Kathryn Borel

Kathryn Borel (born June 23, 1979) is a Canadian writer, editor and radio producer.[1] She was a founding producer of the CBC Radio One show Q. Borel is the author of Corked: A Memoir (2009).[2]

Kathryn Borel
Born (1979-06-23) June 23, 1979
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
OccupationWriter, editor and radio producer
Alma materUniversity of King's College

Personal life

Borel was born in Toronto. She studied journalism at the University of King's College, a liberal arts university in Halifax, Nova Scotia.[3] She is an atheist.[4]

Career

Broadcasting

Borel has written and broadcast for many local and national programs on CBC Radio One, including Metro Morning, GO!, Q, Day 6 and As It Happens.[5]

Writing

Her print journalism includes a past column for the National Post called "Indignities," and a food column, "Column Dine," for Eye Weekly. She has written for The Guardian, The Times of London, The Believer, The Globe and Mail, EnRoute, the Toronto Star, The Walrus, Salon.com, and Nerve.com. She is listed as of 2015 as an interview editor at The Believer.[6]

Borel's Corked: A Memoir (2009) was nominated for the Stephen Leacock Award in 2010.[7] According to a Globe and Mail review, the memoir "recalls two darkly humorous weeks in a tumultuous father-daughter relationship, replete with the author's mutually escalating insecurities: insecurity about paternal love and the inevitability of death, lover love, wine love, wine speak and insecurity about insecurity."[8] Jay McInerney, New York Times bestselling author of How It Ended, called it funny, quirky and bittersweet. The National Post, Quill & Quire and Eye Weekly cited it as one of the best books of 2009.[2]

Borel's film and television work includes the USA Network's Rush, American Dad! on TBS, the Adult Swim series Mostly For Millennials, and Anne with an E on Netflix. In 2019, she was nominated for a Canadian Screenwriting Award for Best Drama Writing for episode 203 of Anne with an E.

Jian Ghomeshi controversy
Further information: Trial of Jian Ghomeshi

In December 2014, The Guardian published an article by Borel in which she described having been sexually harassed by former CBC Radio host Jian Ghomeshi while she was a producer for Q from 2007 to 2010. She approached her union, the Canadian Media Guild, for assistance, and wrote that the union representative and Q's executive producer both failed to act. As a result, she left the CBC in 2010 and moved to Los Angeles.[9]

The CBC fired Ghomeshi in October 2014 after reviewing "graphic evidence" that he had caused physical injury to a woman.[10] In April 2015 an independent inquiry concluded that CBC management had mishandled—and in some cases condoned—his abusive behavior.[11] He was charged with several accounts of sexual assault in relation to other women and was acquitted in March 2016.[12]

An additional charge of sexual assault against Borel was to be addressed at trial in June 2016. There was a publication ban on Borel's name at the time, later lifted.[13] On May 11, 2016, the Crown withdrew the charge. In return Ghomeshi signed a peace bond and, in court, read a formal apology to Borel without acknowledging assault. "No workplace friendship or creative environment excuses this sort of behaviour," he stated, "especially when there's a power imbalance as there was with Ms. Borel."[14]

Later that day Borel issued a statement, insisting that Ghomeshi was guilty of sexual assault. "He made it clear that he could humiliate me repeatedly and walk away with impunity. There are at least three documented incidents of physical touching," she said. "Jian Ghomeshi is guilty of having done the things that I’ve outlined today ... And that is what Jian Ghomeshi just apologized for: the crime of sexual assault ... So when it was presented to me that the defence would be offering us an apology, I was prepared to forego the trial. It seemed like the clearest path to the truth. A trial would have maintained his lie, the lie that he was not guilty, and would have further subjected me to the very same pattern of abuse that I am currently trying to stop."[15]

Borel was critical of the CBC for its handling of her complaint. "When I went to the CBC for help, what I received in return was a directive that, yes, he could do this and, yes, it was my job to let him," she said.[16] The CBC apologized to Borel publicly, on May 11, the second such apology by the corporation. In a statement, head of public affairs Chuck Thompson said, "What Ms. Borel experienced in our workplace should never have happened and we sincerely apologize."[17]

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References
  1. Corey Mintz (2010-02-06). "The ultimate compliment is cooking meat to order". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on 2014-12-02. However, after I spent a few months of writing free on a local blog, Borel called me with a huge opportunity. She'd signed a book deal (for Corked: A Memoir, the book that just came out, the book that I am, at this moment, shamelessly plugging in this column) and was taking a leave from both her jobs to write it.
  2. "About" Archived 2016-05-23 at the Wayback Machine, kathrynborel.com.
  3. Barker, William. "Report of the President for the Academic Year 2008-2009" (PDF). University of King's College. Retrieved April 5, 2020.
  4. Yo, Is This Racist? podcast on Soundcloud
  5. Borel, Kathryn (2009). Corked. Wiley & Sons Canada. ISBN 978-0-470-15390-1.
  6. "Current Issue - Fall 2015". The Believer. The Believer. 2016. Retrieved May 12, 2016.
  7. "Five in running for Leacock," Vancouver Sun, April 2, 2010.
  8. Kate Parsons (2009-10-30). "A father-daughter-wine tale". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2014-12-13. The outcome is a compelling and often uncomfortable blend of love, resentment, laughter and rage. Put simply, Borel's powers of perception - of her notoriously difficult father and of her own shortcomings - are acute and unrelenting.
  9. Kathryn Borel (December 2, 2014). "Jian Ghomeshi harassed me on the job. Why did our radio station look the other way?". The Guardian.
  10. Shum, David (October 2, 2015). "Jian Ghomeshi headed back to court in 2016 as pre-trial hearings end". Global News.
  11. "CBC inquiry concludes management mishandled Jian Ghomeshi", CBC News, April 16, 2015.
  12. Miller, Adam (March 24, 2016). "Jian Ghomeshi trial: Former CBC radio host found not guilty of all charges". Global News. Retrieved April 2, 2016.
  13. Gollom, Mark (March 24, 2016). "Jian Ghomeshi found not guilty on choking and all sex assault charges". CBC News. Retrieved March 25, 2016.
  14. Fraser, Laura (May 11, 2016). "Jian Ghomeshi trial: Ex CBC radio host signs peace bond, Crown drops sex assault charge". CBC News.
  15. "Complainant in Jian Ghomeshi case issues statement". Toronto Star. May 11, 2016.
  16. "CBC apologizes to Kathryn Borel over handling of Jian Ghomeshi complaint". CBC News. CBC/Radio Canada. May 11, 2016. Circumstances around Ghomeshi complaint 'should never have happened,' CBC says
  17. "Full text: CBC statement on Kathryn Borel and Ghomeshi scandal". 680 News. Rogers Digital Media. May 11, 2016. We’ve revised our process for capturing the details of bullying and harassment complaints. We are responding to complaints with renewed discipline and rigour, and learning from the data to improve prevention and early resolution.
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