• The Task Force is a body that will act on behalf of all private television broadcasters, including English-language, French-language and ethnic broadcasters, conventional and specialty and pay broadcasters, producers and interested community groups and organizations whose focus and activities is to promote the reflection of Canada's multicultural makeup and Aboriginal reality, and will be responsible for:
  
  
  • Developing, sponsoring and overseeing a research strategy that will provide key information from which the industry and the Commission can measure the industry's progress concerning issues of ethnic, racial and Aboriginal portrayal, reflection and representation;
    
    
  • Developing and implementing a sound and realistic set of best practices and other practical initiatives that address and promote the fair and consistent reflection of cultural diversity in the Canadian broadcasting system; and
    
    
  • Developing a mechanism for monitoring and evaluating progress stemming from this initiative.

One of the Task Force's initial concerns regarding the scope of the research was the considerable time it takes to collect, analyze and then release findings based on quantitative - that is to say, baseline - data.

While the Task Force determined that a balance of quantitative and qualitative methods was appropriate, it was understood that the inclusion of benchmark data collection and analysis would considerably extend the timeline for completion of the project