CRTC sides with Black Montrealer over use of N-word on Radio-Canada

A Black Montrealer hopes Radio-Canada will do a better job of considering his community's reality after the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) ordered the public broadcaster to apologize in writing for the use of the N-word on its airwaves.

Ricardo Lamour, a local artist and social worker who filed the complaint, said the ruling represents an opportunity to turn CBC/Radio-Canada into a "more coherent public broadcaster."

"It was about time," Lamour told CBC News when asked to describe his reaction to the ruling. 

"I don't know if it's a historic decision, but it seems to me, an important decision."

The CRTC also ruled that Radio-Canada must report, by no later than Sept. 27, "on internal measures and programming best practices that it will put in place to ensure that it better addresses similar issues in the future." The report and the written apology both have to be made public.

The CRTC has also told Radio-Canada it has until July 29 to come up with ways to mitigate the effects of the use of the N-word in that segment, given that it's still available online.  

For Lamour, the ruling represents the end of a process that began nearly two years ago, when radio host Annie Desrochers and columnist Simon Jodoin uttered the N-word several times during a segment on the 15-18 afternoon program.

It happened during a discussion on Aug. 17, 2020 about a petition that demanded the firing of a Concordia University professor who had quoted the title of a famous book from Pierre Vallières that features the N-word.

"During the discussion, the host and the commentator used the 'N-word' four times, three times in French and one time in English, in a segment of six minutes 27 seconds," the CRTC ruling states.

Lamour was in the CBC/Radio-Canada building in Montreal, listening to the 15-18 show with headphones when the word was used. Just moments later, it was his turn to be interviewed on the program on a completely different topic.

'I was irritated'

Lamour said he was invited as a guest on the show to talk about his work as a youth mentor. After hearing the word, Lamour said he had a hard time getting through his interview.

"I lost focus," he said. "I was irritated."

He said he noticed that the show did not warn the audience that the N-word would be used. He also said that members of the show should have been more aware of how the use of the word would be perceived, given that it was less than three months after the murder of George Floyd had sparked global protests about racial injustice.

The CRTC agreed with Lamour.

"The Commission considers that [Radio-Canada] did not implement all the necessary measures to mitigate the impact of the N-word on its audience, particularly in the current social context and given its national public broadcaster status," the ruling stated.

"For these reasons, the broadcast of that program segment did not provide high-standard programming and did not contribute to the strengthening of the cultural and social fabric and the reflection of the multicultural and multiracial nature of Canada."

N-word only used to quote book title, Radio-Canada said

Within the two weeks of the show airing, Lamour filed a complaint with the CRTC and Radio-Canada's ombudsman.

That led to a response from 15-18's head of content, who told Lamour that the N-word was only used to quote Vallières's work and was neither "abusive nor inconsiderate."

Dissatisfied with that answer, Lamour asked the ombudsman for a review. In October 2020, the ombudsman issued a response acknowledging that the N-word was a "dehumanizing insult." According to the CRTC ruling, however, the ombudsman does not believe the word should be completely banned and that if used, it should be done "appropriately and responsibly, such as in cases where the requirement for clarity justifies its use."

Ultimately, the ombudsman ruled that Radio-Canada did not violate its journalistic standards and practices.

That's when Lamour asked the CRTC for a review, which it released on Wednesday. The majority decision had two dissenting voices.

Caroline J. Simard, the vice-chair of broadcasting with the CRTC, said "neither the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms nor the applicable broadcasting provisions protect the complainant's right to not be offended.

"In my view, the applicable law supported dismissing the complaint," she wrote.

Marc Pichette, the head of promotions and public relations for Radio-Canada, said the public broadcaster would take time to analyze the ruling.

"Radio-Canada recognizes that the use of the N-word is offensive," he said, adding that it's been used sparingly and carefully on its airwaves. 

"This decision and the dissenting opinions that came with it illustrate the complexity of the issue."

As demanding and as draining as the process was for Lamour — who said he had to send several follow-up emails to get responses — he felt an obligation to see it through. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to look the youth he works with in the eye, he said.

"It's [about] the dehumanization of Black bodies, Black souls, Black voices," he said, adding that a broadcaster should "take into consideration the content that you produce and how it's hindering my sanity."