Thank you, Chair.
Here's why this is so important. The CBC is a public broadcaster that is given $1.2 billion from taxpayer money. The CBC is failing. It is failing the Jewish community; it is failing the innocent whose lives have been lost, and it is failing Canadians.
There is a leaked memo from the director of journalistic standards, who instructed journalists to refrain from using the term “terrorist” in their reference to Hamas fighters.
Hamas, as mentioned, has been listed on Canada's official list of terrorists for more than 20 years, so this isn't a point for debate. This isn't a matter of opinion; rather, this is fact.
To justify its decision, however, the CBC came out and said that it just didn't want its journalists to take sides, and if they use the term “terrorist”, they will be taking a side. To that I would say that no doubt, of course you're taking a side. You're taking a side against terrorists. What other side would you want to take?
When you have 1,400 people massacred in an evening; when you have women and girls who are raped and murdered and then paraded through the city; when you have 40 babies beheaded, whose side are you on—as if there would be some other side to take? Of course you should be against Hamas, which is a terrorist organization functioning in a sadistic manner. It is pure evil, and to suggest otherwise is alarming.
Given that this is a public broadcaster that is held up by Canadian taxpayer dollars, it is incumbent upon this committee to hear from CBC leadership as to why this decision was made, because Canadians deserve better. Accountability is absolutely needed with regard to this matter.
If this committee were to take any stance other than that, I would have to question the motives of those at this table, because we should all be advocating for justice. We should all be advocating for the story to be told as it stands, which is that Hamas is, in fact, a terrorist organization acting against innocent people.
I would ask this committee to give full consideration to the motion that is being moved today. I will read it into the record just for further clarity. The motion is:
Given that Hamas has been declared a terrorist organization by the Government of Canada since 2002; that the horrific Hamas terrorist attacks against Israel left thousands of innocent people dead and injured; that an email directive sent from the director of journalistic standards of CBC News, Mr. George Achi, to all employees of CBC News, directed them to downplay coverage of the horrific, sadistic violence perpetrated by Hamas against innocent people in Israel by not referring to the attackers as terrorists, and to falsely claim that Gaza continued to be under occupation after Israel had pulled out in 2005,
that the committee:
(a) denounce Mr. Achi's comments and report this to the House;
(b) summon the president of the CBC, Catherine Tait, to appear for two hours by herself within seven days of the motion being adopted;
(c) summon the CBC's director of journalistic standards, Mr. George Achi; and
(d) invite the CBC ombudsman, Mr. Jack Nagler, to appear for a minimum of two hours to address the CBC's position on journalistic standards and practices.
This is the motion that Conservatives are bringing forward for discussion today. We're hoping that the NDP and the Liberals will see the need for this, that a full discussion will be had, and that an understanding will be generated in terms of the, I guess, demands that the CBC placed on its journalists, and as to why it made that decision.