Where are the great roles for Canada's black actors?

In her acceptance speech, Davis thanked writers and producers for redefining "what it means to be beautiful, to be sexy, to be a leading woman, to be black," and emphasized that women of colour "cannot win an Emmy for roles that are simply not there."

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The speech hit home for Canadian actress Sarah Afful, who is in the midst of her fourth season at the Stratford Festival, and has landed minor roles in shows like Eureka! andSmallville.

"When you hear someone speak to something that you feel, and you don't know whether it's completely relevant, or completely true or not...it always makes you go 'Oh! I'm not crazy. Thank you!'"

"It is a common experience of being left out," she says,"of feeling 'what is going on, I'm a person, I'm a human being, why can't I have the same opportunities as someone else?"

"What our generation, this generation, is trying to do is change those thinking patterns. So it's the struggle to let go of those thoughts and really believe in yourself is really the challenge."

Culture of tokenism

The issue of opportunity is central to the diversity problem in Canadian television, saysKarenKing-Chigbo, film and tv producer, former network executive and industrydiversity trainer.

She says it's not enough to makeroles availableto women of colour. They need to be quality roles.

"Especially in this country, there has been a culture of tokenism. Where we'll hire you, we'll let you in,but you're there to be simply a representative," King-Chigbo says.

"If you'rethere as the best friend, or you're there as the police chief, you don't always get to do your best work."

In casting Sarah Afful in Taming of the Shrew, Stratford Festival made an unusualmove.

It chose to have the two sisters in the showAfful asBianca Minola and Deborah Hay as Katherina Minolaplayedby actresses who look nothingalike.

"Some audience members will have a suspension of disbelief, and some audience members won't," Afful says, adding that she hopes the character still rings true.

Hear her full interview with The Morning Edition's Craig Norris in the audio below.

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