Day 35
Note: I am a poor note-taker and these summaries will contain errors and omissions which will reflect my limitations. My intention is to report on the facts as accurately as possible although a subconscious bias may creep in. I can only provide glimpses into what I see as relevant and interesting events. My goal is to capture the essence of the day’s events rather than be comprehensive.
Read the reference documents: The Legal Case and Events Leading to Trial to obtain an understanding of the case and its history. Names and terms are abbreviated and defined in Glossary.
Testimony of CBC Witnesses (Continued)
Direct Examination of Kathleen Petty by Mr. Woodley (Counsel for the CBC)
Ms. Kathleen Petty has been employed by the CBC since 1989. In 2019 she was an Executive Producer of CBC News, responsible for supervising journalism. She currently hosts two radio programs. Her evidence included the following points:
In March 2019 she was focused on political news in advance of the Alberta election and oversaw political coverage.
The CBC views its role as providing the public with thorough, thoughtful information necessary to make informed decisions on election day.
The CBC aims to provide balanced, fair, and accurate news in an impartial manner.
She discussed the CBC’s Journalistic Standards and Practices.
She first heard of Caylan when Drew Anderson told her he had information about her.
Anderson said his information came from someone associated with conservative politics.
He sent Ms. Petty some of the Facebook messages he had received from Jivraj.
Because Anderson was potentially conflicted, Ms. Petty instructed him to turn the file over to Bryan Labby.
She did not initially consider the story a priority and gave no specific instructions to Anderson or Labby.
Nothing was done with the material provided to CBC by Jivraj for about 3 weeks.
Ms. Petty next heard about Caylan when Press Progress published its March 18 article.
Caylan resigned late on March 18.
Ms. Petty only learned of the resignation on the morning of March 19.
She knew the CBC had material about Caylan.
The CBC did not publish on March 18 because they wanted to see the impact of the Press Progress article and felt they had not yet done enough of their own work.
The CBC knew they possessed a message Press Progress did not have—the “Pride Parade” message.
CBC published its first story on Caylan at 8:17 a.m. on March 19.
The CBC had not reached out to Caylan before publishing that story.
The first story attributed information to Press Progress.
CBC then began pursuing an interview with Caylan and sought to verify the screenshots in their possession.
Mr. Labby was assigned to contact Jivraj to verify the screenshots; he contacted and met with Jivraj.
Labby obtained a screenshot of one Facebook message; Jivraj later emailed him additional screenshots.
In one of her emails Ms. Petty wrote: “… but to be clear we need the messages re: racism that Press Progress reported so we can report without attributing to Press Progress and then of course we will also have the LGBTQ stuff.”
CBC did not want to give attribution to Press Progress.
After Labby obtained a screenshot directly from Jivraj, CBC believed it no longer needed to attribute to Press Progress.
CBC stated in subsequent articles that they had “seen and verified” the Facebook messages.
Mr. Labby, Rachel Ward, and Elizabeth Whittey all reached out to Caylan.
CBC wanted to speak with the subject of the story and give her an opportunity to provide context for the message excerpts.
They updated their first story throughout the day as new developments arose.
Ms. Petty had no role in granting Jivraj confidentiality; that was Helen Henderson’s responsibility.
Ms. Petty was in the newsroom when Rachel Ward spoke with Caylan by phone.
She understood that conversation to be off the record.
She was relieved when she learned Caylan had agreed to an on‑the‑record interview.
Caylan then did an interview with Canadian Press.
In that interview Caylan discussed her resignation.
Ms. Petty dismissed Caylan’s statements in that interview, writing that it was “… full of tripe about civil discourse …”.
CBC’s biggest priority was to question Caylan about the Pride Parade message.
Ms. Petty learned that Caylan would not participate in the Eyeopener interview.
She was disappointed that Caylan withdrew and said the CBC would have treated her fairly.
CBC then decided to proceed with its story, giving prominence to the Pride Parade message.
Rachel Ward was the primary writer.
The story was posted at 11:22 p.m., and CBC Calgary sent it to CBC Toronto requesting national coverage.
Ms. Petty explained why she believed it appropriate to characterize Caylan as a white supremacist.
The first line of the CBC story stated that Jason Kenney condemned Caylan.
Jason Kenney had not condemned Caylan; he had condemned the quoted statements.
The story said Caylan “lamented” that white supremacist terrorists face a double standard.
Ms. Petty testified that “lamented” was appropriate because Caylan was expressing regret.
The message does not express regret; it simply identifies a double standard.
Ms. Petty conflated Caylan’s discussion of demographic replacement with the disreputable “Great Replacement Theory.”
These are two entirely different concepts.
The story included Caylan’s description of white supremacist “perverse” moral reasoning.
It did not include her description of white supremacists as “odious.”
The story referred to Caylan’s take on “pride events,” although she had questioned the value of “pride parades.”
Ms. Petty said CBC broadened “pride parades” to “pride events” to avoid repetition.
The story did not include Caylan’s statement that the Press Progress article “represents a gross distortion of my views and doesn’t represent what I believe in.”
Ms. Petty stated that the description of Jivraj as a “conservative Muslim …” was lifted from the Press Progress article.
She noted that all attribution to Press Progress was removed from the CBC story.
The CBC story quoted NDP candidate Kathleen Ganley and now‑NDP leader Naheed Nenshi.
CBC did not seek any positive statement about Caylan.
All CBC articles about Caylan remain live and online.
Cross‑Examination of Ms. Petty by Mr. Harrison (Counsel for Caylan)
Mr. Harrison drew the Court’s attention to matters raised in Ms. Petty’s direct examination and read Caylan’s statements relevant to the pride parade. Shortly after questioning the value of pride parades Caylan stated that she preferred sexual modesty over pride parades, and said that she would be willing to attend a gay Haydn concert.
Comment
The CBC was scooped by the Press Progress article. In its early‑morning March 19 story, CBC was obliged to attribute to Press Progress, but immediately entered “scramble mode,” attempting to verify enough information to publish without attribution. Labby was dispatched to meet Jivraj and confirm that he had exchanged Facebook messages with Caylan. He managed to take one photo of one screenshot on Jivraj’s phone, and CBC treated that as sufficient to claim they had “seen and verified” the messages. The broader context of the Facebook conversation was not considered.
But CBC needed to go further than Press Progress. They had the Pride Parade message, which Press Progress did not, and they featured it prominently in their headline. To surpass Press Progress, they:
labelled Caylan a white supremacist,
falsely described a neutral observation as a “lament,”
broadened “pride parades” into “pride events,”
quoted NDP candidate Ganley attributing racist views to Caylan,
quoted Nenshi and a Mount Royal political scientist,
and then, to imply guilt by association, referred to other UCP controversies.
Having been scooped, CBC pursued one‑upmanship—and may have succeeded. But that success came at the expense of objectivity.