Jian Ghomeshi scandal: Former 'Q' producer claims CBC ignored harassment claims against star host

New information about allegations facing former radio host Jian Ghomeshi have called into scrutiny the role CBC executives had in attempts to pacify a destructive workplace, and raises questions about whether a larger housecleaning is in order at Canada’s public broadcaster.

A former producer at Ghomeshi’s former radio program, Q, has stepped forward and publicly identified herself on Tuesday, writing a column for The Guardian about being harassed in the workplace and having the problem painted over by executives who were anxious to preserve Ghomeshi’s growing popularity.

Kathryn Borel declared in her Tuesday article that Ghomeshi “fondled and abused me for years” and got away with it with the help of higher-ups.

Borel wrote:

"[L]ast week, Toronto police charged him with four counts of sexual assault and one count of choking a woman.

…

A small part of me was shocked: not because I think he is innocent, but because when Ghomeshi was harassing me, it felt like the power dynamics of his fame – and those complicit in maintaining that fame – had inured my host to all consequences of his actions.”

Ghomeshi was fired from CBC Radio’s arts and culture program Q last month and now faces four charges of sexual assault, and one charge of overcoming resistance by choking.

As many as 15 women have stepped forward to make allegations against Ghomeshi. While most have remained anonymous, a select few have allowed their names to go public.

Borel had previously spoken to freelance journalist Jesse Brown, who with the help of the Toronto Star broke the Ghomeshi story.

With Borel stepping forward today, the story raises further questions about the culture that surrounded Ghomeshi at the CBC, and whether officials tried to protect their star from the repercussions of his actions.

Borel says she was harassed and abused by Ghomeshi for years – including once being told he would like to “hate f___” her, and another time being grabbed around the waist from behind.

She didn’t speak up because she was afraid of ruining her career by crossing the rising star. In 2010, Borel says she finally went to the union to end the harassment, but her representative did nothing.

She says during the meeting, Timothy Neesam of the Canadian Media Guild, didn’t take notes.

Her issue was later raised with a CBC executive who, according to Borel, “told me that Ghomeshi was the way he was, and that I had to figure out how to cope with that.” Borel took a leave of absence shortly after and moved to Los Angeles.

Borel’s claim isn’t the first time CBC’s role in protecting Ghomeshi’s reputation has been called into question.

CBC has claimed the allegations of sexual harassment in the workplace were subjected to an internal investigation. CBC’s own the fifth estate recently reported, however, that executives did not contact or question Q employees while allegedly investigating Ghomeshi’s office behaviour.

And on Tuesday, the Globe and Mail reports that another CBC executive called into doubt the claim that CBC ever ordered an investigation into Ghomeshi’s behaviour.

“At no point did you or any senior manager ever instruct me to conduct such an investigation, formally or otherwise,” reads an email from Linda Groen, the CBC’s director of network talk radio, to one of her superiors and later obtained by the Globe.

“To the contrary, I was assured and confident that you and HR were handling the matter and asking the appropriate people the necessary questions. To characterize, post facto, my role as investigative, however loosely defined, is a misrepresentation of facts and surprising.”

Borel, meantime, has some doubt that the allegations would have ever been dealt with if they had not been made public.

"What made the situation worse for me and, possibly, for his victims, wasn’t only Ghomeshi’s celebrity status, nor simply the unwillingness of people to believe that beloved icons might be terrible people: the maddening part is that his celebrity was a creation of the CBC – Canada’s folksy, sweater-wearing public broadcaster and one of the most family-friendly brands in the nation’s history,” she wrote in The Guardian.

“Ghomeshi – and, by extension, his sleaze – was endorsed, promoted and held up as an example to all by a beloved institution.”