CBC and Immigration

Immigration Watch Canada has justifiably lost patience with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). The CBC has shamelessly appointed itself as the propaganda arm of Canada’s immigration lobby (immigration lawyers, “mass immigration” advocates, and ethnic groups. Every day, it betrays Canada and its majority population. It is a quisling organization and it deserves our contempt.

For the record, we provide below an earlier description of our case against the clear bias in the CBC. That description continues to apply, but the CBC’s behaviour has become much worse.

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Immigration Watch Canada believes in a strong, publicly-owned Canadian broadcasting system. Although Canada’s publicly-owned Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (the CBC), does very good work on a number of issues, its coverage of the immigration issue deserves the lowest of all failing marks.

The CBC regional centres in the Atlantic, Quebec and Prairie areas have made some attempts at balancing news on the immigration issue. Their work indicates that the CBC has some employees who believe that both sides of the immigration issue should be aired. Unfortunately, the same thing cannot be said about the Ontario (National CBC Office) and B.C. centres. CBC Radio in Vancouver is one of the worst offenders.

It may sound harsh to say that these two CBC centres have been shameless to the point of obsequiousness and sycophancy in their support of the views of immigration lawyers, consultants and advocates. But if something has all the qualities of a spade, it has to be called a spade. We leave listeners in the Central Canada and B.C. areas to listen or to view. After they have done this, they can pass their own judgements.

The basic question that CBC listeners and viewers have to ask themselves is this: “How often on the CBC have I heard comments trying to honestly evaluate or be critical of Canada’s immigration policy?”

The answer that honest people will give is this: Seldom. CBC occasionally allows someone to present such a view, but those occasions are rare. Most of what CBC’s audience hears and sees is uncritical praise of immigration.

In fact, the CBC states in its official policy that it will promote multiculturalism. The meaning of this word is cloudy, to say the least. The word “multiculturalism” used to mean a recognition of Canada’s multi-ethnic” character. Most Canadians find no difficulty in treating people of different ethnic backgrounds fairly. The problem with the promotion of multiculturalism today is that, to the CBC, the word “multiculturalism” has become virtually synonymous with the phrase “mass immigration”. So the promotion of “multiculturalism” has become the promotion of “mass immigration”.

Ironically, other CBC policy states that the CBC will present balance in its treatment of issues. However, the CBC’s commitment to the policy of multiculturalism and mass immigration means that it cannot fulfill its commitment to balance. In other words, the two policies contradict one another.

In fact, the CBC’s adherence to its view of multiculturalism means that it has abandoned any semblance of balance. It is extremely one-sided. It goes out of its way to suppress all views that find any fault with multiculturalism and mass immigration. What Canadians hear is blind support for these two programmes.

If Canadians listen carefully, they will hear hundreds of examples of the CBC giving broadcast time to mass immigration supporters to spread their message of the alleged positive effects of mass immigration, multiculturalism, the family class, and false refugee claimants. In the past few years, the CBC has actually entered into partnerships with mass immigration advocacy groups. The CBC arranges interviews and airs the views of these people. In return, these groups advertise for the CBC.

The CBC has very consciously taken this position. It has assumed that immigration has only a positive effect on Canada and that any problems that result from immigration are minor. According to the CBC, the environments of Canada’s major immigrant-receiving areas can absorb unlimited numbers of people. And the inundation of these areas of the country (as a result of Canada having the highest per capita immigrant intake in the world) poses no economic or cultural problems for Canadians.

Most Canadians will find that it is strange behaviour indeed for a public institution like the CBC to place a fist in the face of Canadians and , at the same time, hold out its other hand in the hope that Canadians will literally feed them.

When Canadians complain about the CBC’s coverage of immigration (particularly the work of extremely biased CBC reporters, hosts and producers), the CBC pretends that it will investigate. However, as anyone who has made an appeal to the CBC’s Ombudsman knows, the truth is that this institution is a mere buffer between the CBC and Canadians. Its main purpose is to deflect, delay and deceive.

The following is a sample of weekly commentaries sent to CBC Vancouver over a period of eight months (late 2002 to mid-2003). The programmes referred to are local and national. We also include more recent comments made between 2007 and 2010. Undoubtedly, the bias presented from Vancouver and from the CBC’s national programming centre in Toronto has been repeated in other regions of Canada.

To people coming to this issue for the first time, it might seem that the issues of 2002 and 2003 are outdated. But because the CBC has so arrogantly ignored the charges made in those letters, the charges are as relevant today as they were then.

Two of the largest issues are “Why is Canada bringing in so many people?” and “Is this unrelenting inflow having any negative effects on the economic, environmental and cultural well-being of Canada?”

Honest officials at the CBC might correctly say that a number of private media outlets in Canada are just as guilty of the shoddy treatment of these important questions as the CBC is. And, in general, these honest officials would also be correct in saying that many journalists are exceptionally timid and cowardly about approaching the issue of immigration reduction and reform.

However, a number of private media outlets have at least had the integrity to question Canada’s high immigration intake and to expose some of the abuse of Canada’s immigration system. The same cannot be said of the CBC whose policy on multiculturalism seems to have led it to think that it knows what is best for the Canadian public. It has also led it to conclude that it will not allow views that are critical of immigration to “contaminate” Canadian ears.

All CBC officials should not have to be reminded that these private outlets and the journalists working for private outlets are not supported with public money. These CBC officials should also remember that they, not private outlets, have been entrusted with the major responsibility of informing Canadian citizens. It is clear that the CBC has shamelessly betrayed the Canadian public with regard to this responsibility.

It is no exaggeration to say that there is a substantial den of quislings at the CBC.

The commentaries (listed below) refer to CBC Radio bias on dozens of occasions. They are irrefutable evidence against the CBC.

The CBC has to answer three basic questions: (1) Why is the CBC continuing its blatantly biased actions? (2) What will it do to rectify this situation? (3) When?

Fair-minded Canadians eagerly await answers to these questions. They are near losing  patience with the CBC.