The signatories of this letter are artisans who, with thousands of others, have contributed to the evolution and establishment of the Société Radio-Canada (SRC) as it exists today. Now retired, we are concerned about the information circulating about the desire of the current management of the SRC-CBC to bring together the English and French services. This is not the first time that the head office of the SRC-CBC has considered such a merger of the two companies under the false appearance of better management of funds. To a certain extent, we can undoubtedly consider that the origin of such an approach comes from the English network’s inexhaustible need for money.
If there had not been French-speaking radio and television networks in Canada, the cultural life and the very existence of French-speakers outside Quebec could have diminished dangerously if not disappeared. Do we now want to homogenize ourselves and swallow ourselves up in an English-speaking sea by diminishing the country’s French-speakers as a cultural entity? We cannot hesitate to ask the question.
We are aware that today’s young generations are increasingly abandoning television in favor of the Internet and social networks. The unifying role of television is weakened. The challenge for SRC-CBC is to adapt this new technological reality to the lifestyle habits of our fellow citizens. In the past, we have contributed to integrating telephony, satellite broadcasting and the Internet into the production of French-language broadcasts. The arrival of Artificial Intelligence and the proliferation of social networks are no more insurmountable than were the technologies developed in the post-war period. However, these new developments should not be used to economically justify the merger of the two SRC-CBC networks.
It’s about cultural identity. An identity based on language and the arts. An identity whose life has planted its roots in a centuries-old language and culture that we must nourish, protect and advance in a completely English-speaking North American universe.
There is no question of letting the current management of SRC-CBC sabotage the autonomy of the French Radio-Canada network.
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