“She was saying EDI is everywhere and it’s not HR, like this person is going to help support the rest of the organization,” Miller says. “For her, the focus was that everybody needs to own this — it’s hard to do that shift for managers and even HR to make sure that we’re there to facilitate, but the ownership is within each team.”
With about 350 employees across offices from Vancouver to Halifax — including micro‑offices and the head office in Montreal — that shared ownership has to be grounded in local realities, according to Miller. “We ask managers, in your sector, what is the most relevant action to take next year,” she says. “You need overarching initiatives, but you also need to make sure those commitments show up in daily practices.”
Aligning people, creators and audiences
One of the NFB’s priorities, as stated in its strategic plan, is to prepare the organization for a more youthful and diverse Canada, with particular attention to Indigenous and under‑represented voices. For Miller, people strategy is inseparable from that creative mandate. “For us, this priority goes beyond just our workforce,” she says. “It is about ensuring alignment between our people, our creators and the audiences that we serve.”
On the recruitment front, HR is more intentional about where and how it posts roles to reach broader and more diverse pools of talent that reflect Canada today, according to Miller. She says that internally, the team is focused on development — putting in place programs that support growth and leadership opportunities for diverse staff and help remove blind spots from selection processes.
Creating safe conditions for creative risk
The NFB has an 85‑year history of experimentation, from pioneering IMAX to launching a free streaming platform on the NFB’s website, and Miller is clear that her role as a people leader is to protect that spirit, not to narrow it, and create the conditions that allow creativity to flourish safely.