Canadian Heritage Committee on April 28th, 2026

[David Myles, Liberal, Fredericton—Oromocto, NB]

Okay.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Lisa Hepfner]

Mr. Champoux, you have the floor for two and a half minutes.

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

You know, when we start a career as a radio host or journalist, we often go through community radio. It's the natural path. It's a way to get our foot in the door and it's a wonderful experience. I followed this path the mid‑1980s, with community radio and student radio as well. Community radio is enriching and educational. A career in the community sector is a vocation.

Mr. Rooke, please describe the current state or morale of the troops in the community media sector. People must be fairly worried.

[Barry Rooke]

Yes, morale is low.

There are challenges, especially when we look at younger people who are trying to enter the market. As noted, the closures are not providing that formal next step. That has a profound impact on how we are all working, especially as younger people are gathering information from other spaces.

What you often see is that younger people are looking for news and information in different ways and forms, and those maybe aren't as informed, are more opinionated or are skewed toward sharing to the community that is giving them likes and thanks, as opposed to providing truth-supported information.

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

There's also community involvement. It's called community media for a reason. It's rooted in these communities.

In regions with little media diversity, what would the disappearance of a community media outlet entail? What would be the impact, aside from the news?

[Barry Rooke]

Some of the big things are loss of local advertising opportunities. In many communities, these are the only spaces in which a small business has the ability to share information and services being brought out from municipal governments or through provincial or federal offers. Those disappear, as people don't have access to that information as easily as possible, especially in, as you said, rural and remote communities that have low broadband connections as well.

For the music industry, in many places it's often a meeting point for communities to come together. They'll offer out spaces or opportunities for festivals or local events, and these just wouldn't happen, because there's no space for people to gather around that.

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Lisa Hepfner]

We go now to Mrs. Thomas for five minutes.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Mr. Epstein, I'm curious about this recent data that was published within the last few days. It gives updates with regard to anti-Semitism in Canada, and according to that data, in 2025, the number of anti-Semitic incidents hit a record high, the most our country has ever seen.

Today you've given testimony to suggest that media coverage plays a role in terms of how Canadians perceive the Jewish population here in Canada and how Canadians behave towards that group of people.

I'm wondering if you can expand on the important role that media play in making sure that coverage is fair and unbiased. If that isn't the case, what are the consequences for certain groups within our population?

[Amir Epstein]

I've already mentioned the importance of presenting balanced information, information without bias. We have not seen that. We don't see it in most media outlets in this country—not CTV, not Citytv and not CP24. The list goes on and on.

CBC happens to be the big guy on campus, so when they consistently present information that is on one side of a war, it's impossible to present Canadians with the information from the other side of the war.

There's never one party in a war. When a war is started by one group against another, and then they're the ones who are vilified, it really does create a lot of animosity.

The thing that's strange—and I've mentioned this—is that the Jewish people in Canada are somehow responsible for what happens with Israel and Gaza, Israel and Hezbollah and Lebanon, Israel and the Houthis in Yemen, and it continues on and on and on.

Israel is never presented as defending itself, which it has on every single front. It didn't start a war with Lebanon. Hezbollah was rocketing Israel with tens of thousands of rockets. Israel responded. The CBC presents it as Israel attacking Lebanon. The Houthis in Yemen launch missiles at Israel. It has nothing to do with Israel. Israel responds, and now Israel is attacking Yemen.

Hamas, of course, started a war on October 7. They started a war. They came in and they slaughtered 1,200 people. Before Israel even lifted a finger, there were news outlets.... There was one article that I wish I had in front of me. Before Israel had responded, it talked about the concern for Palestinians. There wasn't even a discussion about what had happened and the fact that they had started a war.

When it's presented in this way, we see constant vilification of one group. We see constant praise—maybe not praise, but apathy, towards another. That doesn't mean there shouldn't be, but it needs to be presented without bias. Because of the way we see schools, universities, professors and of course media outlets presenting information that is not complete or true in many cases.... We see what happened. You mentioned a 700% increase.

The Jewish community is targeted more than any other ethnic community in Canada—more than anyone—so we have to ask why. Why did that happen suddenly, right after October 7, and the entire world decided it was okay? We can see the influence of extremism in the media, and I mentioned mainstream schools and universities. This continues, so the suffering will continue and the hostility will continue.

I can tell you that the Jewish community is speaking very seriously about leaving Canada. Most Canadians don't even know this. We, Tafsik, have started a plan B initiative.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

If I may—

[Amir Epstein]

If we're not going to be safe in Canada, we don't need to remain in Canada.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Thank you.

How does the media ensure that its coverage is fair and unbiased?

[Amir Epstein]

It can do so by using sources that are not linked to biased terrorist organizations and biased Jew-hating organizations, as well as by using information that's being presented by more than one side. Israel presents a lot of information. They do a lot of investigations. They present the information that CBC does not present—or that it does present with the words twisted in a way that somehow still vilifies the Jewish community and Israel.

The voice of the Palestinian people is represented very well by CBC. We have no opposition to that, but we wish that the Jewish and the Israeli positions would also be represented equally. That would give people two sides of a story so that they could say, “they were right here, but they were wrong there”, instead of saying, “they're always right, and they're always wrong.” That's how animosity towards my community continues to grow in this country.

[The Chair, Liberal, Lisa Hepfner]

Thank you.

Mr. Myles, you have the floor for five minutes.

[David Myles, Liberal, Fredericton—Oromocto, NB]

Thank you very much.

I would love to continue this line of questioning, but unfortunately, I'm going to switch it up because I would be remiss if I didn't talk about community and campus radio stations across Canada.

I was a musician for 20 years. I saw how important these stations were, in terms of often being the first to take a risk and play music that wasn't played on other stations. Stations like CJSW in Calgary, CJSR in Edmonton, CHSR in Fredericton, CKDU in Halifax and CIBL in Montreal are amazing stations and have a role, particularly for emerging artists in Canada.

You often exceed CanCon regulations. How do you promote that? How does that become part of your mandate across the country? How do you fit into the larger ecosystem, particularly when we talk about arts, culture and the musical community in Canada?

[Barry Rooke]

It's a starting point for many people. It's also an ending point for a lot of people. You end up with musicians who have retired, and then they come back to host a radio show in their retirement because they love showcasing content. It happens a lot within our sector.

We're the space in which people get their first opportunity to be played on the air. People, not algorithms, are creating an experience that you get to have. The popular content being played on our stations—reggae, blues and jazz—is rarely heard on more commercial radio stations because there's either no capacity for it or no ability to monetize it.

It provides a broad space in which those communities, specifically artists, have a spot to come in and make a local connection, play a local gig, bring communities together around it and continue to grow. It is still very much a starting point, as you said, in many spots, yes. Hopefully, they can transition to generating higher revenue because royalties on radio are not what they used to be. If that's what you're looking for, that's fantastic.

We also have artists who love to release their new albums for their local radio station. They want to provide that community story for those individuals.

[David Myles, Liberal, Fredericton—Oromocto, NB]

What is the listenership trend across community stations in the country over the years, especially when they come up against streaming and other ways people listen to music?

[Barry Rooke]

As I mentioned, we have a number of groups trying to launch stations. The numbers have grown since we started to do stats. We've seen a doubling in listenership since pre-COVID. This is often due to access to news and new information. Also, people don't want the algorithm to pick what they want to hear. They want something that's curated, local, something that speaks to them. We're seeing a lot more of it.

The trust in what happens in community radio is often a lot higher. Our colleagues in Quebec put out a review a year or two ago. It showed that they were the most trusted news and media source across the country. I'm happy to submit that information for the report as well. It speaks to the fact that, if you talk to someone across the street or in the grocery store, they're looking to share their stories, and it becomes that community element.

[David Myles, Liberal, Fredericton—Oromocto, NB]

Your ask to government is slightly different from those of some of these other funds. Why are these other funds that some of the other broadcasters are accessing not available to you? Specifically, why do you have a different ask?

[Barry Rooke]

There is no core and stable funding for our sector. CBC receives what they do. That's great. There are tax services and supports for some of the commercial broadcasters. We know that those aren't working as well. Also, there is no advertising that really comes through from the federal side of things.

The bit of support and the programs that come through our sector right now are often tied to something very specific. The local journalism initiative is the non-profit and community media opportunity that Canadian Heritage offers to hire a journalist in a news desert to make an opportunity for them to report on it. That's available to print, TV and community radio. That's not a service that's available to the commercial broadcasters.

Some of the funds that we are hoping for—the same with the commercial broadcasters—are tied up in court cases that are still holding on from decisions that were made three years ago.

[David Myles, Liberal, Fredericton—Oromocto, NB]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Lisa Hepfner]

We're going to move into our fourth round, starting with Mrs. Thomas for five minutes.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Thank you.

Again, thank you to our witnesses for being here.

Unfortunately, I have to take a slight deviation and turn my attention to some committee business. Given the protocols of the House of Commons, this is the opportunity to do that, and I apologize to the witnesses.

First off, I have a clarifying question for the clerk.

We've just received notification that the minister is no longer coming on Tuesday, May 5, but rather is coming on Thursday, May 7. I want to confirm that this is in fact the case.

[The Chair, Liberal, Lisa Hepfner]

That is the information we got from the clerk today. Also, I will add that he's coming on the main estimates and will appear later for this study.