Unifor rallied in Ottawa on Tuesday, calling out Bell Canada (BCE) for postponing a scheduled appearance before the House of Commons Heritage Committee a second time, to answer for the recent termination of 9% of its workforce. The union represents more than 19,000 telecommunications workers at BCE and its subsidiaries and more than 2,100 members at Bell Media. Roughly 800 of the 4,800 jobs the company announced it was eliminating in February are Unifor members. Bell executives, including CEO Mirko Bibic, Chief Financial Officer Curtis Millen, and Bell Media President Sean Cohan, were among those invited to appear before the committee, initially scheduled for Feb. 29 and then postponed to March 19. Among those who appeared at a press conference on Parliament Hill in support of Unifor’s “Shame on Bell“ campaign was Kevin Newman, the former host and managing editor of CTV’s W5. The long-running investigative news program was among the casualties of February’s programming changes. Read more here.
George Stroumboulopoulos headlines a newly-announced list of speakers set to address the 74th BC Association of Broadcasters (BCAB) Conference, May 6-7, at the River Rock Hotel Resort in Richmond. Stroumboulopoulos, currently the host of STROMBO on Apple Music Hits, was recently named to the Order of Canada. Additionally, Sean Ross, the broadcast industry researcher and consultant behind music and programming newsletter Ross On Radio, is slated to speak at this year’s conference. Read more here.
Sophie Grégoire Trudeau has been announced as the keynote speaker for The Hollywood Reporter Women in Entertainment Canada event, slated for May 30 at the Park Hyatt Toronto. The appearance comes on the heels of the release of her first book, Closer Together: Knowing Ourselves, Loving Each Other, which includes personal anecdotes from her career as a speaker and television host, and her time as the “de facto ‘first lady.’” Following the keynote interview, Grégoire Trudeau will take part in a book signing for delegates.
Jaclyn Hall, Odette Auger and Savannah Ridley are the recipients of this year’s CJF-CBC Indigenous Journalism Fellowships. The award provides three early-career Indigenous journalists with the opportunity to explore issues of interest while being hosted for one month at the CBC News Indigenous Unit in Winnipeg. Hall, a self-taught journalist from Akwesasne, plans to use her time at CBC to cover the ongoing impacts of Indian Day Schools on survivors and communities. Auger, a freelance Sagamok Anishnawbek journalist currently living on the west coast, impressed jurors with a pitch on exploring patterns of colonial misogyny with voices from women chiefs and elders. Ridley, a student journalist currently studying at Toronto Metropolitan University, is reconnecting with her community in the Turtle Tribe of the Seneca proposing a feature on the effects of “pretendian” unmaskings on Indigenous people reconnecting with their cultures.
Bell has made security enhancements to its network, including the installation of aerial alarms, to protect critical communications infrastructure from vandalism, primarily in the form of copper theft. With nearly 1,000 physical security incidents to Bell’s network since 2022, copper theft continues to increase. The most impacted regions include Ontario with 55% of incidents, New Brunswick (23%) and Québec (14%). On Feb. 26, an aerial alarm in Fredericton successfully notified local RCMP of a cable cut. They quickly dispatched and arrested two suspects with charges are still being finalized.
