The Crew from CFNR went down to Banff last week to receive an award and got far more than expected.
CFNR was awarded the “Digital Innovation Award” for the coverage of this year’s All Native Basketball Tournament, but instead found themselves sitting in a session with Conrad Black, who blasted First Nations Peoples and their history and traumas.
The session was billed as a “Fireside Chat” with the once powerful media magnate who had been invited to the conference, hosted by the Western Academy of Broadcasters.
Instead of being regaled by stories of the established media, those who were part of the chat heard Black rail about Immigrants, Scientists and Gender, but there were also insulting remarks about First Nations people.
Black made such deriding comments as ‘Indigenous People were Nomads before European contact.’, ‘First Nations lack the inventiveness to come up with the wheel.’, ‘They had no written language and once the Europeans arrived on the shores of North America, ‘Aboriginals’ were elevated by 5000 years.’
When the moderator asked Black to clarify his remarks, he continued on saying that former U.S. President Donald Trump will do better as President his second time around.’ He also stated he hated Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and has nothing but praise for conservative leader Pierre Polievre.
Black, continued on spouting untruths about the discover of possible human remains at former residential schools and that there was no genocide against Indigenous Peoples. He also outright dismissed the possibility of buried children at the former school sites, and noted there was no mistreatment of First Nations by the government at the schools.
At this point, CFNR’s General Sales Manager, Yulanda Leighton, stood and yelled at Black that he was wrong, and walked out of the room, along with three other members of the Canadian Radio and Telecommunications Commission, as well we their staff and a number of others from the audience.
Leighton, who is on the Board of Directors for the Western Association of Broadcasting, sent a message to other members, calling Black’s comments “disgusting” and “terrible”. That resulted in an emergency board meeting where the board decided to issue an apology for Black’s comments, to those in attendance.
They noted he was asked to attend to talk about his media experiences. They called Black’s comments “Disrespectful and incredibly hurtful.” They also distanced themselves from his comments, noting they reflect his own personal beliefs, and not those of the Association. They also apologized for not properly moderating the conversation. The apology was read before the Gala dinner.
Leighton added that she and others from CFNR went to the event “to be honoured with the award and instead got slapped in the face…as did every other Indigenous person in Canada.”
-CFNR Newsroom
The organizers should have vetted Conrad Black ahead of time.
I have nothing to do with broadcasting yet I knew that Conrad Black is very racist and does not want FN to succeed in anything.
He is very outspoken in that regard.
CFNR should not have been exposed to that. An apology just doesn’t cut it.
I hold the organizers accountable.
Sad. It just goes to show what we as FN face daily.
Irene