Despite ongoing concerns from Canadians
By Amanda OYE
IT WAS NOT that long ago a major topic of discussion in the country was concern about the authorized distribution of the Russian state-funded English-language channel RT.
Cartt.ca readers will recall Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez tweeted to say the government was also concerned and looking into its options. Soon after, service providers began dropping the channel from their channel lineups.
Within the week, the government passed a motion to order the CRTC to “hold a hearing to determine whether RT (formerly known as Russia Today) and RT France (collectively RT) should be removed from the list of non-Canadian programming services authorized for distribution in Canada.” The Commission was given two weeks to investigate the matter.
The CRTC ultimately decided to ban RT and RT France from being distributed in Canada.
In a press release announcing the decision, the Commission noted despite the proceeding being limited in scope to RT and RT France, “many intervenors submitted comments which applied broadly to Russian-state controlled and sponsored media.”
Ethnic Channels Group Ltd. (ECGL) was among those intervenors. ECGL pointed out in its intervention RT and RT France are not the only news and information channels approved for distribution in Canada by the CRTC that are sponsored by or owned by the Russian government.
“This news and information programming contains the same “government-approved” content as the content seen on the RT Services. These Russian language services may well be far more influential and more widely viewed in Canada than the RT Service,” ECGL’s intervention reads.
Despite this, there are still channels associated with the Russian state on the CRTC’s list of services authorized for distribution, including Channel One and RTR-Planeta TV.
Cartt.ca reached out to Canadian Heritage to find out if the government had plans to issue an order to the CRTC to investigate these services as it had for RT.
A spokesperson from Canadian Heritage told us earlier this week the government is “aware of the calls made by Canadians to investigate other Russian state controlled and sponsored media.”
Pointing out the government requested the Commission investigate RT because it “had specific concerns about those two services in the current environment,” the spokesperson also noted in its decision the CRTC invited Canadians to submit evidence to it of non-compliance by other services approved for distribution in Canada.
“The CRTC is prepared to examine any complaint it receives,” the spokesperson said.
“We expect the CRTC to monitor compliance of all broadcasters available to Canadians through its regulated system, in the public interest, and to use its powers as it sees fit when it finds non-compliance.
“We continue to be led by affected communities. Our next steps should be dependent on their input.”
A spokesperson for the CRTC told Cartt.ca yesterday the Commission is aware of the other services offering Russian programing on its authorized list “some of which are controlled and sponsored by the Russian government.”
The spokesperson said the Commission follows an established process for dealing with the complaints it receives “and would follow this process to assess any complaints received about these services.
“Since the publication of the RT and RT France decision, the Commission has not launched any public proceeding to examine the status of any channel on the list of services authorized for distribution in Canada.”
It is still possible other channels associated with the Russian state that are available for distribution will be taken off the Commission’s authorized list, but it is worth noting more time has now passed since the CRTC’s decision on RT was issued than the CRTC was given to investigate RT in the first place.
