Radio Canada International to cease broadcasts in March (01/14/96)

Radio Canada International to cease broadcasts in March

by Andrij Wynnyckyj

TORONTO - In a move met by widespread disapproval, the state-owned Canadian Broadcasting Corp. announced on December 12, 1995, that the last day of operations for this country's global short-wave and satellite radio service, Radio Canada International, would be March 31, 1996.

Under pressure from sharply reduced federal appropriations, CBC President Perrin Beatty has presided over the latest round of drastic cuts to the national television and radio service, with job losses projected in the hundreds.

Mainstream newspapers and journals in Canada, including the Globe and Mail, Montreal's Le Devoir, the Toronto Star and the Financial Post, have carried editorials in support of RCI.

Having caught wind of the move in advance on December 11, 1995, Ukrainian Canadian Congress President Oleh Romaniw fired off a letter of protest addressed to Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, with copies to Foreign Affairs Minister André Ouellet, members of Parliament and other agencies.

Mr. Romaniw wrote, "The awareness of Canada via RCI and about what it has to offer in the way of products, services and technology cannot be overestimated, particularly in a nation [Ukraine] which offers Canada great market potential."

Maria Szkambara, president of UCC's Toronto branch, sent a strongly worded letter on December 12, 1995, criticizing comments by government officials that "faxes or the Internet" could serve as substitutes for the service. Ms. Szkambara also underscored the essential information service provided to Canadians in peacekeeping roles abroad.

Dr. Dmytro Cipywnyk, president of the Ukrainian World Congress, pointed out in a missive of December 28, 1995, the keen interest in Canada's democratic values, human rights initiatives, fairness in dealing with ethno-cultural minorities that RCI has helped foster.

"Discontinuing the services of RCI would only serve to diminish Canada's status and role as a world leader in advancing humanitarian values and communication," Dr. Cipywnyk wrote, also addressing Heritage Minister Michel Dupuy, who is formally responsible for government communications policy.

According to RCl archivist Maggy Akerblom, both government officials and the RCI itself have been buried in "an absolute avalanche" of support for the service. "There have been thousands of e-mail messages, hundreds of letters," Ms. Akerblom said.

Those whose letters the RCI has on file include the Canadian Export Association, students from universities across Canada, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), senior officials of the BBC World Service, the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters, Radio Vaticana, the National Film Board of Canada, the Friends of Canada in Moscow, faculty at the University of Kentucky, the University of Quebec in Montreal, the Ukrainian Free University in Munich and the University of Bonn.

Letters also continue to come in from Ukraine, including from the director of Ukraine's National Radio and TV Committee (which recently began a schedule of RCI Ukrainian broadcasts, providing the full service on the air 45 minutes every weekday and an hour on Saturdays and Sundays), Radio Lux in Lviv and Radio Roks in Kyiv.

In Canada, the national UCC headquarters, its provincial councils and branches, the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, the Canadian Foundation for Ukrainian Studies, the Ukrainian Quebec Business Council, Prof. Petro Potichnyj of McMaster University, have all sent copies of their letters addressing government officials to RCI.

Ms. Olechowska, manager of RCI's Russia and Ukraine section, said sources at the prime minister's office suggested it was being swamped by letters of support for RCI. A press liaison official at the PMO told The Weekly on January 10 that all information concerning correspondence with Mr. Chretien, including the number of items received and any responses issued (even to open letters), is confidential.

The official also declined to comment on the issue. Ironically, the prime minister himself was abroad, touring various Asian countries with a host of government officials and businesspeople, in order to raise Canada's international profile.

Officials at the CBC declined to comment, providing only the terse statement issued on December 12. Mr. Beatty is quoted as saying, "Given our limited resources, we have no choice but to concentrate on our domestic service."

The document also mentioned that "from 1991 to 1995" RCI operated as a district component of CBC, funded by annual grants from the government of Canada. This practice changed with the February 1995 federal budget, which directed CBC to assume costs for RCI starting in 1995-1996.

The background

According to Ms. Olechowska, the dispute dates back to 1990, when the CBC told the federal government of the day it could no longer afford to run the service, after having done so since the mid-1960s.

External Affairs Minister Joe Clark's strong support for RCI landed the broadcaster in his jurisdiction. In March 1991, RCI's annual budget was assumed by External Affairs, but cut from $20 million to $13 million (since adjusted to $16.5 million to account for inflation), halving its staff and its language services, reducing it to seven (English, French, Ukrainian, Russian, Arabic, Spanish, Chinese), with the Ukrainian section surviving. In view of the situation in Haiti, a Creole service has since been added.

According to Canadian columnist Allan Fotheringham, these cuts resulted in a loss of direct access to about 11 million listeners worldwide, although most continued to tune in via satellite and thanks to local stations that picked up the broadcasts.

Ms. Olechowska said subsequent negotiations between government bureaucrats and the CBC resulted in an agreement whereby RCI was given a five-year lease on life through 1996, with a budget supplied by the since-renamed Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Mr. Romaniw's letter mentions a Standing Senate Committee on Transport and Communications report of June 1994, which recommended that funding for RCI be restored to pre-1991 levels, and guaranteed by a specific appropriation from the government.

Nonetheless, prior to the expiry of this five-year period, in February 1995, Finance Minister Paul Martin's budget statement reminded the CBC of its mandate, stated in Canada's Broadcasting Act, to provide an international service Thus, the federal government was seeking to absolve itself of responsibility for RCI and threw the funding ball back into the public broadcaster's court.

Ms. Olechowska said that at recent negotiations Foreign Affairs had offered to fund 50 percent of RCl's operations for the six months ending on March 31, with the proviso that the CBC pick up 100 percent of the costs after that date, provoking the present crisis.

Ms. Olechowska put the turf fight into perspective. "The CBC has a billion dollars given to it by the federal government, while we are allotted just over $16 million, so you can count for yourself what a minute percentage of savings that could provide if we were cut," the section manager said.

Mr. Olechowska was quick to point out that RCI has no quarrel with its parent body. "There is nothing the CBC wants to change, they are ready to run RCI if they get additional money for it," she said.

"The problem is that the CBC has one mandate, and we have another. So, of course, our mandate is not their priority. If they find it difficult to fulfill their domestic mandate, then obviously they wouldn't care less about broadcasting abroad," Ms. Olechowska added.

RCI staff heartened, defiant

Despite the dire threat forced by RCI section manager Ms. Olechowska was greatly heartened by the support received. "In 1991, there was very little public awareness or media attention. This time, the quality of reaction and extent of support in the media and the wider public is quite impressive" she said.

Among the most vocal is Wojtek Gwiazda, announcer-producer for the RCl's English Service, and with the local French CBC network in Montreal is a spokesman of the Coalition to Restore Full RCI Funding.

According to a press release issued in early January, the coalition is calling on the government "to assure a separate, protected annual budget to guarantee the service's existence."

"Many people are playing political games," Mr. Gwiazda said, "doing fancy footwork because of the massive positive response the announcement to cut has produced - but all the nice talk in the world doesn't pay the bills."

"Even if we are saved at the level of funding we get, $16.5 million, we are already a severely damaged service," he added. The coalition spokesman read off some damning statistics. Canada is 44th in the world in terms of hours broadcast, the only G-7 nation not in the top seven in terms of service and support from its government.

"The federal government and Canadians have to decide if we are a nation. One of a nation's responsibilities is to communicate with its neighbors, with others in the world," Mr. Gwiazda said.

He added, ''If mediocre funding impairs our efforts, it's not just RCl s standing that is affected, but Canada's standing in the world. The minute you stop talking about the country, its reputation goes down."

Ms. Olechowska concurred, "It requires political will at the highest level to make a decision whether RCI will continue to exist or not. We have been struggling along with very tight budgets for quite some time."

"This is a creative organization, and if we are going to produce quality programming, we cannot be constantly worried if we re going to be closed down every six months or three months, or one year or what have you,'' Ms. Olechowska said.

Roman Pitt, one of five announcer producers in RCl's Ukrainian section was confident about the role the service plays. "We promote Canada a lot,'' the announcer added, "and we have a very good reputation in Ukraine, and many people have told us and written us to say they prefer RCI to VOA [Voice of America] or RFE [Radio Free Europe] because there's less politicking," he said.

Mr. Pitt told The Weekly he has grudgingly accepted his role as its "de facto" coalition representative. However, he is not at all reticent about the coalition's aims. "We shouldn't just be restored to pre-1991 levels [of funding], we need a long-term commitment that recognizes the value of what we're doing." Mr. Pitt said.

"They need to stop messing around, telling us that we have a five-year commitment from one level of government that suddenly decides to review everything after three years," the Ukrainian announcer added.

Ms. Olechowska also sounded a note of warning. "Once the service goes down, there is no going back, because you lose the frequency, and then you have no possibility of broadcasting for months, possibly years. There aren't enough frequencies in the world to go around. If you abandon your spot on the waves it's picked up within weeks."

| Home Page |