If ever there was a time for Canada to restore Radio Canada International, it certainly is now. With Canada’s sovereignty under attack by American President Donald Trump and his administration, we need to get out the story of how Canadians are not caving in, but collectively resisting, and rediscovering their identity as Canadians.

For the most part, and for most of our history, we have failed to promote ourselves effectively, not in a boastful way, but recognizing the incredible talents we have—whether it is inventions, culture, social conscience, even politeness. But recent days have shown that there is a limit to our politeness, and a growing desire to assert ourselves, and to protect what we’ve achieved in this country.

Since its inception 80 years ago, Radio Canada International’s (RCI) sole purpose has been to tell the world about our nation in a way that is understandable for people outside Canada who know little or nothing about our country.

For those of us who worked for RCI, we know there is tremendous interest in Canada. We are a multicultural society dealing with all kinds of issues, and we are next door to a superpower that can radically affect our reality. How we have dealt with that in the past, and how we will be dealing with this reality can and will resonate with people in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas.

No one else can tell our story better than us. And if we are to strengthen our connections with countries other than the United States, there’s no faster, cheaper, or more dependable means than an effective international service producing news and views adapted to different international audiences.

Imagine what it would mean to Ukrainians to still hear newscasts and information from Canada about how our government is supporting Ukraine, or how the Ukrainian community is reacting in Canada. Imagine what it would mean to Russians to hear from our Russian service about Canadian and world views about the war in Ukraine, and Russia, in general. It’s not happening because both of those services were victims of CBC budget cuts.

The silencing of the Voice of America and other U.S. international broadcast outlets has shocked many, and underlined the importance of having an independent Canadian service not only because it gives information about Canada, but also provides independent information for regions of the world that do not have access to uncensored news.

For those who specialize in foreign affairs, this is nothing new. Having an international voice just makes sense for political, economic, and even cultural reasons.

Recently, former Canadian ambassador Roman Waschuk posted on X: “#Canada already has a bilingual public broadcaster with multichannel multimedia offerings. With the nuking of #US international broadcasting, there’s a niche that a multilingual Radio Canada International drawing on our existing platforms could fill for a world in info turmoil.”

Also recently, former diplomat and ex-Conservative cabinet minister Chris Alexander tweeted: “With opposition support, the federal government should relaunch Radio Canada International on a larger scale, prioritizing news in English, French, Russian, Mandarin, Ukrainian, Georgian, Belarusian, Romanian, Hungarian, Punjabi, Urdu, Pashto, Dari, Farsi, Amharic & Arabic.”

Even before the present crisis, in March of 2021, 45 former Canadian ambassadors wrote to the Liberal government calling on it “to convene an independent assessment of how Radio Canada International can best continue its international mission, rebuild its capacity to fulfil its core mandate, and do so with a form of financial and editorial autonomy.”

Restoring and reimagining RCI is not only possible, it’s also necessary, and would have an incredible impact globally, with minimal cost. In the past, before the serious budget cuts of the 1990s, RCI—with a budget only a fraction of that of the BBC World Service—was close behind the BBC in popularity.

For this restoration to work, two things are necessary. First, RCI cannot become a propaganda tool. It must continue to adhere to strict journalistic rules, which are even more stringent than that of the CBC. And second, RCI’s editorial independence from the government and the CBC has to be effectively protected in law in the Broadcasting Act.

The encouraging aspect of hoping for a reimagined RCI is that throughout its existence, RCI has been supported by the Liberals, Conservatives, the NDP, Bloc Québécois, and Greens. The problem has always been that, once in government, parties have then not followed through in supporting RCI financially, and have left that to the CBC, which left RCI vulnerable to devastating cuts in budgets and resources.

Canada, Canadians, and our federal government have to step up and restore RCI because it comes down to whether we are enough of a nation to have a world service.

This opinion article originally appeared in The Hill Times.

Wojtek Gwiazda is the spokesperson of the RCI Action Committee. For 35 years, he was a host-producer with the English section of Radio Canada International, and retired from the service in 2015. He is based in Montreal.

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