The Commissioner of Official Languages, Raymond Théberge, will investigate the cuts at CBC/Radio-Canada.
Since the December announcement, four complaints have been filed with the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages. Deemed admissible, they “will be the subject of an investigation”, which “will relate to the obligations of the institution in connection with the cutbacks”, confirmed to Duty the institution, which ensures compliance with the Official Languages Act.
According to Radio-Canada, which first reported the news, “one [des plaintes] alleges that by wanting to cut French and English services equally, CBC/Radio-Canada disproportionately disadvantages French-speakers.
“I strongly encourage the leaders of CBC/Radio-Canada to take into account their role within official language communities when it makes its decisions,” declared Commissioner Raymond Théberge in writing, emphasizing that Radio-Canada is “ sometimes the only source of local information in French.” “I would like to remind you that in its new version, the Law now formally recognizes the importance of CBC/Radio-Canada for the development of Canada’s French-speaking and English-speaking minorities,” he added.
In December, the state-owned company announced the abolition of 800 positions, 200 of which were already vacant. With these cuts, which will remove approximately 10% of the workforce, CBC/Radio-Canada hopes to save $125 million, in a context of reduced public funding and reduced advertising revenues.
The job cuts will be shared equally between CBC and Radio-Canada. A decision deemed unfair on the French-speaking side, which is doing much better than the English service. In 2021-2022, CBC represented less than 5% of market share in English-speaking television, while ICI Radio-Canada Télé reached up to 25% of audiences in the French-speaking market.
According to information from Dutythe former vice-president of French services, Michel Bissonnette, was reportedly removed from senior management last October because he believed that the cuts should target CBC rather than Radio-Canada.
This report is supported by the Local Journalism Initiative, funded by the Government of Canada.