, wrote to Prime Minister Mark Carney and Minister Marc Miller urging that the 15 percent Canadian programming expenditure requirement for foreign streaming services be preserved; the letter says the government’s $600 million annual funding pledge, though welcome, is not a substitute for a regulated contribution framework.
Every item below links to the original source, and each story says who is claiming what. If something is wrong, the corrections page says how to tell us.
Policy & fundingSee all
CMF reports $338.8 million in 1,248 projects for 2025-2026, with $1.93 billion in activity
The Canada Media Fund's 2025-2026 annual report says it invested $338.8 million in 1,248 audiovisual and interactive digital media projects, which it says fuelled $1.93 billion in industry activity and nearly 17,000 full-time equivalent jobs.
These are the fund's own measures of its results. A multiplier shows how much other money followed the CMF's, not whether the projects found audiences or repaid that activity.
CMF announces $5 million Business Development Program pilot and second Indigenous Company Impact Support round
The Canada Media Fund has announced a $5 million Business Development Program pilot, opening for applications November 10, and a second iteration of its Indigenous Company Impact Support, for which invited applicants have until October 29.
Both programs are limited in reach: the pilot is open to companies with $250,000 to $9,999,999 in five-year revenue, and the Indigenous support is one-time funding per company, with invitations going to companies funded through eligible CMF or Indigenous Screen Office programs from 2021 to 2026. Neither settles whether the funding continues.
CMF sets seven priorities in its 2026-2029 Indigenous Action Plan
The Canada Media Fund released Answering the Call, a three-year Indigenous Action Plan with seven priorities, after what it calls a nearly two-year process.
Seven priorities describe direction. The change already in effect is administration: the Indigenous Program now sits with the Indigenous Screen Office. Dollar shifts, if any, are not in this announcement.
CMF announces $6.97 million for 23 one-off documentaries, 22 of them from Quebec or Ontario
The Canada Media Fund announced $6,966,000 for 23 one-off point-of-view documentaries through its POV Program: 13 English-language and 10 French-language projects.
The geographic split is stark — 22 of 23 projects sit in Quebec or Ontario — but the release does not publish application volumes by province, so it cannot show whether projects elsewhere were passed over or never filed.
Fifty screen groups ask Ottawa not to replace the CRTC's 15% streaming contribution with funding
ACTRA and 49 other screen groups urged Prime Minister Carney and Minister Miller on August 13 to keep the CRTC's 15% requirement for foreign streamers.
The dispute is over whether Canadian programming money arrives as an obligation on streamers or as government funding. The letter's signatories want the obligation kept.