In a world where diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts are often being scaled back by major corporations in Canada and abroad, the entertainment industry has not been immune. As the president of GAPC Entertainment, Ottawa’s Hoda Elatawi has decades of experience bringing children’s shows and documentaries to life. She graduated from Carleton University’s journalism […]
In a world where diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts are often being scaled back by major corporations in Canada and abroad, the entertainment industry has not been immune.
As the president of GAPC Entertainment, Ottawa’s Hoda Elatawi has decades of experience bringing children’s shows and documentaries to life. She graduated from Carleton University's journalism program and has 30 years of storytelling experience.
As someone who brings a passion for diversity and intersectionality to her storytelling, Elatawi spoke with OBJ this week about how changes in DEI programs are affecting the entertainment industry and the corporate world in general.
This transcript has been edited for length and clarity.
What are your thoughts on the pushback of DEI programs and initiatives by major companies?
I’ve been in the industry for almost 30 years and, right from the get-go, I was always interested in doing content that was cross-cultural, that was about diversity. It was really, really hard, as you can imagine. So a few years ago, when the doors started to open for DEI content, I was ecstatic – and it’s a kind of ironic ecstasy, because it was like, ‘Wow, it’s about time.’
I don’t think I was the only one that felt that. People were willing to listen where they weren’t ready to listen in the past. Because of my own background, both as a Canadian and an immigrant woman of colour, I am interested in inclusive content and always have been.
I’m feeling that those doors perhaps aren’t as open as they once were. I think it’s much harder to get a show off the ground today, regardless of what the content is. I think everyone’s hunkered down in survival mode, whether you are a broadcaster or a producer. Everyone’s gone back to the basics.
What are the benefits and shortcomings of DEI programs and initiatives?
Honestly, I don’t see any shortcomings. We’ve seen the proof in the pudding by watching programming that has come from around the world on streamers like Netflix. It’s opened the world to content that we didn’t necessarily have access to before. Look at something like “Shōgun,” which is primarily a Japanese cast. How many awards did it win? When it won the Emmy for best drama, it was the first time a non-English-language series had won.
These programs have benefits because they open up the world. Regardless of what culture, language or landscape you’re exploring in your content, there are such universal themes that I think people have seen and been surprised by.
What can companies do to make sure DEI programs and initiatives are as effective as possible?
Some initiatives still exist. I sit on the board of the Youth Media Alliance organization, which represents producers of children’s content. There are a couple of initiatives that we have that are specifically to mentor creators of diverse backgrounds. So those initiatives are there, but are they enough? I don’t think they are. Companies should continue to keep their doors open and make a concerted effort to foster diversity.
When I screened my film “So You Want To Be A Muslim” at the Mayfair Theatre before it aired, I had a gentleman email me the very next day and he said, ‘Thank you so much for including me in the screening. I have to tell you that it changed my perception of who Muslims are.’ That’s very much part of our remit is to normalize differences. As producers and broadcasters, it’s important for us to continue to tell those stories, because not only are they interesting, but they lead to better understanding of others.
Some companies are changing the name of their DEI programs, like the University of Alberta changing its DEI department to ACB (accessibility, community and belonging). Do you think renaming these programs and initiatives will change the narrative while keeping the essence of what the program is trying to achieve?
I wish I could tell you definitively that, no, it doesn’t matter. I think that the pushback will be pushback. I’m not sure changing the acronym will eliminate the pushback because, when you drill into it, why is there pushback in the first place? How can we address that and convince people that it’s not just the right thing to do but it also makes good business sense to have people of diverse backgrounds because people are interested in diverse stories?
We’ve seen in the last few years that a lot of folks have also felt excluded because of certain DEI efforts. I just think that we haven’t figured out the exact right way to approach things, because you don’t want to be so inclusionary that you’re exclusionary somewhere else. How do we make it all work? There is no easy answer to that but finding the right balance of how to make things accessible to everyone and, at the same time, really underlining and reinforcing the areas where we have fallen short in the past.
What is the best way for these DEI initiatives to evolve to where they need to be?
Any initiatives undergo growing pains. It’s hard to get it right from out of the gate. I think that DEI initiatives just need to continue to be supported and need to grow. We need to find a way to ensure that they are as inclusive as possible so that maybe, one day, we don’t need them anymore because we’ll have a level playing field. I don’t know if that’s just me living in a dream world but we definitely have got a ways to go.
As someone in entertainment, why is it important for diverse stories to be told from the voices in those communities?
I think there is a lot to be said about authenticity. I think that from an audience perspective, audiences want to hear authentic stories from authentic voices. I think it’s really important as a way of challenging stereotypes around any group, culture, religion. Diversity adds colour, it dispels misconceptions and it can create relatability where none existed before and that’s important today more than ever. 
