Broadcasting Notice of Consultation 2019 -379 CBC/Radio-Canada Licence Renewal CBC/Radio-Canada Reply to Interventions 6 March 2020 Introduction 1 A total of 10,526 interventions have been posted to the CRTC’s website in respect of CBC/Radio-Canada’s licence renewal application. This is an amazing number of interventions and demonstrates the extraordinary interest Canadians have in their national public broadcaster. We are grateful for the many interventions in support of our application; interventions that come from across the country – from individuals, communities, ethnic and language groups, unions and guilds, public interest groups and even other broadcasters: The CBC provides excellent programming in both official languages. As a bilingual citizen, I read CBC and SRC news online, listen to a variety of podcasts, and radio programming including news, and watch the CBC news, and shows online and on live TV. The CBC provides a wealth of information to its consumers about Canada and the world. CBC hosts and anchors are unbiased, and provide fair and balanced coverage. CBC programming enriches my life and the lives of my family members, and has greatly contributed to making me a better person. As well, I strongly believe that it strengthens democracy in Canada. Mireille Kattar, Alberta, Canada ... il convient d’insister sur l’importance d’un diffuseur public au Canada. La SRC est seule apte à réunir les diverses régions du pays, à offrir à ses citoyens et citoyennes, où qu’ils vivent, un contenu varié, indépendant, sans égard aux intérêts économiques des uns ou des autres, à leur permettre de confronter des visions et des idées diverses pour se faire leurs propres opinions afin d’être des acteurs dynamiques au sein de notre démocratie. … Il est difficile d’imaginer, au sein de l’écosystème médiatique canadien, qu’une entité qui offre une couverture radiophonique, télévisuel et web, d’envergure nationale, en français et en anglais, A mari usque ad mare, comme le fait Radio-Canada, soit économiquement rentable pour une industrie privée. Radio-Canada et CBC jouent un rôle primordial dans nos communautés. Société Nationale de l'Acadie For those people living in most of the country i.e urban areas, the CBC is important for them but there are alternatives. The CBC is particularly Canadian because of the vastness of the country. I have lived in rural Quebec and the CBC was the only connection in English for my family. It is just as important for francophones in other provinces to have access to programming in their language. I support radio and television to continue in both languages (and now in Aboriginal broadcasting too) because it reflects Canadian culture more than any other venue. Victoria Moulton, Quebec, Canada 2 Les services en francais de Radio-Canada sont plus qu'important pour les commautes francophones et les francophiles du Canada. Je tiens à conserver ce joyaux de la culture canadienne. ICI-Musique est essentiel a ma vie a Victoria au BC. Merci. Sophie Boudreau, Victoria, BC, Canada J’apprécie le travail fait par Radio-Canada C.-B. Autant télé que radio. Je suis enseignante dans une école du CSF et j’ajoute que R.-C. représente bien la communauté scolaire de la province. Nathalie Lavoie Surrey, BC, Canada CBC is the only reliable method Canadians have to be exposed to a broad spectrum of other Canadians and to the ideas and issues that affect us all. In the era of manipulation of audiences and messages, I feel that Canadians can always trust CBC to provide fair and evidence-based reporting and to present a multitude of perspectives and opinions on an issue. As an Indigenous person, CBC is important for keeping me in touch with Indigenous communities, issues, and culture (including new Indigenous music). Veda Weselake, Ontario, Canada Vitrine d’une communauté linguistique minoritaire, la SRC n’est certes pas la plus connue dans le portrait médiatique ontarien en général, mais elle contribue largement à la communauté linguistique de langue française dans la province. La SRC joue un rôle prépondérant quant à la diffusion de l’information à la communauté et contribue largement à sa vitalité. Il serait difficile d’imaginer les médias de masse de la province s’intéresser à des enjeux propres à la communauté francophone. En effet, encore aujourd’hui, les grands médias de la province, radios, télévisions ou journaux, n’abordent que rarement les enjeux de la communauté francophone. … Pourtant, la SRC est en train de réussir le virage technologique, comme en font foi les nombreuses possibilités d’écouter toute émission, locale ou nationale, à son heure, à l’endroit du choix du citoyen. Ce dernier n’en a que faire des anciens silos qu’étaient la télévision et la radio de la SRC. Le décloisonnement s’est produit, au bénéfice des citoyens avides d’information de qualité. Nous sommes résolument passés dans une ère numérique, mais le contenu de proximité demeure tout aussi pertinent. De fait, l’approche numérique permet non seulement au citoyen de se sentir connecté avec la SRC, elle lui fait sentir moins seul et aide le citoyen à demeurer francophone. Francois Boileau, Ontario Canada New Canadians, Indigenous Canadians, minorities in this country feel they are part of Canada when there is a nationally available means of communicating with each other. I am speaking mainly about CBC Radio. To this day I find that young people who listen to CBC programs seem to be deeper thinkers, cultivate a diversity of views and generally are more interested in the world around them (as compared to those that mainly get their 3 news and views through facebook for instance). I cannot stress enough the value of CBC in unifying Canadians in terms of feeling that even if they live in a far flung outpost, they belong with other Canadians. I live in northern Canada. CBC is a mainstay of the small communities in the North. Marie Adams, Yellowknife, NT Nous aimerions d’ailleurs applaudir la SRC pour l’ajout de nouvelles ressources humaines dans le Nord canadien. La SFM aimerait finalement profiter de l’occasion pour réitérer son soutien pour le renouvellement de licences de la SRC et de témoigner de l’impact positif de partenariats communautaires qui existent et qui se développent avec Radio-Canada. Société de la francophonie manitobaine The CBC helped me to understand my own country and our regional diversity in culture and politics. It was a central plank of public education in the same way that libraries are. It was also my introduction to classical music as well as regional folk music. First Nations content revealed parts of our collective heritage that were often hidden from view. In this sense, CBC introduced me to critical thinking and the kind of national introspection that keeps us moving forward. For me it served as a vehicle for national unification through mutual understanding. I grew up with the CBC and see it as an instrument of nation building. Richard Sullivan, British Columbia, Canada Évidemment, le fait que le mandat de la Société Radio-Canada oblige celle-ci à être présente dans toutes les régions du pays, et ce, dans les deux langues officielles, fait de la SRC le seul média canadien véritablement national, capable de refléter toutes les composantes de la mosaïque canadienne dans sa diversité la plus complexe. Association acadienne des artistes professionnelles du Nouveau-Brunswick The CBC has been my window into Canada, my first friend in my new homeland, and my relationship with it is one of the reasons I proudly call myself Canadian. In fact, it was the education about Canadian culture that I absorbed from listening to CBC Radio and watching CBC Television (on a rabbit-ear antenna as I couldn’t afford cable) in my early years in this country that prepared me for a career as a culture writer and critic in Toronto. … The cbc.ca/news site is my homepage on my laptop and is how I choose to start my day. It’s my way of checking in on Canada. This year, I made it a course requirement for my arts journalism students to visit cbc.ca/arts for the best coverage of Canadian culture. Kamal Al-Solaylee, PhD, Professor and Author, Ryerson University School of Journalism 4 Radio-Canada Ici Ontario nous accompagne depuis plusieurs années. Les membres de notre communauté apprécient à sa juste valeur l’important volet numérique développé par Radio-Canada. Radio-Canada démontre une capacité à proposer à ses auditeurs une offre numérique et des contenus sur les plateformes innovantes. Éric Keunne - Association du peuple Baminaké En tant que franco canadien de ma région de Toronto, les services en français offerts par la SRC nous sont importants voire vitaux. Pascal Boyer, Toronto, ON, Canada CBC is a highly valuable service to me and my family. I mainly use Radio 1 and 2, as well as the web-based news and feature service It does a superb job of reflecting our country in all its diversity of people and regions. It certainly reflects the multi-cultural and multi-ethnic nature of Canada both in the stories it covers and the people who deliver them. In particular, I want to note the expansion of Indigenous coverage in the past few years. I now have access to stories about Indigenous people and communities I would never have heard about before. In particular I follow the CBC Indigenous Service on the web. Programs / services are of high quality. In particular I would note the tremendous support that CBC provides to Canadian music creators. There are so many great Canadian musicians, singers and song writes that I would never have heard of but for CBC.