CBC News has issued a formal apology to NDP MP Christine Moore over an opinion piece surrounding allegations from a former soldier that Moore abused her authority.
The May 8 opinion piece by Neil Macdonald, was entitled “Jagmeet Singh says he always believes survivors. Well, here’s another one.”
The piece focused on allegations from Afghanistan veteran Glen Kirkland that Moore abused her power when the two entered into a sexual relationship after meeting following his testimony before a parliamentary committee.
While Moore was suspended from her parliamentary functions pending an investigation, Singh later cleared the MP for Abitibi-Témiscamingue of any wrongdoing in July.
CBC has taken the unusual step of publishing prefacing text above the op ed on cbc.ca:
“On May 8, 2018, CBC News published the following opinion piece, which contained allegations against NDP MP Christine Moore. The piece argues a power imbalance in a relationship between the MP and a soldier suffering from PTSD who appeared before her at a Commons committee.
Moore was asked to respond to the allegations but asked for more time, which CBC News did not provide. We should have allowed Christine Moore enough time to provide her responses, which can be found in subsequent news articles.
Moore strongly denied the relationship was anything but fully mutual and consensual and provided evidence supporting this. CBC News apologizes to Moore for any inference to the contrary. On July 19, 2018, a report commissioned by NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh cleared Moore of any wrongdoing.
The article did not meet all of our editorial standards, and we apologize to Christine Moore.”
A press release issued by the public broadcaster says Moore agrees the above text addresses her concerns with the column.
She has indicated she plans to sue Kirkland for defamation.
Coverage of the allegations from other Canadian media outlets were also the subject of legal complaints from Moore, including a May 9 Rosie Dimanno column in the Toronto Star.
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