Mandatory racism training, virtual Zumba sessions and new events to celebrate Ramadan, Eid and Asian Heritage Month.Those are just a few of the priorities for Corus Entertainment, which owns Global News, even as it cuts hundreds of jobs and slashes local news programming.In a memo to employees obtained by The Western Standard in both official languages, the embattled media company announced it has hired a new DEI vice-president and increased mandatory training programs for new hires — assuming there are any after its latest round of cuts..In it, the company announced an “expanded mandate” for Internal Communications and DEl Director Natalia Williams as well as the promotion of Alicia Gonen, who has been promoted to Senior Manager, DEl with reporting functions to senior executive VP Jenn Lee with the titles of Chief Administrative Officer and Chief Legal Counsel who is responsible for producing the company’s Employment Equity Report to the Federal Government.“At Corus, our commitment to our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Mission and Vision remains strong,” it said in the memo. “Nationally, Corus continues to work on increasing its representation of all designated groups and remains committed to reducing access barriers. We are pleased to share that for the 2023 reporting year, we saw an increase in the representation of visible minorities and persons with disabilities across the Corus workforce.”New hires will be required to take ‘anti-racism’ training. Assuming there are any going forward. That’s because on July 15, the company announced plans to cut 25% of its workforce, or more than 800 positions.The impacts are already being felt in local newsrooms. Concurrent with the announcement, long-time Calgary news anchor Linda Olsen announced her retirement after more than 30 years on air..Four other senior reporters are either gone already, or will be gone in the next few weeks. Namely, Doug Vaessen, Tomasia Da Silva have already left and will be followed by Gil Tucker and Carolyn Curry de Castillo by the end of August. .On Sunday, weatherman Kevin O’Connell delivered his last forecast after a 30-year career that included stints in Red Deer and as co-host of ITV First News in Edmonton, which morphed into Global News Morning.Also this week, Calgary talk radio station QR 770 — exclusive broadcaster of the Calgary Stampeders — was streaming dead air after its FM broadcasting licence revoked by the CRTC in June for non-compliance. That was after it had shuttered rock station Q107 and fired all its staff in late 2023.“We can confirm that we were not able to monetize QR on both AM and FM, the way we had hoped,” a Corus spokesperson told industry mouthpiece Broadcast Dialogue. But those cutbacks have not extended to senior management and especially not to the DEI group, which one demoralized insider complained are “shoved down our throats.”Unabated, Corus marked this year's International Day of Pink with a campaign promoting staff to wear pink and post their photos and comments on in support of the day. The group also hosted a discussion on misinformation in the transgender community for employees. In honour of National AccessAbility Week, internal communications ran a “well-received campaign” around Red Shirt Day, encouraging staff to wear red in support of Easter Seals.In June, Corus hosted the Plan International Canada's Youth Leadership Celebration Event. According to the memo: “It was an inspiring event… to support the next generation of young global citizens highlighting issues like Indigenous reconciliation, refugee rights, climate change, global health, disability justice, gender equality and more!”The enthusiasm may be misplaced, however. In releasing quarterly results Corus warned markets it may not be able to meet debt covenants and carry on as a going concern past August.Which is another way of saying more job cuts are coming, if it doesn’t go bankrupt first.The company, which once had a market cap in excess of $2 billion is now essentially worthless. On Tuesday, its shares were trading near their all-time low of 10 cents On the Toronto Stock Exchange. .In an email, company workers said they’re getting a lot of unwarranted — and misguided — flak from members of the public. ”Just as a personal request, people like myself who are struggling to work at Global right now, we get a lot of hate which I believe is a bit misguided. The hatred should be going towards the company, and the executives, and the leadership. The majority of people like myself, reporters, producers, shooters, etc., we’re really trying to do the best for our community.”
