True North has learned that veteran journalist Wendy Mesley will not be returning to hosting her CBC show The Weekly with Wendy Mesley this year.
“The Weekly will not be returning this fall and we are talking with Wendy as to what’s next for her at the CBC,” CBC Head of Public Affairs Chuck Thompson told True North on September 21.
On June 9, 2020, Mesley was suspended from her hosting duties after using the “N-word” in an editorial meeting earlier that month. A CBC associate producer who witnessed the speech act demanded disciplinary action be taken against Mesley.
An investigation was launched, and on June 25 Mesley announced the investigation was complete and she had been disciplined.
“I now realize that my abuse of the word was harmful. I hurt my colleagues, my team, and the CBC. For that I am deeply sorry and ashamed,” Mesley said in an apology posted to Twitter.
In her statement, Mesley admitted to a second incident where she uttered the forbidden word: in September 2019, she had read aloud the title of the 1968 book “White N******* of America” by Quebec author Pierre Vallières. The book analyzes historic class relations in Quebec society and posits that a Marxist revolution would liberate the underclass that is the Quebec francophonie.
The Weekly, which used to air on Sundays at 11:00am ET, has now been replaced with The Sunday Scrum, according to CBC TV program schedules.
