In this episode, Ms. Kelly speaks about her experience as a public broadcaster employee and how she was mistreated by her employer, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. She describes her experience in the workplace and how it affected her confidence in her ability to do her job.
00:00:00.000Good morning, Madam Chair and members of the committee.
00:00:03.780As a kid growing up in Alberta, I wasn't like most of my friends.
00:00:08.120Every night, I watched The National with Knowlton Nash.
00:00:11.800He represented a public broadcaster that belonged to Canadians.
00:00:16.560Not to power, not to party, but to the public.
00:00:20.320And that is the CBC that I believed in.
00:00:23.420Now, many Canadians know the story about one of my tweets.
00:00:25.920In April 2024, I publicly stated that Canada Tonight had requested an interview with then-CBC President Catherine Tate, and the request was declined.
00:01:04.460For months prior, tensions had been building, not over performance, but over control.
00:01:09.060While I was publicly held up as a bold, diverse host, my ability to lead the very program carrying my face and name was quietly being stripped away.
00:01:20.260CBC's stated commitment to diversity contrasted with realities of tokenism.
00:01:26.260Still, I pushed forward, creating a nightly panel to showcase real diversity, including of thought.
00:01:32.400I questioned unequal pay. Why, for example, one contributor who was Indigenous always needed to1.00
00:01:38.780be paid while others weren't. When a prominent Black journalist requested compensation after
00:01:44.380appearing doing the exact same job, I was told to reconsider booking him moving forward. I attempted
00:01:50.860to end this discriminatory practice. Instead, the panel was cancelled. When it came to politics,
00:01:57.860interviews were blocked under guardrails governed by an internal document never made public
00:02:02.980titled parameters for political guests political access was centralized booking decisions controlled
00:02:09.300elsewhere it did not happen once it became a pattern it became the standard parent politics
00:02:16.100hosted by david cochran was given gatekeeping authority over which politicians could appear
00:02:21.140on canada tonight when i questioned that control and who was in control i was viewed as disruptive
00:02:28.740now at the same time i raised concerns about a toxic environment after i sat down with speaker
00:02:34.580greg fergus for a conversation on black history month chief political correspondent rosemary
00:02:40.100barton circulated internal communications questioning my program copying senior
00:02:45.380leadership, insinuating she or Mr. Cochran should have done the interview. It was an intimidation
00:02:52.560tactic, which management ignored. I and others raised concerns about bullying behavior by senior
00:02:58.620figures, including Mr. Cochran. But while he remained on air, I faced discipline and marginalization.
00:03:05.120Now, the transcripts of these meetings show the issue was not about my journalism,
00:03:08.720but about reputational risk to the corporation. I received a written warning carrying the threat
00:03:14.280of termination. I was placed under confidentiality restrictions that prevented me from correcting
00:03:19.600public and internal narratives. CBC silenced and intimidated me simply for trying to do my job and
00:03:26.600fulfill my public service role to Canadians. Now this is not about left or right. It's not about
00:03:33.480one tweet or one career. It's about systemic control, tokenism, selective enforcement,
00:03:40.100and a toxic culture where intimidation went unchecked.
00:03:44.200When I refused to waive my rights under the Canadian Human Rights Act
00:03:48.220in a proposed confidentiality agreement right here,