Western Standard - JIVANI： Even black men can be fired for not being ＂woke＂ enough

00:00:00.000 We really got some concerns about our media and allowing, you know, good, unfettered discourse

00:00:05.300 on our media and things such as that. And perhaps if you want to lay out kind of what happened with

00:00:10.320 yourself and Bell Media, because it really seems to have ended poorly when it could have really

00:00:14.220 been a good show you had going there. Yeah. And, you know, I think we've seen a lot of concerns.

00:00:19.460 You raised some of them earlier about the intersection of politics and media that we'd

00:00:25.120 like to be able to say we've got trusted media outlets that are going to give us the honest news

00:00:31.360 and leave it up to the audience, the viewer, the listener, to make a decision on their own about

00:00:36.840 what they believe in, what they think. And I think we see over and over again that that's not really

00:00:41.560 the state of mainstream media in this country. A lot of these mainstream media corporations and

00:00:47.440 certainly my experience with Bell Media affirms this, are interested in telling us what to think,

00:00:53.720 not giving us information and allowing us to come to our own conclusions. And really the conflict

00:00:59.720 with Bell for me, you know, I wasn't there for very long. I only hosted a radio show full time for less

00:01:06.540 than a year. And what I tried to do, which is what I thought, you know, when they were talking about

00:01:11.940 diversity and inclusion and wanting to bring different voices from different cultural and ethnic

00:01:17.700 backgrounds to the airwaves, I tried to bring perspectives from communities that, you know, like

00:01:24.180 the black community I come from in the Toronto area, for instance, and to shine light on some of the

00:01:29.620 challenges that you don't get to hear often. For example, that black Canadians are one of the most

00:01:35.060 unvaccinated groups of Canadians over the last couple of years. And when I tried to explain, you know, how

00:01:42.100 Trudeau's COVID policies, how some of the provincial COVID policies would impact communities like black

00:01:48.820 Canadians, indigenous Canadians, people who are working on the front lines and all sorts of different

00:01:53.620 industries, I would get told, you know, this is not right. Eventually, they wound up firing me because

00:02:00.420 they didn't like that I was bringing these perspectives to the airwaves. But they did want me to bring the

00:02:05.620 perspective when it was in line with the sort of liberal political agenda. So you know, the partisan

00:02:11.940 nature of what Bell Media does every day, and for listeners who don't know, Bell Media owns CTV, they

00:02:18.580 operate the iHeartRadio talk network throughout Canada. You know, they do have a partisan nature to

00:02:25.140 what they want to put on the airwaves that they're not willing to admit to. And then they punish people

00:02:30.500 like myself, who don't fall into that agenda, thinking that because I'm black, that I would

00:02:35.540 naturally be a liberal when obviously that's not the case. Well, yeah, and I mean, we still have

00:02:40.500 some valuable value in diverse voices, and we want to hear them like I'm a white guy raised out on the

00:02:46.820 prairies. I've certainly got my views on issues, but I don't have any understanding of what a person

00:02:51.700 of color in Toronto has had to experience or do and being able to hear that through different people

00:02:58.260 speaking on networks has helped me garner some understanding. And if I guess people, you know,

00:03:05.540 we're seeking diversity, but only with a narrow messaging that that's not helping me or the

00:03:09.540 minority communities in any sort of way. And you're absolutely right, Corey. And that's the 0.95

00:03:14.420 that's the concern. When you have the biggest telecommunications company in the country,

00:03:19.700 thinking that they get to tell people what they're supposed to think based on their ethnicity or their

00:03:25.540 culture. I mean, that is weird stuff that like that is not the way any workplace should operate.

00:03:31.540 But especially one of that with that much influence and that much power as Bell does.

00:03:36.420 So this is why the lawsuit was important for me to file was to sort of say, Look, you cannot treat

00:03:41.780 people this way. You can't look at people and say, Well, because of what you look like, or because of

00:03:46.100 where your dad comes from, we're going to decide what politics you should have, and then punish you 0.90

00:03:51.780 when you refuse to be a token. It's unacceptable. And for people who might listen to this and question,

00:03:57.060 you know, how much evidence does Jamil have of this kind of partisan bias? Is it just,

00:04:02.020 you know, the the the normal liberal spin that we might see in the media?

00:04:06.420 I'll tell you, Bell Media in its own statement of defense, and you can read this go on my Twitter,

00:04:11.780 you can find a link to this says outright that they fired me in part because I did not defend

00:04:18.900 Justin Trudeau against criticisms that a caller made to my show, saying that he was a behaving like

00:04:26.180 a dictator and a globalist puppet. Now, whether you agree with that or not,

00:04:30.580 that is a legitimate concern for people to have, we have members of parliament to have raised that

00:04:35.700 point in the legislature. And yet Bell wants to punish a radio host for allowing a caller to say

00:04:42.100 that on the radio show. The other point of partisan bias that Bell admits to in their statement

00:04:47.620 of defense to the court, and again, this is in their words, you can read it for yourself,

00:04:51.460 anyone who's interested. They say that I did not challenge member of parliament Kathy Wegenthal

00:04:57.460 enough when she came on my show to explain why she opposes vaccine mandates. Now, why am I supposed

00:05:04.660 to bring a duly elected member of parliament onto the show and not give her a chance to share her 0.99

00:05:10.180 point of view? We did debate her points with callers immediately after the interview. But I think

00:05:16.260 a conservative member of parliament has a right to come on the radio and explain why she opposes

00:05:21.700 policies that impact her and her colleagues at the workplace. These are the kind of basic,

00:05:26.580 simple things that every news outlet should be able to do. And yet with Bell Media, this is

00:05:32.180 controversial and it's mind blowing to me. Yeah, well, and it's interesting you brought up that point,

00:05:37.860 for example, with vaccination and some of the areas you want to discuss where you've got, you know,

00:05:41.780 cultural differences. We've just got statistics and demographics to show that there wasn't as high

00:05:46.100 an uptake in some communities as in others. And we actually had that discussion a lot in Calgary

00:05:51.060 because in Northeast Calgary, a lot of our Indian community as well had a low vaccine uptake and

00:05:55.780 people were concerned about it. And we had to speak and get the views from community leaders because

00:06:00.820 a lot were new Canadians. They weren't necessarily trusting of the government or medical facilities.

00:06:05.460 And through those discussions that people felt more comfortable and could, you know, well, choose

00:06:10.420 whether or not they were going to be vaccinated. But that discussion was valuable and it was

00:06:14.260 important. And to have it just coming from one side or saying we shouldn't even touch those issues,

00:06:19.380 again, is putting communities at harm. You're absolutely right. And this is gets to sort of

00:06:24.020 the phoniness of this whole diversity and inclusion thing. You know, there's a genuine way to do diversity

00:06:30.740 and inclusion. And I think it's what you're talking about here, Corey, bring people in with different

00:06:34.980 perspectives, trying to understand one another, trying to build genuine dialogue. But what Bell operates with

00:06:42.180 is a sense of diversity and inclusion that says we want everyone to look different from one another,

00:06:47.860 but ultimately think and say the same things. And if you don't fall in line, if you don't say and do

00:06:53.940 what we want, then you don't count as diversity. And it's like, what is that? That is the opposite of

00:07:00.100 what diversity is. Diversity means actually contending with people who have different points of view and

00:07:05.460 trying to reach a middle ground. These guys want to punish people who don't have their point of view,

00:07:10.740 and then pat themselves on the back as if they're diversity and inclusion experts. It's like,

00:07:16.980 it is it is actually a really important issue facing our country because this is not just a Bell

00:07:22.020 problem. This is happening in institutions all over the place, government offices, corporations,

00:07:27.860 university campuses. And I think it's time for Canadians who believe in real diversity and inclusion

00:07:33.860 to speak up and stop being bullied into silence, because we're afraid somebody is going to point a finger

00:07:39.220 at us and call us a bigot because we don't want to toe the line.

00:07:43.300 Yeah, well, and this could be like a bit broader. I think of some of it. I mean, there's some people

00:07:47.540 who are activists within some communities or progressives, and they feel some fear when I think

00:07:52.020 perhaps conservatives are evolving and moving beyond the old stereotypes of conservatives as well.

00:07:57.780 And that adds some fear. I mean, when finally, and it's fair enough, you know, the conservatives didn't

00:08:02.740 have a lot of members of the LGBTQ community taking part within them in the 90s and so on. But that's

00:08:08.340 because people from that community got a very negative reception when they'd go to a conservative

00:08:12.260 function, there were people opposing broad marriage rights and things like that. But once it was realized,

00:08:18.020 we could be much better accepting, you know, because there's a lot of people in the LGBTQ community

00:08:24.900 were business owners and worried about high taxes like anyone else. They come out as conservatives,

00:08:30.340 and they get a backlash for that. I mean, it doesn't mean they stopped being a member of that

00:08:34.340 community or didn't deal with some of the challenges of that community. But they're

00:08:37.780 expected by some activists that they have to toe a certain line if they're part of that community.

00:08:41.620 And that's not right. Yeah, and certainly, you're right. The LGBT community has gone through that.

00:08:47.700 A lot of minority groups have gone through that. I've been able to talk to all sorts of different

00:08:52.820 people in my role as president of the Canada Strong and Free Network, who experienced this sort of

00:08:57.620 stigma, where when you say you're a conservative, but you're not the quote unquote, typical conservative,

00:09:03.940 meaning you come from a maybe an unorthodox background for what people assume a conservative

00:09:08.740 would be. All of a sudden, people want to make you feel judged for that. And that is it is my view,

00:09:14.740 despicable, because the reality is this, every group of people is ideologically and politically

00:09:20.660 diverse, every single group, women, men, different racial groups, newcomers, people were born here.

00:09:27.380 And we should expect in a society that political parties of all stripes have to compete for the

00:09:33.780 votes and the support of all citizens, regardless of what they look like, or where they come from.

00:09:38.900 And the reality is that the left and I use that in a broad sense, you know, liberals, socialists,

00:09:44.420 people who identify with the left side of the political spectrum, they feel entitled to own

00:09:50.580 people to own their votes to own how they think to dictate to people based on what they look like

00:09:56.340 and where they come from, how they're supposed to think about laws and policies in this country.

00:10:01.540 It is textbook racism. And yet somehow, the liberals and the left have convinced everyone that they

00:10:08.820 aren't racist, and they get to point a finger at the rest of the world. It is very backwards,

00:10:13.620 because I would argue that some of the most racist thinking today is embraced by elite liberals.

00:10:20.260 It's not embraced by the average working class, middle class family. It's people like what we've 0.96

00:10:25.860 been talking about with Bell Media, who want to control others and tell them this is how you must

00:10:31.220 think and feel because of what you look like. And there are a few things more insulting than

00:10:35.700 tokenism. I mean, no matter where it's applied. What's the timeline like on your action at this

00:10:41.460 point, I know these things can move pretty slowly through the, you know, the gears of the legal

00:10:45.140 world. I mean, how's the suit been going? Yeah, you're absolutely right. These things

00:10:50.020 can move slowly. It all kind of just depends on the people involved. It depends on how the process

00:10:54.500 goes. You know, we've gone through what's called the pleading stage where we submitted our statement

00:10:58.980 of claim, Bell submitted their defense, and then we replied to their defense. So, you know,

00:11:03.940 we've got those, those pieces of the process done and the rest of it can take, could take months,

00:11:09.300 could take weeks. We just, we don't know yet. So we've got to just stay focused. And, you know,

00:11:13.940 it's, it's one of those things where it's difficult to read dishonest things about yourself in the media.

00:11:20.340 And I think every public figure goes through that. Bell said some things that were really unfair in

00:11:26.100 their defense, but this is the, that comes with it. You know, you go through the process,

00:11:30.180 you stand up for what you believe in, you take the hits as they come and you hope that you get

00:11:35.060 justice in the end. So that's what I'm focused on. And, you know, we're going to, we're going to keep

00:11:38.980 doing our thing and hopefully good things will come out of it. Yeah. Well, and I noticed in your

00:11:43.140 statement of claim, you know, the, the asks, as far as this kind of suit go, aren't unreasonable.

00:11:47.380 It's not like you're asking for a hundred million dollars or trying to bankrupt the corporation.

00:11:51.380 You want to be compensated for an improper dismissal and there's a punitive factor, but it's not huge.

00:11:56.660 But I guess most of us also hopefully exposing this and the goal would be for Bell Media and

00:12:01.860 others to realize you're on the wrong course. Don't do this. It's, it's, it's doing a disservice to

00:12:08.100 people who follow the media, people within minority communities and just people in general.

00:12:12.820 Yeah, you're exactly right. I mean, there are, you know, good people who work at Bell,

00:12:18.100 like some of my former colleagues, for example, and they should not be subjected to these kinds of

00:12:22.820 policies. I worry whether some of them are going to be fired and manipulated and punished

00:12:29.220 in the same ways. So yeah, it is, it's, you know, money's, you know, always part of every lawsuit,

00:12:34.100 but really, you know, there's a, there's a point here beyond just money, which is that there are,

00:12:39.700 there's a right and a wrong. There's a way people deserve to be treated. Employees of all backgrounds,

00:12:45.140 all races deserve high quality respect. And when they're not being given that, especially by one of the

00:12:51.540 biggest and richest corporations in the country, I think that corporation in this case, Bell has to

00:12:57.220 answer for its own behavior. Yeah. Well, and I hope this gets settled well. So maybe moving beyond

00:13:03.380 that then, just since I've got you, how are things going with the Canada Strong and Free Network?

00:13:07.860 Can you explain a little bit of what that's about and your role with it? Because that's a relatively

00:13:11.300 recent, you're joining as the president of it, right? Yeah, exactly. I joined in June, so it's only

00:13:16.980 been a few months now. And for people who haven't heard of the Canada Strong and Free Network before,

00:13:21.940 we used to be called the Manning Centre. So we've been around for 15 years, but most of those years,

00:13:27.060 we had a different name. And what we do is we organize conservative conferences all around the

00:13:32.420 country, conservative events, we want conservatives to connect with each other, we believe that there's

00:13:37.540 strength in numbers. And we also believe conservatives should not be made to feel alone, to feel isolated.

00:13:43.860 A lot of the activist tactics on the left are designed to make you feel like you are an island

00:13:50.980 unto yourself if you don't go along to get along and join the crowd. So we do these conferences

00:13:56.020 because we want to bring people together, bring people of different ages, whether it's people who

00:14:00.180 are active when Preston Manning was in political office, or people who are active when Stephen Harper

00:14:05.860 was the Prime Minister of Canada, or now people who are looking at maybe the future looking at excited about

00:14:11.300 a possible Pierre Polyev Prime Ministership and saying, I want to get involved in the movement

00:14:16.580 and start, you know, building ideas and networks and relationships that might help guide the country

00:14:23.060 in a better direction. So we encourage people who'd like to come to our events to learn about what we

00:14:27.460 do, we do virtual events and in person events, you can visit our website Canada strong and free dot

00:14:33.300 network, where you can learn all about us. Our next big conference is in Ottawa in March. So I encourage you to,

00:14:39.380 to look out for updates on that. I'm really excited for what we're putting together for that March

00:14:43.700 program.

00:14:44.660 Great. Well, I really appreciate your work. I mean, in that as well. I mean, it's good for

00:14:48.900 getting a lot of young conservatives or even the older ones. I mean, just to become more effective

00:14:52.900 communicators or working on things. And as well, of course, I mean, I got some self interest, but I

00:14:58.340 want to see as much free press as possible and as much discourse as possible. So I appreciate your,

00:15:04.260 you know, you're taking that fight up rather than just letting it go and putting it behind you.

00:15:08.580 And of course, I appreciate you coming on and talking to us today. Is there anything else you'd

00:15:12.740 like to add before I let you go?

00:15:13.860 No, I just want to say, you know, I really appreciate the work you do, Corey. Like I spent

00:15:17.780 a lot of time talking about where media is failing, but we've got a lot of strong, new independent

00:15:24.660 outlets, shows like yours, thinkers like you and others at Western Standard. So appreciate the work

00:15:30.420 you guys do to bring attention to these important issues.

00:15:32.580 Great. Well, I wish you the best on your legal actions and your future endeavors with the

00:15:37.220 McDonnell Laurier and the Canadian Strong and Free Network. So thanks again for coming on. I hope we

00:15:41.220 get to talk again soon.

00:15:42.020 Me too. Take care.

00:15:43.140 The current Lethbridge feed grain prices are as follows. Cash Barley's at $4.46,

00:15:51.700 feed wheat's at $4.68, and corn sitting at $4.55 per metric ton. In the milling wheat markets,

00:15:57.940 December Minneapolis futures lost $14.25 at $9.51, with local hard red spring bids for December

00:16:04.580 movement at $11.85 per bushel. In the oil seeds, nearby canola futures are down $14.90 at $8.76.50

00:16:13.140 per ton, with delivered values for December movement at $19.45 per bushel. In the pulse markets,

00:16:19.220 nearby red lentils are holding at $0.33 a pound, and yellow peas are trading at $13.25 per bushel.

00:16:25.460 In the cattle markets, December live cattle increased $0.40 at $1.52.20 per 100 weight.

00:16:31.780 For more information on grain marketing, call me at 403-394-1711. I'm Sean Smith at Marketplace

00:16:38.500 Commodities, accurate real-time marketing information and pricing options.

00:16:42.020 Canadian Shooting Sports Association, without the CSSA, our gun rights would have been taken long,

00:16:47.940 long ago. These guys are on the front lines, helping to draft smart and intelligent firearms

00:16:53.860 regulations and legislation in Canada, and more importantly, educating the public about how we

00:16:59.460 keep guns out of the hands of the wrong people. To become a member, it's absolutely worth every penny.

00:17:06.820 You can become a Western Standard member for just $10 a month, or $99 a year for unlimited access.

Western Standard - November 17, 2022

JIVANI： Even black men can be fired for not being ＂woke＂ enough

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript