A 2023 proposal to reimagine Canada’s international service, increase funding and a transfer of the service to the foreign affairs ministry, Global Affairs Canada (GAC), will not proceed, according to both GAC and Canada’s national broadcaster CBC/Radio-Canada. Their reaction was reported by journalist Neil Moss in a front page article in the Ottawa political newspaper, The Hill Times, February 12, 2025.

Moss obtained a 110 page memorandum under the Access to Information Act after a 19 month wait.

The memorandum from Global Affairs Canada outlines CBC’s proposal to GAC concerning Radio Canada International (RCI). It came just at the time that the national broadcaster was under extreme pressure over its handling of RCI and its international mandate.

In the two years preceding this 2023 memorandum the RCI Action Committee had organized two open letters to Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and several of his ministers calling on the government to protect the international mandate of RCI.

The first letter was signed by 32 individuals including former Canadian Prime Minister Joe Clark, author Naomi Klein, and actor Donald Sutherland.

The second letter was signed by 45 former Canadian ambassadors.

In addition, the Liberal government’s election platform in 2021 had committed to strengthening Radio Canada International.

Part of the the memorandum obtained by The Hill Times included a report written by Fran Unsworth, a former director of the BBC World Service and past director of news for the BBC, as well as Fred Martenson, a former head of strategy for the BBC World Service.

Their analysis pointed out the funding for RCI is the lowest compared to other allied international broadcasters. It also noted that despite broadcasting in different languages, RCI had little impact on overseas audiences.

“Editorial focus is too domestic, largely providing translations of existing Radio-Canada material.”

The report also emphasized that “Canada needs a stronger voice in the world. This is in Canada’s own interest, but it is also the right thing to do… If democracies do not contest false narratives with independent, objective media, the influence of democratic countries, including Canada will be ceded.”

The GAC memorandum includes a confidential February 2023 proposal by CBC entitled “A Reimagined International News Service”. The very first point in this proposal is funding of $20-30 million, with a note that this was equivalent to the funding levels in Australia and Switzerland.

In the Hill Times article, a representative of CBC/Radio-Canada said that kind of funding is not under consideration.

RCI’s present budget is most probably about $2 million and has been for several years.

The Hill Times article quotes RCI Action Committee spokesperson Wojtek Gwiazda: “The administration of CBC does not understand the importance” of the international service.

“The only time that they started really reacting was when they came up with their latest policy in 2020 that was basically going to destroy the whole international mandate of RCI, and suddenly they got pushback.”

Reacting to the latest CBC statement that it did not want to fund the reimagining of RCI, Gwiazda said he was not surprised. “The huge problem that RCI faces is we are appreciated by a lot of people, but we’re an orphan financially. Nobody wants to pay for us.”

Interestingly, two years after the 2023 memorandum was written the reason for a Canadian International news service seems even more pressing:

“In a world where false information is abundant, trusted news sources are increasingly important for people everywhere. Democracy does matter, and trusted journalism is one of its pillars.”

 

Link to The Hill Times article by Neil Moss here (Behind paywall, for subscribers only)

Open letter to Canada’s Prime Minister and ministers from 32 Canadians here

Open letter to Canada’s Prime Minister and ministers from 45 former Canadian ambassadors here