From Roméo Dallaire to Nardwuar, Canadians pay tribute to CBC's Carol Off
Off steps down as host of CBC Radio’s As It Happens after 16 years
As Carol Off signs off for the last time on As It Happens, her friends, colleagues and radio guests are singing her praises.
The veteran broadcaster has stepped down as host of CBC Radio's flagship evening current affairs program. Monday's episode was her last.
During her 16 years in the host's chair, she has touched a lot of lives — including the colleagues she's mentored and the radio guests whose stories she helped to tell.
Here's what some of them had to say.
Opening up about genocide and trauma
For retired Lt.-Gen. Roméo Dallaire, Off is unlike any other journalist.
She first wrote about the former senator's efforts to stop the 1994 Rwandan genocide in her book The Lion, The Fox and The Eagle, and the deep connection they made continued long afterward.
Years later, Off interviewed Dallaire about his ongoing struggle with PTSD, and the two spoke frankly about the profound and painful effect of his time as head of the UN mission in Rwanda.
Watch: Roméo Dallaire on living with PTSD:
"There was an empathy. There was a deep interest and a passionate desire to get information that could help the listeners understand what was going on," Dallaire said.
"You never forgot the humans that are involved, and your empathy gave strength to people who are responding to you, that they could do so in confidence," he said, addressing Off directly. "Your courage in the field, you never lost it. Even though you were sitting in the studio, you still demonstrated that courage and that determination, that tenacity and perspicacity — without arrogance.
"We've got so much to learn from women like you to bring us to a far better future for humanity."
Befriending the competition
Tanya Talaga's first book, Seven Fallen Feathers, came out the same year as Off's All We Leave Behind, and both authors were up for the 2017 Writers' Trust Prize.
But instead of developing a competitive relationship, the two journalists formed a close bond — and it all began at the Eden Mills Writers' Festival, where they were both scheduled to speak.
"I really felt like I didn't know what I was doing. I was so nervous. And there we were standing in front of hundreds of people, and I'll never forget when the organizer of the event told me I had to speak after Carol Off," Talaga said.
"I was so scared and I didn't know if I could do it, but she looked me in the eye and she told me I would be fine and she would be listening and she was supporting me. And those weren't just words. That was truth."
Living in an airport, imagining a future in Canada
For Hassan Al Kontar, Off is more than a broadcaster.
"She's a part of my story. She opened the window and paved the path for me to speak to Canadian people," he said.
Kontar was working in the United Arab Emirates when civil war broke out in Syria and his visa expired. If he went home, he knew he'd be conscripted into mandatory military service under the Syrian regime.
So instead, he spent seven months living in legal limbo inside Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur International Airport in 2018 — plus two more in immigration detention — before finally finding asylum in Canada.
Al Kontar did his first-ever Canadian interview from that airport, with Off on As It Happens.
"She made me feel a happy future [was possible] while I was sitting on a chair at the airport. I could imagine that future after I spoke with Carol," he said.
Kontar now lives in Abbotsford, B.C., where he advocates on behalf of other refugees, and tunes in regularly to As It Happens.
"Carol is my daily reminder that I'm a free man now, and I'm living in Canada, where I have rights and obligations, where I can enjoy life and be forever legal," he said.
A punk rock connection with The Human Serviette
When Off spoke to Nardwuar The Human Serviette about getting a star on B.C.'s Walk of Fame, the Canadian interviewing legend naturally tried to turn the tables on her and ask the questions.
Off wasn't having it.
"Nice try," she said. "But it's not about me, this interview."
Nardwuar, who has been interviewing artists and celebrities since the '80s, says Off is one of his journalistic heroes.
"Carol, you're not afraid of anything that is amazing. Like, you will take chances in foreign lands. But I'm afraid to leave Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. I do interviews maybe like once a week. You do interviews like 35 times a week," he said.
"But we come together because we both like punk rock."
He noted that amid all her hard-hitting and emotionally difficult interviews, she's also spoken to musicians like The Undertones and Peaches.
"You're so versatile — from whatever to whatever, and punk legends included," he said.
Making her colleagues feel safe and appreciated
At the height of the 2011 revolution in Egypt, Pacinthe Mattar was a new producer at As It Happens, covering the incredible story unfolding in her home country.
She booked protester Tarek Zohny for an interview with Off, and as it was recording, Mattar became overwhelmed by emotion.
After the interview, she and Off met outside the As It Happens studio.
"I think it was maybe my second or third week at the very most, and I hadn't worked with Carol all that much. But she saw me in that moment. She saw that I was emotional. And she just said to me, 'I know you'd much rather be in Egypt today, but I'm so glad that you're here with us.' And she gave me a hug and I just cried and cried and cried," Mattar said.
"It was 11 years ago, but I will never forget that moment. And even though I only stayed at As It Happens for six months, every time I caught Carol's eye, passed each other in the hallway, had a conversation in the kitchenette, ran into each other, she always made me feel like I felt in that moment, which was supported, listened to and safe."
Dinner with a friend after the show
Sometimes when Off is done recording an episode of of As It Happens, she visits her friend, food writer Naomi Duguid, for dinner.
It's a tradition Duguid says she'll dearly miss.
"I'm still listening to you on the radio as you walk in the door. It's such an amazing thing, because you have such skill, you ake us places, you interrogate people with that sort of silky voice and we know you're going in for the kill. Or you feel for someone who's suffering. And all of us across the country feel that," she said, choking back tears.
"It is emotional to think about you leaving."
Setting up her co-host for success
Before Jeff Douglas became the host of CBC Radio's Mainstreet in Nova Scotia, he was Off's co-host on As It Happens for almost nine years.
During that time, he says he helped shape him into the interviewer he's become.
"I am just so grateful for your friendship. I'm grateful that you took me into your confidence and that you opened your friendship to me, that you shared it with me, that you shared your values with me. They have deeply influenced me," Douglas said.
"You taught me that kindness and empathy are OK to bring to this job," he said. "I will be forever grateful to you for that. As a co-worker, as a listener, but also as a friend — I love you, Carol."
Tune in to Carol Off's last show as host of CBC Radio's As It Happens on Friday, Feb. 25, at 6:30 p.m. ET (6 p.m. in Newfoundland) on CBC Radio 1, or stream it on CBC Listen.
