Mr. Speaker, I want to begin by thanking members of the standing committee for their examination of the issue of the adaptation of CBC/Radio-Canada's audiovisual content for the international market. I would also like to thank the representatives of CBC/Radio-Canada, Ms. Catherine Tait, president and CEO, and Mr. Marco Dubé, chief transformation officer and executive vice-president for people and culture, for appearing before the committee as witnesses.
In its report, the committee reported to the House “its deep condemnation of the CBC using a Paris-based audio studio to record a podcast, choosing it over a Quebecois-based recording studio.”
If we are to understand the situation, it is worth reviewing the facts of the matter. On October 11, 2023, the Journal de Montréal reported that CBC/Radio-Canada had selected a company based in France to create a French adaptation of its podcast, Alone: A Love Story, choosing it over a Quebec-based recording studio to avoid the recording being done in a Quebec accent.
The podcast, released in 2017 and created by CBC/Radio-Canada employee Michelle Parise, has won multiple international awards and much acclaim from international press. The Paris-based studio Ochenta, in collaboration with Radio-Canada OHdio, was commissioned to adapt the Canadian podcast into French and Spanish. The decision was made in part because using a narrator with a Quebec accent would have less international potential.
Cesil Fernandes, an executive producer at CBC Podcasts, a subsidiary of CBC/Radio-Canada's English language network, was quoted as saying, “We didn't want a Quebec French, to foster international interest... We wanted to reach out to a larger audience to tell Michelle's story. The Ochenta studio made us a pitch to translate it into French and Spanish. We decided to work with them for their experience in adaptations and to reach out to international audiences.”
The article naturally led to questions, particularly in Quebec, as to why CBC Podcasts chose to ignore Quebec's expertise in the field of dubbing, and to complaints from people in the province working in the arts and cultural industries.
For example, Tania Kontoyanni, president of the Union des artistes, stated, “For a podcast produced and broadcast in Quebec, the narration should be done by local artists. And especially in the context of a Canadian podcast translated into French.” Similarly, voice actor Sébastien Dhavernas stated that the decision showed a “disrespect for our industry.”
There are certainly Canadian studios that are able to adapt podcasts. The Journal de Montréal article mentions Quebec companies ContenuMultimedia.com and Toast Studio, for example. Indeed, CBC Podcasts has previously worked with Radio-Canada itself on the French adaptation of the podcast Brainwashed, which is hosted in standard French by Quebec journalist and columnist Sophie-Andrée Blondin.
That is the background to this issue. With that in mind, I can say that the government echoes the committee's review that CBC/Radio-Canada's use of a Paris-based recording studio for this work instead of a Quebec-based recording studio was a lapse in judgment.
It is true that the decision should be taken in context. To quote the head of CBC/Radio-Canada during her testimony to the standing committee:
I think it's important to know that the CBC/Radio-Canada teams produce hundreds of programs every month, thousands of hours of programming in both official languages and eight Indigenous languages. In this case, one mistake was made among the thousands of hours of programming.
Furthermore, it is also true that section 46(1)(d) of the Broadcasting Act gives the corporation the power to “make contracts with any person, within or outside Canada, in connection with the production or presentation of programs originated or secured by the Corporation.” Nonetheless, it is clear that CBC/Radio-Canada should not have acquired the services of a foreign company for this work rather than look to domestic opportunities.
What is important to remember, however, is that this mistake does not represent how CBC/Radio-Canada generally operates. CBC/Radio-Canada is a thoroughly bilingual organization. Radio-Canada is headquartered in Quebec and produces a myriad of French language programming.
As Mr. Dubé noted in his testimony to the standing committee, eight members of the corporation's senior management team are francophones. That represents the majority of members. The senior management team works in English and in French at all of its meetings and makes business management decisions exercising considerable concern for balance between English and French. Half of the corporation's workforce in the organization as a whole is francophone and the other half anglophone. As Ms. Tait said, “I would dare say that we are one of the most bilingual businesses in the federal family.”
Even more importantly, CBC/Radio-Canada itself agrees that its original decision was a mistake. Almost immediately upon publication of the Journal de Montréal story on October 13, Catherine Tait, president and CEO, wrote to Tania Kontoyanni, president of the Union des artistes, acknowledging the error. In her letter, Catherine Tait stated clearly that “it was an error, period. We admit this unequivocally and we apologize for it....We are fortunate to have, here in Canada, an outstanding dubbing industry that works with very talented actors. We often use their services, and that is what we should have done in this case”. She also admitted the corporation's initial response to media questions was lacking in sensitivity.
Furthermore, she promised CBC/Radio-Canada will review its practices to ensure this sort of mistake would not occur again.
At the same time, Mr. Marco Dubé, chief transformation officer and executive vice-president, contacted the association with the same message.
Ms. Tait also appeared as a witness before the standing committee on November 8, 2023. During her testimony, she again apologized, not only confirming that the failure to use Canadian dubbing expertise was an unfortunate incident and mistake, but also reaffirming that the corporation's initial attempts to justify it were deplorable, hurtful and unacceptable. Ms. Tait indicated the corporation would withdraw the French episodes for the time being and re-record them. The adaptation of the podcast will be made in this country and Radio-Canada will be responsible for it. Production is already under way and the new version will be online at the beginning of the summer.
Ms. Tait also reaffirmed during her appearance at the standing committee that steps are being taken to ensure there will be no repetition of this sort of error. At the same appearance, Mr. Dubé, head of transformation and senior vice-president, confirmed that the issue was discussed with the teams who made the decision and that they understand the scope of their error. More specifically, the corporation has introduced measures to ensure that when CBC teams are required to interpret or translate a podcast into French, they call upon Quebec firms.
It is equally important to note the reaction from the industry to this apology. “We accept the apology and pass it on to our members”, said Ms. Kontoyanni in a press release on October 13.
To sum up, this was an error. CBC/Radio-Canada has taken note of it, has acted to correct it and will ensure it does not reoccur. While regrettable, this incident does not reflect on CBC/Radio-Canada's fundamental values or the work it does.
I will conclude by simply quoting Ms. Tait once more:
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.