PIERRE JUNEAU. Born in Verdun, Quebec, Canada, 17 October 1922. Educated at Jesuit schools, College Sainte-Marie in Montréal, B.A., 1944, Sorbonne in Paris, France; graduated from the Institut Catholique, Paris, as a Licenciate in Philosophy, 1949. Married: Fernande Martin, 1947, three children: Andre, Martin, and Isabelle. Joined National Film Board of Canada as Montréal district representative, 1949; Assistant Regional Supervisor for the Province of Quebec; chief of international distribution, 1951; assistant head of the European office in London, 1952; secretary of the National Film Board, 1954; co-founder and president of the Montreal International Film Festival, 1959-68; senior assistant to the commissioner and director of French language production, 1964-66; vice-chair; named vice-chair, Board of Broadcast Governors, 1966; chair of Canadian Radio and Television Commission, 1968-75; Canadian minister of communications, 1975; advisor to Prime Minister Trudeau; appointed chair of the National Capital Commission, 1976; Undersecretary of State, 1978; deputy minister of Communications, 1980; president of CBC from 1982-89; chair of CBC's mandate review committee, 1994. Honorary doctorates: York University, 1973, Trent University, 1987, University of Moncton, 1988. Recipient: Order of Canada, 1975. Fellow, Royal Society of Canada. Recipient: Order of Canada, 1975.

PUBLICATIONS

"I Am Very Pessimistic (interview)." Maclean's (Toronto, Canada), 7 August 1989.

Making Our Voices Heard: Canadian Broadcasting and Film for the 21st Century (The Juneau Report), editor. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: Ministry of Supply and Services, 1995.

Pierre Juneau has held virtually every important position in the Canadian broadcasting hierarchy. His long career is characterized by a sustained commitment to the principles of public broadcasting and ownership.

In 1949, Juneau joined the National Film Board of Canada (NFBC) as the Montreal district representative. Throughout the 1950s he became in turn the Quebec assistant regional supervisor, the chief of international distribution, the assistant head of the European office, the NFBC secretary, and in 1964, the Director of French-language production. He also pursued filmic interests only secondarily related to his official position. In 1959, Juneau co-founded the Montreal International Film Festival and served as its president until 1968.

In 1966, Juneau left the NFBC to become vice-chairman of the Board of Broadcast Governors (BBG), the federal broadcast regulatory agency. In 1968, Parliament enacted a new Broadcasting Act which replaced the BBG with the Canadian Radio-Television Commission (CRTC) and Juneau was named its first chairman, a position he held until 1975. As CRTC chairman, Juneau is best remembered for promoting Canadian content regulations in both radio and television as well as in the growing medium of cable. The regulations, soon called "Cancon", helped create a permanent domestic market for Canadian music and television. They stipulate percentages of overall air time as well as within specific time slots which must be devoted to material produced and/or performed by Canadians. They met with widespread public support and their principle remains essentially unchanged to the present day. Indeed, in 1971, the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) named its annual ceremony the "Juno Awards" as a gesture towards both the CRTC chairman and the Roman goddess.

In 1975, Liberal Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau appointed Juneau Minister of Communication but he was defeated in the by-election of that year and resigned from the post. In 1978, still under Trudeau, he became Under Secretary of State and in 1980 Deputy Minister of Communication. Trudeau appointed Juneau to a seven-year term as president of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) in 1982. These proved to be turbulent times, however, as the Trudeau government was defeated by the Conservative Party of Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. Although the CBC president enjoys an "arm's length" relationship with the government, relations between Juneau, who was closely identified with the Trudeau Liberals, and the new government became strained as increasingly severe budget cuts were imposed upon the CBC. In 1988, the Mulroney government also revised the Broadcasting Act. It foresaw that Juneau's position would be split between a part-time president and a full-time chairman, a move which Juneau opposed. Simultaneously, throughout the 1980s, new television services were launched and the CBC's audience share declined. Juneau defended both the ideal and the practical reality of public broadcasting and stated his intention to raise to 95% the amount of Canadian content on the CBC. Furthermore, in 1988-89, he oversaw the launch of the CBC's all-news cable channel, Newsworld, on which he appeared as the first speaker on the last day of his mandate.

Like CBC presidents before him, Juneau campaigned for operating budgets, controlled by Parliament, covering five-year rather than one-year periods, and refused to relinquish advertising revenue so long as Parliament declined to cover all expenses. Under Juneau, the CBC on both its French- and English-language networks consolidated its reputation for news and public affairs, increased its Canadian content, brought in a new head of English-language programming in the person of Ivan Fecan, and shifted towards independently-produced dramatic content. In the 1980s, the CBC also scored some of its highest ratings successes ever. However, its dependence upon advertising revenue became more acute and its audience share fell. In 1994, Juneau was appointed to head a government enquiry into the future of the CBC.

-Paul Attallah