Email this article Radiodiffusion et societé distincte: Des origines de la radio jusqu'a la Révolution tranquille au Québec
The influence of American cultural products has persistently been a cause for concern. In fact, this preoccupation prevailed to a large extent in the recommendations leading to the current definition of the legal and regulatory framework of the Canadian Broadcasting System which was initially meant to promote "national unity" and, more recently, "cultural sovereignty." Faced with geographical proximity and the development of information and communication technologies which favour the convergence of cultural spaces, the architects of the system have invariably reiterated the same concerns when confronted with the threat of American cultural imperialism. In short, Canada's consumption of American radio and television programming is excessive. As accurate and worrying as this analysis may be, it must be noted that the situation is quite dissimilar for Anglophones and Francophones.
The identity split which characterizes Canadian duality is stigmatized by the concept of "distinct society," a subject of profound dissension within the Canadian population and the main stumbling block to a renewed agreement among the partners of Confederation (from which Quebec has been excluded since 1982). The belated recognition of the distinct nature of French-language broadcasting (largely from Quebec) in the 1991 legislation nonetheless confirms the historical reality which is readily apparent when the media consumption choices of the various groups constituting the Canadian mosaic are more closely observed.
Radiodiffusion et société distincte sheds particular light on this issue by assessing user influence in the development of the legal and regulatory framework of the Canadian Broadcasting System. Filion's thesis demonstrates that the architects of the system, prompted by the desire to promote feelings of national pride, neglected to take into account the listening habits of Francophone Quebec audiences by favouring a homogeneous view of a "coast to coast" united Canada reacting uniformly to the threat of American cultural colonialism. In fact, according to the author, "French-language radio and subsequently television differed in their relationship to American cultural products long before they were limited by specific and incidentally, faulty regulations" (p. xii, reviewer's translation). In other words, the imposition of "Canadian content" quotas from 1958 onward responded more to the concerns of English Canada than to those of French Canada which was already engaged in a process of cultural assertion, based on linguistic differences, that would lead to the Quiet Revolution in the early 1960s.
The author relates these forces already in play at the time of the Aird Commission (1929) when the recommendation to create a specifically "Canadian" system would come about as a result of the efforts of several pressure groups, including the English-Canadian nationalists of the Canadian Radio League led by Graham Spry (in "The State or the United States?"). The author encourages us to "rethink the official postulate that the Canadianization of the media is determined by the legal framework" (p. 222, reviewer's translation). To substantiate his thesis, he uses data on audience ratings (a rarity at the time) as well as radio station programming (particularly under the heading of the volume of imported programming). This analysis is subsequently pitted against the position statements advanced by various study groups established since 1929 as well as the historiography (Babe, Peers, Raboy, Nolan, Weir). According to the author, the latter focused too narrowly on policies which largely ignored the key role of audiences in programming and, consequently, the Quebec situation was submerged in the great Canadian mass.
If the analysis of the market prior to the Canadian content regulations indicates that listening habits for American programs were quite different and even completely opposite for Anglophones and Francophones, then we must acknowledge, with the author, that the situation has changed very little in spite of the current regulations and that, accordingly, historical, cultural, and linguistic substrata are deciding factors in the choices made by radio and television audiences. In other words, the Canadian duality is demonstrated once again, situated this time at the heart of a particularly powerful identity reproduction device which, having to foster national unity, would paradoxically serve to strengthen Quebec's cultural identity within the Canadian confederation. It now remains to be seen to what extent the "Québec content" of the most popular programs is impregnated with American values despite a distinctive linguistic vehicle.
The author's viewpoint is original and his efforts at rehabilitating the user are convincing. An archivist and a teacher, Filion makes skillful use of abundant and pertinent documentation and communicates it with clarity and elegance. His work will prove to be an important contribution to the analysis of Canadian public policy.
