Defunding the CBC Will Silence Homegrown Stories

As a young Franco-Ontarienne, I was raised on Radio-Canada and CBC.

Toggling between French and English, I was a two-tongued bilinguish bébé, a daughter of Canada’s Solitudes, that deafening silence that reverberates between the peoples of this country. 

My generation of young Francos hors Québec was raised on song and story from Passe-Partout and Mr. Dressup, growing into angsty teens schooled by Watatatow and Degrassi’s gritty drama, propelled to young adulthood thanks to the scientific marvels presented by Charles Tysseyre and David Suzuki, the explanations of a world on fire by Céline Galipeau and Adrienne Arsenault, and the wisdom of trusted anchors like Bernard Derome and Peter Mansbridge.

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It was inevitable that I, a budding infomaniac, would pursue my own desire to tell stories by building a career in public relations, collaborating with some of CBC and Radio-Canada’s brightest young upstarts and grizzled warhorses on pivotal news stories. 

Then, in Spring 2023, Radio-Canada in Sudbury reached out, and I embarked on a brief but wonderful journey with the national broadcaster. I worked on Jonction 11-17 and Le matin du Nord, supporting teams telling stories unique to northern Ontario, just a few office desks away from Morning North and Up North on CBC Radio.

I produced interviews that shone a light on what it’s like to be a young drag queen from the small town of Sturgeon Falls, how homegrown Francophone journalism was faring in Sudbury after the Online News Act, and how First Nations communities on Manitoulin Island were coalescing to fight hunger. 

These stories matter, whether it is Radio-Canada or CBC telling them.

Because, as Métis artist Christi Belcourt posted on X (formerly Twitter), “Someone has a wound in the shape of your words,” quoting Rita MacNeil’s advice to a writer “as heard on CBC Radio.”

And yet, “I can’t wait to defund the CBC,” said Pierre Poilièvre, Conservative Party of Canada Leader, on X, in reaction to the shocking news that CBC and Radio-Canada’s board of directors had approved bonuses, just months after 141 employees lost their jobs and 205 vacant positions were eliminated.

The Ceebs are on the chopping block. But not Rad-Can, as Poilièvre has previously argued. 

“I would preserve a small amount for French-language minorities,” he said in 2023. “Because they, frankly, will not get news services provided by the market.”

Oui.

However, here in the Nickel City, far from Toronto and Montreal’s city lights, CBC and Radio-Canada journalists have worked across Solitudes, indivisible, swapping stories, sources and expertise. The interplay between Radio-Canada and CBC in northern Ontario cannot be overstated – it is through their storytelling that the stories of our regions have been brought to the forefront, ensuring that our communities are included in the national conversation. 

Whether it was the fallout of a devastating investigation into decades of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy in Hearst, the nostalgic, cannabis-infused retrospective of the October Crisis in 1970 as told by a fierce Franco-Ontarian student or the devastation of today’s opioid crisis in northern Ontario communities, CBC and Radio-Canada have shown us how we are deeply connected, and sometimes inextricably polarized, as communities across Ontario’s north. 

In this collision of ideas between CBC and Radio-Canada, we find a microcosm of Canada’s multilingual and multicultural realities, a mosaic that shatters Solitudes from our cities to our hinterlands. Though distinct in their linguistic and cultural outlooks, both networks have contributed to a shared narrative that bonds us to one another.

“CBC/Radio-Canada was founded in 1936 to counter the growing influence of American radio on Canadian airwaves, and it soon became the thread that connects us all, especially for people in rural parts of the country,” recently posted British-Columbian addictions and harm reduction expert Guy Fellicella on X. “Defunding it not only undercuts Canadian culture and leaves many of our stories untold, but it will also throw almost 7,000 people out of jobs.”

Encore: oui.

As our political leaders debate the future of the national broadcaster, let’s remind them that CBC and Radio-Canada amplify community voices and play a critical role in fostering understanding, unity and enlightened citizenship across Canada. That if we are local, we are also national. That we can smash Solitudes.

And that defunding CBC would silence not just our national broadcaster but also the homegrown stories that make us a nation.