VANCOUVER — The Canadian Broadcast Corporation is drawing criticism, yet again, for its editorial decision making — this time for encouraging compassion towards a man ordered deported after he pleaded guilty to killing 16 people, while suggesting a man acquitted of sexual assault should be spared the opportunity of a fresh start.
By now, you probably know about the government-funded show Northland Tales, that misrepresented itself to get conservative figures like Frances Widdowson and Lindsay Shepherd to appear on tape. The producers pretended to admire the women’s work and claimed to want to highlight their voices, only to turn around and attack them on camera. There is also the not-incidental matter that almost nothing the unaired shows’ producers have allegedly done so far appears to be funny. But we are talking about CBC comedy in the 2020s, after all.
The murder of British university student Henry Nowak is full of the expected tragedy and heartbreak, but also extreme injustice, rage, racial tensions, and what happens when an entire society goes mad on a particular brand of politics.
So naturally, CBC foreign correspondent Chris Brown skipped all that is interesting or relevant in the case, and instead presented his audience with coverage so outrageous that calling it propaganda would be an insult to Vladimir Putin. In an “analysis” article, titled How Britain’s far right hijacked the murder of Henry Nowak, he twisted the story by imagining a “far right” threat, rather than a story of reasonable concerns about how racial politics skewed the police response to the killing. (CBC news broadcasts of the story are only marginally better.)
Internal CBC records obtained through Access to Information legislation show the public broadcaster received a wave of critical emails from viewers after former television host Travis Dhanraj testified before Parliament that managers discouraged Conservative voices from appearing on air.
The 142-page file, released this week, details audience complaints following Dhanraj’s March 10 appearance before the House of Commons heritage committee, where he alleged “centralized control and bias” within CBC News and claimed Conservative politicians were routinely excluded from coverage opportunities.
(Incognito)
CBC has developed a bad habit of wasting taxpayers’ money and hiding it – but there’s a zero per cent chance it’ll be able hide this one.
CBC needs to release every contract, invoice, receipt and email associated with the so-called comedy program that humiliated serving and retired members of the RCMP.
OTTAWA — The head of the RCMP says the force raised concerns directly to the CBC over a joint production that targeted RCMP veterans, saying he is “deeply concerned” for the mental health of those involved.
Mike Duheme, who has served as commissioner since 2023, says he was informed that a female member of the RCMP Veterans’ Association had volunteered to take part in a CBC documentary about life after policing only to later report that she was “subjected to a prank” during filming that took place in Vancouver back in March.
On a topic that literally lends itself to satire — the continuing failure of successive federal governments to improve the lives of Canada’s Indigenous people no matter how much taxpayer money they throw at the problem — the CBC and APTN entertainment divisions chickened out.
A retired RCMP officer who says he was tricked into appearing on a CBC prank show has provided a full account of his experience, describing how he was made to partake in a sort of humiliation ritual in which former police were subject to allegations of mistreatment of Indigenous peoples.
In an hour-long video posted to his personal channel, a YouTuber under the name Clinton Jaws, a nearly 40-year RCMP veteran, said he and other former officers were invited to attend a Vancouver event that was hosted by a production company funded by the broadcaster, which organizers reportedly said would be attended by Prince William.
Our state broadcaster, publicly funded, is mired in ideology and short on responsible journalism. It’s alienated viewers for years. Why anyone would watch the drivel it dispenses is beyond me, but then I don’t buy lottery tickets or follow the Game of Thrones. There is also a TV network, publicly funded, to enrich our understanding of Indigenous cultures, identities and languages. Sometimes these organizations join forces.
Recent incidents in which a taxpayer-funded co-production between CBC and the Indigenous television station APTN targeted authors, historians and politicians with prank “interviews” are as disturbing as they are bizarre.
A fake production company under the name Forge Media, hired by CBC, contacted several people who have questioned the cancel culture around Sir John A. Macdonald and claims of unmarked graves at residential schools.
The CBC "prank show" deception scandal is getting so much worse.
The producers (operating under fake identities/fake company names with fake websites) told a number of RCMP veterans – people who dedicated their lives to serving on the frontlines – that they were invited to film…
— Lindsay Shepherd (@NewWorldHominin) May 17, 2026
h/t Auntie Polly
Two women say they were targeted by a CBC- and APTN-produced comedy series that conducted prank interviews with people who have expressed controversial opinions about Canada’s residential schools.
Frances Widdowson and Lindsay Shepherd, two public figures who have been critical of the coverage of possible unmarked graves at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School site in B.C., shared social media posts this week detailing how they say they were tricked into prank interviews.
It was only a prank says the CBC which has forgiven itself.
In truth it was a government attempt to smear people for having the “wrong views”.
Members of Canada’s biggest white nationalist group trained this spring with U.S. counterparts south of the border and met with the founder of a global movement of fascist fight clubs, a CBC visual investigation has found.
One expert called it a “very significant” signal of closer co-ordination between white supremacist groups on both sides of the border.
This is the latest CBC Expose of Canadian White People with objectionable views who haven’t actually broken any laws.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has been involved, the extent of which is currently unknown, in creating deceptive prank videos that target some of the country’s loudest political dissidents.
There are two words to describe the involvement of a public broadcaster in such a project: blatant propaganda.
Federal officials quietly tested public appetite for cutting funding to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and other Crown corporations, with internal focus group research showing Canadians are open to reductions as Ottawa looks for ways to rein in spending.
Blacklock’s Reporter says the research, commissioned by the Privy Council Office and conducted by The Strategic Counsel under a $1.6 million contract, found participants frequently pointed to Crown corporations like the CBC and Canada Post as areas where the federal government could scale back expenditures.
Bet the polling will mysteriously experience a sea-change.
