CBC shuts down comments on stories related to Indigenous people, cites uncivil dialogue
The CBC has temporarily disabled comments on their online stories pertaining to Canada’s Indigenous people. The decision was made on Nov. 30.
A blog post by the office of the general manager and editor-in-chief of the CBC said that posts related to Indigenous people were the only ones closed due to a disproportionately high number of negative and hateful comments.
“We’ve noticed over many months that these stories draw a disproportionate number of comments that cross the line and violate our guidelines,” reads the post.
The office of the the CBC’s general manager and editor-in-chief said in an online post that they hope to reopen the comments section in January, “after we’ve had some time to review how these comments are moderated and to provide more detailed guidance to our moderators.”
—Eric Davidson
Final report on 2013 bus-train crash to be released soon
The final report by the Transportation Safety Board (TSB) on the 2013 bus-train crash in Barrhaven, which killed six people and injured 35 more, is due to be released on Dec. 2.
Thirty-five people have filed lawsuits after the incident. Claims of negligence have been directed at the bus driver, who was killed in the crash, OC Transpo, Via Rail, and the City of Ottawa.
Damages sought total over $27-million, according to the Ottawa Citizen.
Initial findings by the TSB named driver distraction and speed as potential factors of the crash—they did not identify any issues with the procedure of the train.
—Eric Davidson
Carleton Board of Governors accused of preventing board members from expressing themselves
Carleton University’s Board of Governors (BOG) has been accused by one of its members, biology professor Root Gorelick, of not allowing members to fully express their opinions.
Gorelick has used his blog to publicly disagree with actions taken by the BOG. Carleton University told the Ottawa Citizen that Gorelick is free to disagree during meetings, but afterwards is bound to publicly support their positions.
“If it’s an open session, that should mean public and that should be protected by free speech. As with anything to do with free speech, the way we counter it is with more speech rather than to silence the debate,” Gorelick told the Citizen.
The university also released a statement which said that Gorelicks blog posts were not accurate reflections of the meetings or other members.
The debate comes after the university adopted a new code of conduct for its BOG, which further restricts what its members can discuss in public.
—Eric Davidson
