Minister of Canadian Heritage Pascale St-Onge announced Monday the appointment of an advisory committee that will provide policy advice on the role, mission and governance of Canada’s public broadcaster, CBC/Radio-Canada.
The committee composed of seven experts and specialists will be tasked with providing advice “on how to strengthen and renew the public broadcaster so it can continue to fulfill its important social, cultural and democratic functions,” says a Heritage press release.
“CBC/Radio-Canada is a cornerstone of Canadian culture,” St-Onge said in a statement. “For almost 90 years, our public broadcaster has been a daily presence for Canadians, sharing our stories across the country. But the world has changed since the broadcaster started in 1936. Canadians need a strong, innovative and independent public broadcast that is ready to meet the challenges of this period of transformation and upheaval in news and content creation.
“This advisory committee, with its diverse perspectives and experiences, will help me fulfil my mandate to modernize CBC/Radio-Canada. It will be able to better promote our culture, our stories, our languages, our artists, and our creators, while adapting to our rapidly changing broadcast and digital landscape,” St. Onge said.
The advisory committee members include:
- Marie-Philippe Bouchard, CEO of TV5 Québec Canada
- Jesse Wente, chair of the Canada Council for the Arts and founding executive director of the Indigenous Screen Office
- Jennifer McGuire, managing director of Pink Triangle Press
- David Skok, CEO and editor-in-chief of independent media startup The Logic
- Mike Ananny, associate professor of communication and journalism at University of Southern California Annenberg
- Loc Dao, executive director of DigiBC
- Catalina Briceno, professor at Université du Québec à Montréal
The advisory panel will meet regularly with Minister St-Onge to discuss a range of questions dealing with CBC/Radio-Canada’s funding, governance and mandate, the press release says.
To finance its operations, CBC/Radio-Canada relies on an annual parliamentary appropriation of approximately $1.2 billion and supplementary income from advertising, subscriptions and other commercial activities.
As per the 1991 Broadcasting Act, CBC/Radio-Canada’s mandate is to provide a wide range of programming that informs, enlightens and entertains. With programming available in English, French and eight Indigenous languages, CBC/Radio-Canada delivers its mandate through various traditional and digital services that are used by millions of Canadians every month, the press release says.
