CBC/Radio-Canada’s reluctance to comment on the CRTC’s recent decision regarding the n-word is part of a context of deeper transformations within the institution. Under the leadership of President and CEO Catherine Tait, the Crown corporation has accelerated its diversity and inclusion shift since 2018. But in the newsroom of the French service, some denounce the “obsession” of senior management for identity issues.
“It’s as if they wanted to impose the sociopolitical context of Toronto on Montreal. In Toronto, multiculturalism is a reality. While in Quebec, I’m sorry, but it’s not a political concept that is shared by everyone. It is a concept that is debated and we must take this reality into account, ”summarizes a well-known personality from Radio-Canada who wishes to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals.
The duty was able to speak in the last few days with five employees of the Crown corporation who are wondering about certain senior management initiatives to promote diversity and inclusion. Some are more critical than others, but they agree on one thing: CBC/Radio-Canada absolutely must appeal the CRTC’s decision, which last week blamed the public broadcaster for a segment in which columnist Simon Jodoin and host Annie Desrochers quoted the title of the book four times white niggers of America, by Pierre Vallieres. The CRTC is forcing Radio-Canada, among other things, to apologize.
“I have no illusions. I don’t see how Catherine Tait’s senior management could appeal the CRTC’s decision after what happened with Wendy Mesley, “anticipates one of the people who agreed to speak to the To have to.
Wendy Mesley is this star CBC host who was suspended for citing the name of Pierre Vallières’ book during a work meeting. This experienced journalist had to apologize following this episode, before announcing her retirement last year. “The story of Wendy Mesley marked us. It shocked a lot in Montreal, and there is a kind of misunderstanding. Of course, we talk about it among ourselves, but not too loudly. Because wants, does not want, there is a climate of suspicion that has settled since this story, ”adds our source.
Priority for senior management
For some, the Wendy Mesley affair is the starting point of a malaise that has continued to grow ever since.
Last year, mandatory training on privilege and unconscious bias raised ire in the French Service newsroom. It said in particular that it was stigmatizing to describe an area as a red-light district because it has a high crime rate. An “infantile” exercise, “worthy of a pastoral course”, protests another employee who has followed the training.
“It’s a very laudable objective to want more diversity, and indeed, we need more diversity at Radio-Canada. But the problem is how we go about it, ”she nuances.
Certain statements by the CEO of the Crown corporation, Catherine Tait, have also raised eyebrows in recent years. After the discovery of potential anonymous graves on the site of the former Kamloops boarding school, the latter had sent a memo to the employees to invite them to observe a moment of silence of 215 seconds, a second corresponding to each missing Aboriginal child.
Following a police officer’s conviction for the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, she also explicitly acknowledged the concept of “systemic racism” in a letter signed by four directors and advisers on diversity and inclusion programs. “Systemic racism still exists in Canada and within many of its institutions, including its public broadcaster,” wrote Catherine Tait, who has spent her entire career in English Canada.
Is it the role of the leader of CBC / Radio-Canada to take sides in events that make the news and that the journalists of the box are then supposed to deal with in the most objective way possible? For some, the positions taken by senior management do not affect how the information is covered. But others believe that official company policy encroaches on sacrosanct journalistic objectivity.
“On the concept of systemic racism, for example, there is unease. We can be for or against, but it is not up to a press company to recognize something that the Government of Quebec refuses to recognize, ”illustrates a person who evolves within Radio-Canada.
Inclusive or objective?
This principle of journalistic objectivity has also been reviewed on the English-speaking side. In June 2020, in the wake of the assassination of George Floyd, the editor of CBC proposed to open the debate on the Journalistic standards and practices with a view to providing more inclusive coverage. “Do our definitions of objectivity, balance, fairness and impartiality — and our insistence that reporters not express personal opinions on the stories we cover — match the against our goals of inclusion and being part of the community and country we serve? wondered Brodie Fenlon in his blog on the CBC site.
On the francophone side, this reasoning arouses a great deal of apprehension. Internal voices were heard imploring Radio-Canada not to follow the same path as the CBC.
Two years later, journalistic standards haven’t changed per se, says Chuck Thompson, CBC’s head of public relations, but their interpretation has. The ongoing exercise to make journalistic practices more inclusive focuses “on how we interpret these principles, and on identifying barriers that limit our journalism by excluding perspectives, points of view or lived experiences”, confirms Mr. Thompson. “This work covers a range of actions, from hiring and promotion strategies, to best practices for covering crime and policing, to unconscious bias and inclusion training. »
two solitudes
In the fall of 2020, the Lieutenant-Duval affair at the University of Ottawa also highlighted divergent visions between Radio-Canada and CBC regarding the use of the n-word. During a senior management meeting on October 14, Catherine Tait asked why an n-word program had been proposed on a CBC platform rather than in French at Radio-Canada, a discussion that would have provoked strong tensions.
Asked about this several months ago, the office of Mr.me Tait clarified at To have to some of Catherine Tait’s remarks during this meeting: “I wondered why this program was produced in English and not in French since [les personnes qui l’animent sont francophones]. And they told me that the show would have been different in French, that the conversation on racism is not as advanced in Quebec. What I want to tell you today is that this is our moment at Radio-Canada, this is a golden opportunity for us, as a public broadcaster, to truly serve all Canadians and to ensure our relevance for the future,” she reportedly said.
At press time, Catherine Tait’s office had not responded to our questions. Radio-Canada for its part did not wish to react.
The promotion of diversity is one of the conditions imposed on the Crown corporation by the CRTC, the body responsible for granting it a broadcast license, and these requirements were increased during the most recent renewal, in June.