French TV station revels in golden anniversary

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This article was published 22/04/2010 (5965 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba’s only local French television station is marking the 50th anniversary of its first broadcast this month.

Radio-Canada’s CBWFT went on air April 24, 1960 as the first French-language television station is Western Canada.

“It’s an exciting time,” said Gilles Fréchette, manager of French language services with CBWFT. “The energy level is really high.”

Before the station’s lights first turned on, French-Manitobans could only access television news in their own language through Radio-Canada broadcasts from Montreal.

But since opening shop, CBWFT has taken on the special mandate of providing news specific to Manitoba’s French community.

“Of course there’s the big news, which could come from anywhere,” explained Martine Bordeleau, CBWFT’s communication manager.

”But there will be some news that we may talk about that you would not see on other stations.”

Specifically, the station makes an effort to cover culture and sports stories from the province’s French communities, she said.
CBWFT is marking its golden anniversary in a number of ways.

Since January, the station’s flagship evening news program, Téléjournal Manitoba, has been making trips to various French regions across the province and broadcasting live from these communities.

“It’s our way to thank viewers for being so faithful, to go into their community and celebrate with them,” Bordeleau said.

On April 22, the station will also be hosting a celebration in the evening at Le Centre culturel franco-manitobain.

The station is also launching weekend editions of Téléjournal Manitoba on April 24.

“We’re actually starting it on the anniversary of our first broadcast,” said Fréchette.

Pierre Chevrier, who hosted the evening news show from 1981 to 1995, said CBWFT plays a special role in strengthening the French-Manitoban identity.

“In Manitoba, it could be a microcosm of Quebec,” said Chevrier, a Montreal transplant himself. “There are a lot of institutions that preserve the French fact in Manitoba . . . Not only preserving it, but developing the French fact as well.”

Chevrier suggested that CBWFT is one of those institutions, a suggestion that Sylviane Lanthier, executive director of Le Centre culturel franco-manitobain, readily accepted.

“The francophone community in Manitoba is special,” she said. While it’s not the largest in size, the province’s French areas are in close geographical proximity, with many of them located in southeast Winnipeg.

But it’s the institutions — such as Les Caisses populaires du Manitoba and the French school program — that cement a true sense of community, Lanthier said. 

“The French television station is one of these institutions that help create a hub,” she said. “This station is not important, it’s necessary.”

Daniel Boucher, president and CEO of La Société franco-manitobaine, also spoke highly of CBWFT’s commitment as a partner with the province’s French communities.

“They’re the only game in town, in a sense.” He said. “They understand that role and they understand their responsibility to be a vehicle in the community and I think they take that very seriously.”

Fréchette agreed that a passionate sense of responsibility — as well as an understanding of the need for the station’s services — is what has driven CBWFT’s staff to succeed for 50 years.

“We want to give the public the tools to be as full participants in their community as they can be,” he said.

arielle.godbout@canstarnews.com