Mr. Chair and members of the committee, thank you for inviting me to this meeting.
As you can see, I am joined here by Marco Dubé, Chief Transformation Officer and Executive Vice-President, People and Culture. He is the official languages champion at CBC/Radio-Canada.
I want to be clear, CBC/Radio-Canada is proud of the phenomenal work it does to serve Canadians in English and French in every corner of this county.
We know how much people depend on us, particularly in minority language communities where we are one of the few media broadcasting in the French language. We take our commitment seriously, particularly our ability to support the health and vitality of the French language every day across the country. We are also an organization where employees are encouraged to express themselves in either English or French. Where our documents are shared in both languages, and where staff are encouraged to learn the other Official Language. I would not want one unfortunate incident to take away from those facts.
This Committee has invited me here to discuss media reporting about one of our English-language podcasts that was adapted into French and Spanish. I understand how that reporting caused this Committee concern. I want to assure you that what has been reported does not accurately reflect who we are as an organization, our commitment to supporting Official Languages, or our day-to-day practice when it comes to adapting content into other languages.
CBC and Radio-Canada each offer Canadians hundreds of podcasts. CBC and Radio-Canada have worked together on the adaptation of three very popular CBC podcasts into French. They were adapted either by studios in Quebec using actors who are members of the UDA or by Radio-Canada itself.
In the case of the podcast Alone: A Love Story, CBC was approached by Studio Ochenta, which proposed adapting Alone into French and Spanish. They did not seek out the expertise that already exists in Canada. That was a mistake. And, an unfortunate and hurtful comment was made in a media interview regarding the Quebec accent. This was wrong, and it is not a position that we hold. We admit it unequivocally and have offered our sincere apologies.
We are fortunate to have, here in Canada, an unparalleled dubbing industry that works with very talented actors. We use their services often, for podcasts and for TV programs, and that is what we should have done in this case. We are clarifying our practices to prevent this from happening again. We have withdrawn the French version and we will redo the episodes with a Quebec adaptation company. Radio-Canada will be in charge of the adaptation.
When I learned of the incident, I immediately called and wrote to Tania Kontoyanni, the president of l'Union des artistes, and offered my unequivocal apology. Ms. Kontoyanni kindly accepted my apology.
I am aware that this Committee had invited two of my employees to take questions from Members on this matter. As President and CEO, I am responsible to Parliament for the activities of the public broadcaster.
When mistakes are made, we correct them, but all of our employees must be confident that their work is shielded from external interference.
All of us have a responsibility to protect the independence of Canada’s public broadcaster. And I welcome the Committee’s support in this effort. I want you to know that CBC/Radio-Canada’s commitment to the health and vitality of the French language remains steadfast.
It is vital to our mandate to serve all Canadians. That commitment will not change.
And with that, I welcome your questions.
