Steve Ladurantaye not returning as managing editor of CBC’s ‘The National’

TORONTO — The former managing editor of “The National” who was reassigned in the wake of a cultural appropriation controversy will not be returning to the CBC’s flagship news program.

Steve Ladurantaye was reassigned in May for what the public broadcaster called “an inappropriate, insensitive and frankly unacceptable tweet” he made as part of a controversial online debate over cultural appropriation.

At the time, the CBC said Ladurantaye had been reassigned to work on digital “storytelling strategies” and added that he would reach out to Indigenous communities “as part of his learning process.”

In a memo to staff, CBC News editor-in-chief Jennifer McGuire also said Ladurantaye’s future with “The National” would be reassessed in the fall.

On Wednesday, in an interview with The Canadian Press, McGuire said Ladurantaye “won’t be going back to ‘The National.’” The decision was announced internally a month ago.

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She said Ladurantaye is now the managing editor of the CBC’s “content verticals,” which include the business, health and arts units.

McGuire said the CBC hasn’t hired a new managing editor for “The National,” which will relaunch Nov. 6 with Adrienne Arsenault, Rosemary Barton, Andrew Chang and Ian Hanomansing as co-hosts.

They take over for Peter Mansbridge, who stepped down from his role as anchor and chief correspondent in July after nearly three decades with the program.

In May, Ladurantaye was among a number of journalists who engaged in a late-night Twitter conversation that was sparked by a contentious magazine article advocating for more cultural appropriation in Canadian literature.

In the Writers’ Union of Canada’s magazine Write, novelist and then-editor Hal Niedzviecki suggested “anyone, anywhere, should be encouraged to imagine other peoples, other cultures, other identities.”

The opinion piece also suggested there should be an appropriation prize in literature.

After the article was published, apologies came from the union as well as Niedzviecki, who resigned.

Meanwhile, former National Post editor Ken Whyte responded by tweeting he would “donate $500 to the founding of the appropriation prize if someone else wants to organize.”

Ladurantaye replied that he would contribute $100. He later deleted the tweet and apologized, saying “what I did was hurtful, and my apology is without condition.”

“In short, I wasn’t thinking. I didn’t stop to think,” he said in a string of tweets.

“That’s a problem. I need to address it. I didn’t stop to think about what it is like to not have my position or my power or my voice.”

Victoria Ahearn, The Canadian Press