June 22 Letter
Smith Response to the CBC's e-mail of June 12
On June 12, Richard Stursberg, Executive Vice-President of CBC Television circulated, to several people, an e-mail addressed to members of the Gardiner family. The e-mail explained that the CBC had "engaged an outside third-party hostorian... to assess the way ... Gardiner was depicted ... the characheter created for the film does not reflect the accepted historical record-and ... the characterization ... is significantly different from Mr. Gardiner's true personality and behaviour." Stursberg also stated that CBC would be pulling Prairie Giant from scheduled broadcasts.
The Smiths response takes many forms. The public (media) response, as of August 19, consists in the main of public support from the Directors and Writers Guilds, who support the Smith family as Director and Writer and admonish the CBC for their e-mail of June 12, and news articles written by select journalists, particularly Val Ross of the Globe & Mail.
The Guilds and the Globe & Mail, through their E&A Department writer Val Ross, paint a picture of the Smiths as victims of the CBC.
The June 22 letter in which John Smith declares his intent to "formulate a robust public response" follows.
