Canada’s public broadcaster Radio-Canada apologized and suspended senior reporter Élisa Serret after she made live antisemitic and stereotypical remarks about Jews.
The incident occurred during the long-running program "Sur le terrain," broadcast Monday from Washington, D.C. When the topic of U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s visit to Israel arose, host Christian Latreille asked Serret why the United States had not distanced itself from Israel following Israeli airstrikes in Qatar.
Serret responded in French: “The Israelis, in fact the Jews, finance a lot of American politics.” She added, “There is a very large machine behind them, which makes it hard for Americans to detach from Israel’s positions. It’s really the money here in the United States. Major cities are run by Jews, Hollywood is run by Jews.” She also said she had expected more artists to speak out during the Emmy Awards ceremony, but “there were barely two remarks all evening.”
The broadcast clip was shared on social media by the Canadian Jewish advocacy group CIJA, which called the remarks “unacceptable on Canadian broadcasts, especially public television,” and urged immediate condemnation from national leaders. CIJA’s Quebec vice president, Eta Yudin, called the statements “vile” and said the incident “cannot pass without serious internal reflection on the damage such rhetoric causes to our democratic values. We expect Canada’s public broadcaster to acknowledge this reality and take concrete steps to ensure that comments like this — and the systemic issues that allowed them to air — never happen again.”
Radio-Canada issued a statement saying Serret’s analysis “led to stereotypical, antisemitic, false and harmful claims about Jewish communities.” The network called it a violation of journalistic standards and announced Serret’s removal from her duties until further notice. “We acknowledge that these remarks harmed many viewers. We sincerely regret and apologize,” the statement said. Latreille also issued a separate apology, saying he should have intervened immediately on air.
Canadian Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault tweeted: “Antisemitism has no place in Canada,” calling the remarks “destructive antisemitic clichés with no place in Canadian broadcasts” and warning that such language by journalists or trusted figures risks normalizing hate in dangerous ways. Deputy Conservative Party leader Melissa Lantsman said public broadcasting “failed in its duty to protect the nation’s values” by giving a platform to an “antisemitic outburst” and called for Serret’s immediate dismissal.
Israel’s embassy in Canada said it was “shocked” by Serret’s remarks, noting they “deeply harm Canadian Jews and feed dangerous stereotypes with a long history of incitement to violence and campaigns of destruction.” The embassy expressed confidence that CBC and Radio-Canada would review internal policies and implement measures to address and eliminate antisemitism in the workplace and in reporting.