The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation will apologize for using the “word beginning with an N” during a radio show in the summer of 2020, as required by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). In a rare interview given to a French-language media, the artist behind the complaint, Ricardo Lamour, calls on the public broadcaster to be more careful about the use of this term.
Updated yesterday at 8:34 p.m.
“The use of this word is hurtful to many within our audiences and our teams, and we are deeply sorry for that,” management said in a statement released Wednesday.
Radio-Canada will however appeal the decision of the federal body rendered on June 29, “interference in journalistic work in the country”. “He had neither the authority nor the jurisdiction to render this decision and, in exercising his discretionary power, ignored the freedom of the press guaranteed by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Broadcasting Act “, we plead.
But the public broadcaster recognizes that the “word [commençant par un] N” is a “hurtful racist slur, in both French and English”, and that “it must be put into context in order to try to minimize the harm its use could cause”.
The “word starting with an N” was used four times during the segment “News with Simon Jodoin: Are certain ideas becoming taboo? », presented on August 17, 2020 during the show 15-18 on ICI Radio-Canada Première. Columnist Simon Jodoin and host Annie Desrochers discussed a controversy surrounding Pierre Vallières’ book white niggers of america.
“We will add a warning to the program for its webcast so that listeners are warned of what they could hear”, writes the management, which announced at the same time “an internal review of its policies and standards relating to language that can be offensive”. This request, included in the judgment of June 29, “we [y répondons] because we think it’s the right thing to do, and not because the CRTC told us to do it, ”notes the broadcaster, however.
Distracted, irritated, disturbed
During a rare interview on the subject granted to a French-language media, In Texta monthly for the Haitian community, and published on Wednesday, the plaintiff, Ricardo Lamour, returned to the origin of his complaint filed in 2020, two months after the death of George Floyd in the United States, in “the context of understanding of the measures to be put in place to be attentive to the issues of members of black communities in America”.
“That a program argues by repeatedly naming the title of a book – which in its essence has its legitimacy […] – where [il y a] the “N” word, to see that this word was named without warning, without precaution, without putting into context what it means, the charge that accompanies it, that the discussion takes place between two Caucasian people on what interested them in the work of Vallières, this distracted me, irritated, disturbed”, he explains.
It is not an attack on freedom of expression, this decision [du CRTC] or this action that I did, it is a call to the responsibility of expression, a call to the depth of the subjects that are maintained by Caucasian people with words that have been used as a weapon for centuries and for which there is a pedagogical deficit to inform the dominant society.
Ricardo Lamour, excerpt from an interview given to the monthly In Text
At the microphone of journalist Jean Numa Goudou, Ricardo Lamour also harshly criticizes the approach taken by many headliners of the state company.
An internal review
In an open letter published in The Press 1er July, journalists and former Radio-Canada ombudsmen asked the state corporation to “vigorously contest” the apologies demanded by the CRTC.
“Some of our journalists have expressed their opinion that this is purely a matter of freedom of expression, but we know that words can hurt and should be used with care,” it said. elsewhere read in the press release from the management of Radio-Canada.
On his own behalf, one of the authors of the letter of 1er July, star host Alain Gravel, however, was skeptical about this two-tone reaction from Radio-Canada. Although he welcomes the challenge to the CRTC’s decision, the former morningman of Radio-Canada has a hard time explaining his employer’s decision to apologize.
I do not want to pass for someone who struggles to say that word in a light and irresponsible way, I am very aware of the weight of that word, we are very aware that it must be used in an exceptional way, in informative context. But after that word, which one will it be?
Alain Gravel, Radio-Canada host
As for the Professional Federation of Journalists of Quebec (FPJQ), it welcomes the decision to appeal the CRTC’s decision.
Regarding the decision to apologize, the president of the FPJQ, Michaël Nguyen, believes that it is above all an “editorial choice” of Radio-Canada. “The important thing is that the CRTC does not replace newsrooms and news chiefs, it must be a choice of each media [de bannir certains mots] “, he explains.
A “complex” debate, says Trudeau
Invited to comment on the case, Justin Trudeau did not want to plunge head first into the debate, preferring to play the tightrope walkers. “We will always be there to defend freedom of expression and the importance of journalistic independence, but we must also be sensitive to the fact that there are words which have a significant historical weight, which continue today to be hurtful,” said the Prime Minister of Canada on the sidelines of an announcement in Kingston.
The office of the provincial Minister of Culture and Communications, Nathalie Roy, reiterates that the CRTC’s decision is “a serious attack on freedom of expression”.
With the collaboration of Mélanie Marquis and Henri Ouellette-Vézina, The Press