Compared to Hollywood, Canada鈥檚 screen industry is tiny. And by all accounts, there are fewer egos, bullies and power-trippers on the scale of Harvey Weinstein within it.

鈥淏ut of course there鈥檚 been sexual harassment here. Absolutely. No question,鈥� Emmy-nominated Canadian writer-director Patricia Rozema said in a recent interview.

鈥淭here are definitely, definitely cases of people who have been systematically sexually harassing young actors, female actors, and getting away with it, and people looking the other way.鈥�

Canada鈥檚 performers鈥� union, ACTRA, has invited industry stakeholders to a closed-door meeting on Thursday to discuss how to implement practical, concrete measures to tackle the issue here in a way that also leads to cultural change.

鈥淚s there a specific thing I would like to see come out of that meeting? Action,鈥� said actor Lyriq Bent.

鈥淭his isn鈥檛 something that is new, this is something that鈥檚 been going on for a long time, which is why a lot of what we鈥檙e hearing about has been 20, 30 years ago鈥�. Now, an opportunity came along where people have to listen. So let鈥檚 purge. Let鈥檚 purge ourselves of all of this sickness and move forward. It鈥檚 about time.鈥�

While sexual misconduct has long been a part of the Canadian industry, it鈥檚 a problem that seems to be growing, said actress-writer Susan Coyne, co-creator of 鈥漇lings and Arrows and screenwriter of the new film 鈥淭he Man Who Invented Christmas.鈥�

For the past year, she鈥檚 been holding ad-hoc meetings in Toronto living rooms and coffee shops about sexual misconduct in the industry. The latest meeting had about 25 women in attendance.

鈥淲hat I was hearing from younger actresses is things have gotten worse than when I and my friends, like Martha 亚洲天堂, were younger and were their age and starting out,鈥� said Coyne.

鈥淎nd I don鈥檛 understand how that could be. It was so disturbing.鈥�

The smallness of Canada鈥檚 screen industry makes it 鈥渁lmost harder to speak up, because there鈥檚 just so much less work and we don鈥檛 have the stars who can lead the charge either,鈥� she added.

鈥淲e work a lot, not just on Canadian sets, but we have a lot of American shows that come up here, too. And Canadians have even less power there, working on an American show; it鈥檚 so easy to replace you.鈥�

Oscar-nominated filmmaker Atom Egoyan said ACTRA needs to take 鈥渁 much firmer stand鈥� going forward.

鈥淭here are situations clearly in history where ACTRA was told of abuses and didn鈥檛 react properly and I think that can never, ever happen again,鈥� said Egoyan.

鈥淚 think obviously 鈥� and ACTRA is quite aware of the fact that 鈥� they bowed to pressure.鈥�

Actress Mia Kirshner is also critical of the way ACTRA has handled the topic of sexual harassment and abuse.

鈥淭oo little, too late. I don鈥檛 believe that ACTRA is actually interested listening to union members,鈥� Kirshner tweeted recently.

鈥淚 believe that this committee is being created for the purpose of public relations.鈥�

She wrote that she declined to be a part of a new committee created by ACTRA to deal with the issue and instead has co-created a group called #AfterMeToo to push for change.

Jennifer Jonas, producer and owner of New Real Films, said Thursday鈥檚 industry meeting should address the need for parity and equality on TV and film sets.

鈥淪exual harassment, I guess you could boil down to being a kind of bullying where the power dynamic is in someone else鈥檚 favour,鈥� said Jonas.

鈥淲hat I鈥檓 happy to be seeing with the #metoo (hashtag) and all the different industry people 鈥� both in Canada and the United States 鈥� coming out with their statements and everything right now is that people are recognizing that if you make sure there鈥檚 more gender parity, more diversity, take the power away from the bullies, that things will necessarily and structurally improve.鈥�

Rozema suggested industry workers also need a better method to report information about offenders.

鈥淩ight now we have a system where people can do whatever they want, but only if you have enough information to convict someone can you do anything about it,鈥� she said.

鈥淭here needs to be a system in place where there can be anonymous reports. So if you get 60 reports on some dude, you can start to say, 鈥榃here there鈥檚 smoke, there鈥檚 fire.鈥欌��

Writer-director Michael Dowse added that a responsibility also lies with agents in ensuring they don鈥檛 put their clients 鈥渋n harm鈥檚 way.鈥�

鈥淥bviously nobody should be doing that thing, but there should be an awareness of reading those situations and avoiding private meetings with directors,鈥� said Dowse.

Actor Shawn Doyle, who is a councillor for ACTRA Toronto, insisted the union is taking the situation and this moment in time 鈥渧ery, very seriously.鈥�

鈥淚 think it鈥檚 really important that at the end of that meeting there comes out a firm set of guidelines, that we can move forward as an industry together,鈥� he said. 鈥漇omething that can be enforced across the board. Something that doesn鈥檛 allow wiggle room.

鈥淭here are going to have to be consequences for people committing any kind of harassment or bullying or abuse of any sort. And my hope is that we can find a speedy way to get to some resolve and protect our members.鈥�

鈥� With files from Maija Kappler

Victoria Ahearn, The Canadian Press