APPENDIX 1 OLMC CONSULTATION REPORT Official Minority Language Communities Consultation Report Broadcast year 2019-20 Introduction CBC/Radio-Canada is focused on providing Canadians with trusted news and information programming, accelerating its progress on diversity and inclusion, and supporting Canadian creators and cultural organizations. More than ever during the global pandemic, local news has been vital to communities across the country, particularly in Quebec’s English Official Language Minority Communities (OLMCs) where CBC is often the only media outlet. Our presence and programs make it possible for English-speaking Quebecers to receive vital information, hear their stories, and to stay connected. Condition of Licence Requirement As of September 1, 2013, CBC/Radio-Canada has been required under condition of licence to “hold a formal consultation at least once every two years with official language minority communities (OLMCs) located in each of the regions of Atlantic Canada, Ontario, Western Canada, the North and Quebec to discuss issues that affect their development and vitality. For the French-language services, the relevant regions are Atlantic Canada, Ontario, Western Canada and the North. For the English-language services the relevant region is Quebec. Consultations shall include independent producers from OLMCs. The licensee shall report annually on consultations that took place that year and demonstrate how feedback from the consultations was taken into 1 consideration in the Corporation’s decision making process.” This is an interim report for 2019-20 between consultations. Overview: Our corporate strategy Your Stories, Taken to Heart and community consultations continue to guide our work in 2019-20. We are building on the success of our existing services and aim to increase and deepen audience engagement. This report highlights initiatives as they relate to the following key issues raised at our OLMC roundtable consultation held on May 2, 2019: 1. Prioritizing local connections 2. Reflecting contemporary Canada 3. Connecting with younger audiences 4. Customizing digital services 5. Commitment to original journalism and in-depth storytelling These initiatives demonstrate that feedback from participants was taken into consideration in our decision-making process. In addition, our audience perception survey for 20191 illustrates a significant proportion of Anglophones living in OLMCs feel that CBC’s radio and television does a better job of providing programming that reflects their region (94%/91%), their culture (78%/72%) and diversity (91%/87%) than Anglophones living outside Quebec. We continue to exchange and learn different perspectives and views of Canadians through our television, radio and digital platforms. We use these exchanges to enhance our reflection of OLMCs. Our next official CRTC public consultation will take place virtually in spring 2021. 1 OLMCs Mission Metrics 2019. 2 1. Prioritizing local connections: CBC Montreal and CBC Quebec continues to be leading sources of news and information on all our platforms, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. On March 18 and for the first few weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic, CBC made the decision to temporarily consolidate resources so that we could continue to offer Canadians the best international, national and local coverage of this rapidly changing story. This was a temporary measure and a difficult decision in response to an extraordinary situation. In the face of unprecedented circumstances, CBC News Network shifted to a live breaking news service integrating local news from CBC stations across the country. Restoring local evening TV News service was a priority and resumed quickly, with late night following. CBC Montreal News at 6 returned on March 27 and CBC Montreal News at 11 was back as of April 14. During that period, our News team maintained local radio services, filed to the consolidated TV news service as well as contributed to our digital platforms. During the spring, CBC.ca's average monthly unique visitors/viewers across the country grew by 19% compared to the previous spring. CBC/Radio-Canada was the number-one ranked news entity in Canada for unique visitors/viewers. In addition, average monthly minutes per visitor on CBC.ca increased by 32% in Spring 2020 vs Spring 2019.2 In Quebec, the audience looked to our digital service for up-to-minute coverage. CBC.ca reached over 1 million average monthly unique visitors/viewers in the province. In 2 Source: Comscore, MyMetrix, Media Trend & Key Measures, Multi-Platform. March - May 2019 vs March - May 2020 3 addition, average monthly minutes per visitor in Quebec on CBC.ca increased by 18% (to 41 minutes per visitor) in Spring 2020 vs Spring 20193. Below are some initiatives which demonstrate how CBC is prioritizing and expanding local connections: ● In addition to daily coverage and original journalism, CBC Montreal organized and funded a translation feed of the provincial COVID-19 briefings for all English-media outlets, including our competition. CBC carried the briefings live to ensure OLMCs were informed about public health guidelines and protocols. ● From April to June, the CBC Montreal Instagram account offered a daily Ask me anything feature, where people could ask COVID-related questions and have them answered by a CBC journalist. We also produced a special first person personal essay feature called Quarantine Diaries. ● On digital, CBC Montreal’s site over the last 20 months has averaged 106,000 daily unique visitors each month and the CBC News app has 34,000. This is an increase on both platforms from 2018-19 during which CBC Montreal’s site had 96,000 average daily unique visitors each month and the CBC News app had 30,000. ● On CBC Radio One, Montreal’s afternoon show Let’s Go, deepened local connection and reflection by introducing new columnists: Emilie Nicolas (Politics and Community Solutions); PhD candidate Rackeb Tesfaye (Science) plus a monthly column featuring Indigenous voices. The show also introduced a “Montrealer of the month” segment to highlight Montrealers who are brightening the lives of the people around them. The first, Naveed Rehman, a nursing aid at St. Mary's Hospital is featured here. ● This year, Cree language programs in Northern Quebec (Eeyou Istchee) moved from ICI Radio-Canada Premiere to CBC Radio One. The change was made 3 Source: Comscore Media Metrix® Multi-Platform, Total Audience (desktop 2+, mobile 18+), Average of Monthly Unique Visitors/Viewers & Average Minutes per Visitor from March-May 2020 vs March-May 2019, Quebec, Canada 4 following consultations with members of the Cree Nation. Since English is more widely spoken as a second language in the communities, listeners preferred Cree-language programming on CBC Radio One rather than ICI Radio-Canada Premiere. In addition, CBC Radio One is now carried on Kinwapt Cable, the local TV community channel. ● In September Quebec AM produced back-to-school programming featuring English-speaking Quebecers in Nunavik, Lower North Shore, Eastern Townships on the new start in the pandemic. The team also produced a special series on how children deal with racism called Ending Racism Early. ● For Startupfest 2020, CBC Montreal's famous media pitch tent went virtual with a digital call-out for Quebec-based companies that pivoted their offering to help the community during COVID-19. We received over 30 submissions, the winner, Factually Health, was featured on the website and CBC Radio’s Let’s Go. ● CBC Montreal and CBC Quebec’s social media channels are also essential to our digital strategy to serve OLMCs. They connect our journalists directly with the audience in a continuous dialogue and also increase reach to both younger demographics and underserved communities. Specific examples are listed throughout this report. In 2020, CBC journalists in Montreal and Quebec City won nine RTDNA awards for the Central Canada region for their work in 2019. The RTDNA awards recognize journalistic excellence in individual reporting, as well as for programs and stations across radio, television and digital platforms. CBC Montreal's web team won six awards for its digital coverage, including Excellence in Social Media for our coverage of the Montreal Climate March. In addition, during the broadcast year our scripted and unscripted programming teams met with over 30 Quebec independent producers and are working on a number of projects with them. 5 2. Reflecting contemporary Canada: CBC Montreal and CBC Quebec work closely with English-speaking associations and communities on projects to ensure we reflect the realities of life for English-speaking Quebecers. Based on feedback from the consultation, we expanded projects to include the following: ● Our annual Digital Writer in Residence program with Quebec Writers’ Federation (QWF) funds emerging writers to share their stories on cbc.ca/montreal. Leveraging QWF’s Fresh Pages project, the partnership has expanded to attract a greater diversity of voices from underrepresented communities. The new stories will appear in January 2021. ● CBC’s Charity of the Year program supports stories of the people who are making a difference in our community, throughout the year. The 2019 charity was Montreal Children’s Library located in St. Michel, one of the city’s most diverse and underserved neighbourhoods. In 2020, we have expanded our Charity of the Year initiative to include two charities, one based in Montreal and the other in one of the vital English-speaking communities in rural parts of the province. ● CBC Quebec has secured a CAPE (CBC Abilicrew Placements for Excellence program) internship. The CAPE intern, starting in 2021, will develop best practices to conduct public consultations virtually in an equitable, diverse and inclusive format. ● Absolutely Canadian broadcast on CBC Television and on-demand via CBC GEM presented six Quebec-produced regional documentaries made by independent producers. Notable films reflecting English-speaking realities include: ○ Champions: A filmmaker follows his brother to the Special Olympics World Summer Games in Abu Dhabi, along with 20 other Canadian athletes with intellectual disabilities pursuing titles in their divisions.