Global Television Responds!

I just received a response to my inquiry to Global Television. You can read the original here.

Here's the e-mail I received:

Dear Mr. Werner,

Thank you for your email and interest in Global Television's Broadcasters of the Future Awards.

The Awards are one of CanWest (Global TV)'s initiatives as part of an industry-wide effort to address the under-representation of certain groups in the media. This is in accordance with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC)'s mandate to ensure that all broadcasters contribute to a system that accurately reflects the presence of cultural, ethnic and racial minorities, and Aboriginal peoples of Canada.

For more information on this issue, please visit:

http://www.cab-acr.ca/english/social/diversity/taskforce/cochairs_message.shtm

http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/INFO_SHT/b308.htm#


There are many other opportunities for aspiring broadcasters of all backgrounds to get involved with the media. We encourage interested applicants to contact the Human Resources office of their local station as many departments accept interns on an ongoing basis. Most CanWest job postings listed on www.working.com are also open to all applicants.

We hope this information is helpful. If you require further assistance, please do not hesitate to call.

Best regards,

#############
Executive Assistant
Global Television, a division of CanWest MediaWorks Inc.
81 Barber Greene Road, Toronto, ON  M3C 2A2

And here's my response back to her:

Dear ######,

Thank you for taking the time to respond. The wording of your letter seems very "canned", clearly vetted by PR people and lawyers, but at least you responded.

Based on your last name I suspect your heritage is Chinese. Did your parents raise you to think that you are inferior to your Caucasian colleagues? If not (and I assume not) then the official politically correct verbiage that you're forced to write is clearly different than the way you personally think Does this daily, internal conflict cause you to do any soul searching?

Discrimination is discrimination is discrimination. Here in Vancouver I have dozens of friends and hundreds of acquaintances of every race and religion. I look at each person as an individual and not as a hyphenated friend. For example, I would never say the following: "My Indian-Canadian friend, Deenu, my African-American friend, Rochelle, and my Chinese-Canadian friend, Dennis ..."

The fact that your employer and the CRTC overtly differentiate on the basis of one's race is disturbing. I fully realize that they feel they're doing this for altruistic reasons. So did city planners in every major American city when they built large tracts of low-cost housing projects. Only decades later, when crime and drug use and poverty in those areas reached epic proportions did they admit they had made a mistake.

Perhaps one day you too will realize that treating entire racial groups as victims is not in their best interest. Perhaps one day.

Sincerely,

Robert Werner
Vancouver, BC