Canadian Race Relations FoundationIn March 2001 we produced an 8 minute promotional video for the Canadian Race Relations Foundation featuring their Awards of Excellence National Conference held at the Hotel Vancouver March 2-4, 2001.
“In 1988, the Government of Canada and the National Association of Japanese Canadians signed the Japanese Canadian Redress Agreement. The Agreement acknowledged that the treatment of Japanese Canadians during and after World War II was unjust and violated principles of human rights. Under the terms of the agreement, the federal government also promised to create a Canadian Race Relations Foundation, which would "foster racial harmony and cross-cultural understanding and help to eliminate racism. The federal government proclaimed the Canadian Race Relations Foundation Act into law on October 28, 1996. The Foundation officially opened its doors in November 1997. The Foundation’s office is located in Toronto but its activities are national in scope. It operates at arm's length from the federal government.” (source: www.crr.ca)
Our video documented three events: the press conference, symposium and the Awards Gala at the Nikkei Centre in Burnaby. It included a cross section of participants for short on-the-street style interviews, testimonials of Board Members, staff, speakers, presenters, and award recipients providing a diversity of views relating to the Foundation and of themselves.
The video style is cinema-verite documentary, letting the subjects speak for themselves without the need for a narrator and without the need of an on camera interviewer.