Radio Canada International’s 70th anniversary

Radio Canada International will celebrate 70 years of sharing the Canadian viewpoint and way of life, with people around the world tomorrow.

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Created in the crucible of the Second World War, Canada’s International Service first broadcast, in French and English, to Canadian troops in Europe on Christmas Day, 1944.

Two months later, on February 25. 1945, the service was launched on short-wave with transmissions in English, French and German.

Over the years RCI has broadcast in 23 languages, including Ukranian, Dutch, Japanese, Italian, Polish, Czech, Hungarian and more.

‘True to its origingal mandate’

Having made the transition from short-wave radio to a web-based service in June of 2012, RCI is now available in Canada’s two official languages English and French, as well as three of the most-spoken languages in the world; Spanish, Arabic and Mandarin.

Michel Cormier, Director General of Information for Radio-Canada , and Head of Radio Canada International, describes the service in its 70th year as, “true to its original mandate… which explains the values of Canadians, democracy, civil society, the rule of law, tolerance, all these values are very important to what the country is, and I think RCI has a very important role not just outside Canada but inside Canada with certain communities to make sure people are exposed to this.”

‘More and more people are exposed to it’

While the transition from short-wave transmissions to a web-based service left some people dissatisfied, Michel Cormier looks to the benefits, “most people have computers so the number of people we can reach by going digital is immensely greater than the people with short-wave radios.”  The proof is in the numbers.  Michel Cormier sites the fact that the visits to the site have doubled each year.

RCI has a special anniversary site launching tomorrow and the celebration honoring the memories, will continue over the week.