In the fall of 2018, when McQuillan was seven months pregnant, she was let go from her job in the props department of a U.S. network drama series being shot in B.C.
According to a recent survey of people with family obligations in Canada’s TV and film industry, 27 per cent of respondents said they were let go from their jobs when they were pregnant. “You hear these stories all the time,” said Susan Brinton, the report’s author. “But when you really see that on paper, it was shocking.”
“I definitely felt as a woman and a single parent that my opportunities to creatively participate in the film and TV industry were seriously limited by those factors. And sadly, not enough has changed since then.”However, unions largely dictate working condition in the film and TV sector and they are not currently required to address the lack of funding and availability of child care and family care.
The report also called for federal and provincial governments to establish on-set and on-demand child care at production centres across Canada by 2024. Fifty-six per cent of survey respondents said they’d like to see onsite child care.
The fact that all current childcare models do not support people outside of 9-5 working hours should give people pause. 1 in 4 people in Canada work outside of the 9-5 working hours and yet there are no childcare options for these people.
These are the same parents that would kill someone to get their kids into TV .... Pick a lane.