Sadaf Ahsan, Canadian Press Published Thursday, May 26, 2022, 11:00 AM EDT Last Updated on Thursday, May 26, 2022 11:00 AM EDT
TORONTO – Three days after former Q107 radio host Jennifer Valentine made allegations of harassment in the workplace, Corus Entertainment Inc. put the broadcast of Derringer in the Morning on hold as it was under ethical investigation.
On Sunday, Valentine posted a 12-minute video on social media describing years of verbal violence and gender discrimination by an unnamed colleague.
Valentine says in the video, “What would you do if a colleague yelled at you, belittled you, called you names, excluded you, brought you to tears, and then laughed when he told you to cry as much as you wanted?” That he did not feel sorry for you and with full conviction that if you go to HR, they will choose him? … Like so many women, I resigned myself and fell silent. ”
In the days that followed, several former Corus employees made similar allegations against the show’s host, John Deringer, and the company, which some say closed its eyes.
The Canadian press made several attempts to contact Deringer for comment, but he did not respond. Corus said Valentine shared her concerns years ago and the broadcaster took action to review them at the time. He also noted that the Canadian Human Rights Commission’s allegation process is ongoing.
The company added that it had received new information in the last few days and had hired Rachel Turnpey from Turnpenney Milne LLP to conduct an external investigation. Deringer’s show will be paused while the investigation progresses.
“Any concerns about the experience of employees are of paramount importance to us and we are committed to listening, learning and taking all appropriate action,” the company said, adding that it would not comment further during the investigation.
Former radio host Erin Davis called Deringer’s behavior “the best kept secret on the radio.”
Although she has never worked face-to-face with Deringer, Davis says he actively harassed her on the air while she hosted the 98.1 CHFI Morning Show.
“He shoots me all the time; it was discouraging. For example, why me? “I always thought there was enough generosity for everyone, but he saw someone who wouldn’t or couldn’t fight, and he was chasing me relentlessly,” she said in a telephone interview from her home in Victoria, British Columbia.
Another woman, Jackie Delaney, who is now Senator Leo Hussakos’ director of parliamentary affairs, spoke on social media about her experience when she worked on the Deringer show in 2002, and left two months later due to the “toxic” atmosphere.
“From very early on, when he broke out with me, I had decided that this was not what I had registered for and that it would either have to change immediately or I would be gone – and management agreed with that assessment,” Delaney said. in a telephone interview with Canadian Press from his home in Ottawa.
Delaney says she was Deringer’s third co-host in a short time, something management acknowledged was a “problem” even before she arrived. After her initial complaints, they moved her to a separate booth, but the verbal abuse continued. a level that Delaney says she has never experienced before.
“I went with the understanding that they would keep an eye on him and keep him under control and that they would take steps to make sure that this would not happen to anyone else. That’s why I was so horrified when I saw Jen’s video, I couldn’t believe that all these years later she was describing exactly the same behavior I had seen.
Davis says he believes the TV operator allowed Deringer to continue because “if you take him off the air, you’ll lose money.”
“And in the end, all the co-hosts, the revolving door of the women sitting in the chair across from him, were extremely helpful and wouldn’t say anything because (the company) would always side with Deringer. ”
However, the toxic claims in the workplace around Corus are not just about gender discrimination. In the history of Vice from 2020, a dozen former and current employees described the company as hosting a culture of racist micro-aggression.
Supraya Duvedi, a former Toronto radio presenter for Global News, whose parent company is also Corus, resigned the same year after making numerous complaints about colleagues spreading racist misinformation that she said remained unheard of.
Her time in the company overlapped with Valentine’s, and she remembers often encountering her in the bathroom, where he found her “visibly upset, shaken, crying.”
Duvedi adds: “We know what we have to deal with. … Companies can publish all the well-made statements in the world, but if they don’t actually do the job of improving the workplace environment and ensure that toxic behavior is not tolerated, then in the end it’s all just dressing up the windows. ”
Until that change comes, she says, “I’m really not sure how we should encourage other young women and other young racist journalists to enter the industry.
As Delaney hopes to see Corus acknowledge the supposed events of the past two decades, Davis says: “I’m just so proud and grateful to Jennifer Valentine. He had so much to lose. Once you are labeled as a violator of this business, you are ready and it has been so forever. That’s why women never spoke. “
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