A former CBC employee is speaking out about his experience of hearing two colleagues at The Fifth Estate, the public broadcaster’s flagship investigative program, use the N-word during an editorial discussion last year.
When Dexter Brown began working at the CBC four years ago, it felt like home.
“I felt like I was giving back to Canada because it is Canada’s public broadcaster,” he said in an interview. “It holds a special place in my heart.”
Brown lives near the CBC’s downtown Toronto headquarters and still walks by sometimes, but he no longer goes inside.
He now works at another network.
Today, Brown is calling for change at the public broadcaster, as he speaks out for the first time about his experience as a Black man hearing two colleagues at The Fifth Estate use the N-word in an editorial discussion in April 2019.
He is coming forward as issues of race have shifted to the forefront of societal debate, with the lack of diversity in the media under the microscope and recent revelations that the N-word was used on two occasions by CBC host Wendy Mesley during editorial meetings at The Weekly.
Brown was working as an associate producer with The Fifth Estate, CBC’s flagship investigative program, when the word was repeatedly used in a documentary about racial issues in the American South screened for more than 30 people, including the show’s leadership as well as CBC staff not affiliated with the show.
Two longtime Fifth Estate employees then used the word in a staff discussion afterward — either quoting people in the item that had just been shown or when discussing its contents.
“I couldn’t have ever imagined that would have happened, where somebody would have thought that it was OK to use that word,” Brown said.
“Disappointed with what took place — and a bit embarrassed as well, being the only Black person in the room. It’s quite surreal.”
According to Brown and multiple accounts from other people who were in the room, no one was admonished for the use of the N-word at the time, and there was no discussion about it being used.
Months-long investigation
After Brown later raised it with the show’s executive producer and a human resources manager, the public broadcaster called in an external law firm to do an investigation that ran for months.
When the investigation was complete, Brown says, he was provided few details of how the matter was resolved.
“It was a bit of a let-down. I was hoping to get a better understanding of what happened, why it happened,” he said.
Several senior CBC executives approached for comment declined interview requests, offering instead a written statement through head of public affairs Chuck Thompson, who cited confidentiality agreements.
“While we will not be commenting on details pertaining to this matter, we can confirm there was a comprehensive investigation conducted by a third-party investigator,” Thompson wrote in an emailed statement.
“We can also confirm there were findings from the investigation, and corrective actions were taken.”
Thompson did not answer specific questions about the cost of the probe, what “corrective actions” were taken and against whom, and how the public broadcaster would handle a similar incident if it happened today.
“We continue to learn as to how we can better engage with our employees when these matters arise,” Thompson wrote.
“We have a strong senior leadership team in place, and there is a renewed commitment to ensuring CBC is a safe, inclusive and supportive workplace.”
The public broadcaster recently expanded its diversity and inclusion goals, announcing that by fiscal 2021-22, “half of all new hires for executive and senior management positions will be Indigenous people, visible minorities or people with disabilities.”
The corporation said retention and promotion rates for people from these three groups will be doubled, and unconscious bias training will be mandatory for leaders.
Screening of documentary
The use of the N-word Brown witnessed took place April 16, 2019, as The Fifth Estate team was preparing for a new season under newly appointed executive producer Catherine Legge. The discussion involved looking at different styles of documentaries.
The editorial team screened one titled Murder in Mississippi that was part of a series called Love and Hate Crime.
It told the story of three white teenagers who killed a Black man in a racially motivated hit-and-run.
Brown says there was no warning to staff before the screening about the racial slur they would hear. The N-word was used a dozen times in the documentary — in 911 calls, in trial testimony and by a white woman who insisted it had no racial connotation.
Near the end of the documentary, the white mother of a young woman convicted of a hate crime met with the Black judge who presided over her daughter’s trial. After that conversation, the mother agreed she should no longer use the N-word.
Sources who were present at the screening say two Fifth Estate employees — host Gillian Findlay and editor Loretta Hicks — used the N-word in staff discussions about the documentary immediately foll