How Radio-Canada is meeting the objectives of the Official Languages Act

The loss of the Montreal Canadiens on Radio-Canada accounted for most of questioning of CBC president and CEO Robert Rabinovitch during his appearance before the Standing Joint Committee on Official Languages on June 4 (see story in this issue). But in introductory remarks to the committee, Rabinovitch updated it on how Radio-Canada is conforming to section 41 of the Official Languages Act. In the excerpt below, Rabinovitch elaborates on initiatives taken by the French-language public network to serve Anglophones in Quebec and provide transcultural programming. The Anglophone and Allophone Minority in Quebec This overview would not be complete without a brief mention of the impact of the regional programming of English regional tele-vision and radio in Quebec. When we appeared before you four years ago, the English-language minority community in Quebec, and especially those living outside the Greater Montreal region, seriously feared that the regional afternoon drive-home radio program would go off the air completely. They also feared that journalists covering the regions would cease to be an on-air presence. We are referring to communities located in the Eastern Townships, but more particularly those spread along the North Shore, for whom CBC Radio is the only choice. Not only did this dark scenario not occur but the return-home program has been revamped, the journalists are still on the air and new initiatives have been and will be introduced. For example, listeners continue to hear the journalist on air in Gaspé, as well as various contributions from the North Shore and the Ottawa Valley....Exchanges with French Radio make it possible to hear reports from Rouyn, Rimouski and Western Quebec. In addition, on the weekend of June 8 and 9, CBC Radio Two will go on air in Sherbrooke to serve the Eastern Townships, as well as the Quebec City region. A major launch is scheduled for September as national programs visit these regions to meet the public and celebrate these new stations. New projects are in the works. We will mention only two. They concern talent development and relations with communities. CBC Radio has joined with McGill and Concordia universities and with numerous groups to develop a series of programs under the title Montreal Matters, on themes of concern to the community. This series, in addition to calling upon talent in the community and expertise from the universities, will be produced in collaboration with English Regional Television in Quebec and will include a web site. Preliminary discussions with the community and with English community radios in Quebec could soon lead to a collaboration, creating links in the Ottawa Valley or elsewhere between CBC Radio and the community radio stations. CBC Radio One and CBC Radio Two obviously continue to produce many contributions for the networks, just as English Regional Television in Quebec maintains its production for the network and Newsworld. In addition, English Regional Television’s new Central Canada region, which includes Quebec and Ontario, will add a manager of program development in the next few days, some of whose responsibility will be to increase programming from Montreal and the Ottawa Valley. Transcultural programming Whether on Radio or Television, CBC/Radio-Canada is vigorously pursuing its policy of rapprochement between programming in the two official languages. During the last year, two major series, produced bilingually, were broadcast as a reflection of this commitment: Canada: A People’s History/Le Canada : Une histoire populaire and The Last Chapter/Le Dernier chapitre. This last series is the first dramatic coproduction between English and French Television networks... Following pilot projects in some regions, several initiatives are on the agenda for 2002...All this only serves to illustrate the growing importance of the cooperation between our components and between the networks and the regions, French and English, all entities that make up the great institution that is CBC/Radio-Canada.

How Radio-Canada is meeting the objectives of the Official Languages Act

Broadcast | June 7, 2002

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