Former CBC News host Travis Dhanraj accused the public broadcaster of trying to silence him when he challenged bias at the network and fought for diversity of opinion.
“I raised concerns. I challenged centralized control and bias,” Dhanraj told a Canadian Heritage parliamentary committee hearing on Tuesday looking into the state of journalism and media sectors.
Dhanraj, the former host of CBC’s Canada Tonight, said he fought for real diversity and raised concerns about a toxic environment, but the CBC “silenced and intimidated” him just for trying to do his job as a journalist.
“Within months, I was pulled off the air, disciplined, restricted from speaking, stripped of my prime-time program, and eventually out altogether.”
Dhanraj has made similar allegations since leaving the CBC. Last July, Dhanraj sent out an internal note to fellow CBC staff claiming that he had been forced to resign from the broadcaster after he raised systemic issues related to lack of diversity of opinion and editorial independence.
“This was not a voluntary decision,” he wrote in the farewell message sent to various CBC group email addresses from his CBC account at the time.
Dhanraj later filed a human rights complaint with the Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC) against the broadcaster seeking damages for past and future wage loss, pain and suffering “as a result of discrimination and retaliation.”
His complaint also asked the CHRC to order the CBC to undergo a comprehensive investigation and review of its DEI and workplace harassment policies, as well as implement a whistleblower policy to protect CBC employees.
In a statement on Tuesday, CBC spokesperson Chuck Thompson said that at the hearing, Dhanraj made “numerous misleading statements, mischaracterizations and/or false allegations about his time at CBC.”
Thompson said the CBC has replied to the bulk of these claims “in a robust and detailed response filed with the Human Rights Commission, which is the proper venue for these complaints.”
“While we are limited in what we can say due to privacy and confidentiality considerations, CBC categorically rejects Mr. Dhanraj’s accusations about CBC News, our journalists and management.”
At the committee hearing on Tuesday, Dhanraj spoke about his frustrations during his time as host of Canada Tonight and took aim at CBC’s Ottawa bureau, alleging that it centralized political access and controlled booking decisions.
He said CBC’s Power & Politics in particular was given gatekeeping authority over which politicians could appear on Canada Tonight.
“When I questioned that control, and who was in control, I was viewed as disruptive,” he said.
He said he felt shows like Power & Politics would just have Liberal talking points on all the time, and that as a network, the CBC needed balance.
“There were repeated episodes of Conservatives being blocked. I mean, I have the G-chats right here. I said in terms of getting folks on, that we need to have balance,” Dhanraj said.
He said at one point he “heard that maybe he could have NDP folks” on his show.
“But Conservatives are a no? I mean, it should blow the Canadian public’s mind that this was the stuff that was going on,” he said.
Dhanraj was asked by Conservative MP Rachael Thomas if he had any knowledge of the Prime Minister’s Office ever talking to the CBC with regard to how a news angle should be covered or taken, or how content should be reported on.
Dhanraj said that concerns were raised from people who were on Power & Politics and that he has documentation related to those concerns, but he did not give any specifics.
“Even the allegation of that on its face needs to be investigated,” he said.
Born in Alberta, Dhanraj was a general assignment reporter for CBC Edmonton and CBC Toronto before leaving for positions at CP24, Global News and CTV News.
He returned to CBC in 2021 as a senior parliamentary reporter and later hosted Marketplace and Canada Tonight.
