The Liberal federal government has confirmed that the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC/Radio-Canada) hired temporary foreign workers over the past decade — directly contradicting earlier testimony from CBC leadership that it had hired “none since 2015.”

Despite telling the House of Commons heritage committee there were no temporary foreign workers employed by the CBC, records obtained by Rebel News reveal the truth...

FULL REPORT by @SheilaGunnReid: https://t.co/A4YcB2mNke

— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) October 24, 2025

This new admission aligns with earlier reporting by Rebel News, which had obtained documents through access-to-information requests showing that CBC had filed at least three approved applications through the federal temporary foreign worker scheme.

The confirmation comes via a written response to Order Paper Question Q-514, submitted by Rachael Thomas (Lethbridge). That question sought a detailed accounting of how many Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) applications CBC submitted between October 22, 2015 and October 22, 2025 — and how many temporary foreign workers it hired as a result.

Go Ad Free

According to the response, CBC submitted 15 LMIA applications over that period — all of them approved. In the past five years alone, the corporation admits to hiring six temporary foreign workers, in roles including:

• Senior Specialist, Business & Strategic Planning (2024)

• Research Analyst (Survey) (2024)

• Senior Developer, New Broadcast Technology (2023)

• Senior Developer, Digital Development (2022, 2020)

• Coordinator, Content Marketing (2020)

The government records also indicate earlier jobs classified under LMIA categories like “broadcast technicians” and “announcers and other broadcasters.” 

When asked to provide the provinces or territories where the foreign workers were placed, the CBC said the data was not readily available and would require a manual review. The broadcaster also claims that no temporary foreign workers are currently on staff.

Defending its hiring practices, CBC said it employs more than 7,000 highly skilled workers and that the Temporary Foreign Worker Program is only used “after a comprehensive search to find qualified Canadian workers has been unsuccessful.” 

In effect, the Order Paper response — backed up by prior access-to-information evidence — confirms that the CBC’s earlier denials were false. As the Rebel News report put it: “despite telling the House of Commons heritage committee there were no temporary foreign workers employed by Canada’s state broadcaster, records obtained … reveal the truth.”