Mourning the loss of Bob Carty: award-winning radio documentary producer

In a world that seems to have little memory and less gratitude, his stories brought us notes of grace.

He was from a generation of activist journalists. He started from a position that truths needed to be exposed, in the service of making a better world. He was principled, determined and uncompromising in his journalism and just as fierce in his respect for the people in his documentaries and the struggles they lived. 

His range was enormous. From the Kyoto accord to corruption in the funeral industry, from soundscapes about tobogganing and fall leaves, to Banjo Bob and the business of bananas.

Prior to entering journalism, Bob spent a decade working on human rights and international development in Latin America. 

In 1981 he joined CBC Radio as a producer (he would later become foreign editor and senior producer) for the program, "Sunday Morning". 

His great passion for the people of Latin America, and their fight for human rights and democracy, became a central part of his mission as a journalist. 

In the late 1980s, Bob and his family spent five years in Central America. While his wife, Frances Arbour, worked with internally displaced people in Guatemala and Guatemalan refugees in Mexico, Bob covered military conflicts, human rights, development and ecological issues throughout Latin America for the CBC, The Globe & Mail and National Public Radio. 

He had a commitment to the ideals of liberation theology, and a loathing for dictatorship. He produced many documentaries from El Salvador, Nicaragua and Guatemala, and then further south in Argentina and Chile.

Returning to Canada in 1993, Bob resumed work for the CBC on feature documentaries, continuing through the rest of his career to make landmark docs for "This Morning", and "The Sunday Edition." 

As his colleague, friend and former CBC Radio documentary producer Frank Koller puts it, "He could turn anything into a compelling human story - the importance of good comprehensive health care for all, the banjo, a labour strike on the docks of Saint John, tobogganing, the theft of human genetic material for profit, the demise of the RCMP's band. Bob was generous and caring without limits, and an extraordinary journalist."

Bob always sought to bring clarity and insight to the big picture. All the while, though, he was anxious to understand individual stories as examples of wider ones, about the environment and economic and social inequality. He had enthusiasm for all of it and all of them. 

And when the tide of journalism shifted toward "people" stories, he celebrated. But he constantly reminded us that people lived inside structures, and we needed to understand them for fundamental change to occur.

He loved Canada, and he loved old-fashioned depth and daring and idealism in public broadcasting. He wanted to make radio that could change the world. His documentaries, as a result, had real impact with his very loyal audience.

His work won many awards, including a Peabody, a Gabriel, several New York International Radio Festival Awards and many investigative journalism prizes. 

He was active in freedom of expression issues as a member of Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE) and as a founder of the International Freedom of Expression eXchange (IFEX).

Bob also loved music, particularly music with a strong social message. He was an accomplished singer-songwriter, playing at protests, grape boycott pickets, "folk masses," and coffee houses. 

Bob's focus, dedication, warmth and genuinely kind, good nature endeared him to his friends and colleagues. He was a generous mentor to young doc makers, loved sharing his stories and the breadth of the form, spreading the gospel of Radio and of radio documentary. 

He was so committed that even when he was desperately ill, he held out the hope that he could make one more piece, craft one more jewel. And when that became impossible, he kept sending story ideas, even last week from his hospital bed.

Our condolences go to Bob's wife, Frances, and his son, Michael.

This week on "The Sunday Edition," we pay tribute to Bob Carty in words, sound, story and music, including his much-loved documentary, "Banjo Bob." And if you want to hear more of Bob's signature work, we have links to three of more of his unforgettable documentaries below.

Abrazos, Bob. Gone too soon.

"Kevin's Sentence" - Bob's 1995 documentary about the impact of drinking and driving on individuals and the justice system. Winner of a Peabody Award, a Gabriel Award, and a United Nations Gold Medal.

"Opening the Gates of Heaven" - A documentary following adopted Canadians searching for their birth families. It was awarded a Gold Medal at the 2007 New York Festivals.

"The Long Flight" - First broadcast in 2003, on the 30th anniversary of the Chilean coup, this documentary recounts the story of what became known as Special Movement Chile - a dramatic moment in Canadian diplomacy, foreign policy and citizen action.