Brooke Forbes Legacy Fund

Long before it became a corporate catch phrase, Brooke understood the importance of diversity. She knew that we had to better represent the range of cultures and identities among communities and to reflect those different values and histories on air.

 

Jim Handman, CBC Producer

Brooke asked the unasked questions; she saw the unseen facet, that glimmer of context that filled in the picture, or – sometimes – opened up a whole new level of inquiry.

 

Ted Blades, CBC Host

Brooke is on the right in the Control Room working the early shift on The Early Edition, the CBC Radio morning show out of Vancouver -- one of the many CBC shows Brooke was a part of. Over the years, Brooke produced content for CBC hosts including Bob Spence, Vicki Gabereau and Bob Sharples in Vancouver and  Shelagh Rogers, Michael Enright and Mary Lou Findlay in Toronto.

This is Brooke on the beach (on the left of the photo) with her team from Sundown, one of the shows she worked on at Vancouver Co-operative Radio. The station was a great place for her to not only learn about radio but also to express her commitment to social justice for all. 

Brooke Forbes

 

I doubt that I would ever have succeeded to whatever degree I have without having had her gentle hand at the small of my back guiding me along.

 

Dick Miller, CBC Producer

                   

BROOKE FORBES was an amazing person. She was generous, passionate, and lots of fun. She was dedicated to her four children and a good friend to scores of people across North America.

 

Brooke was born in Toronto in 1940 and she died there in 2006.  In between, she lived in London, Montreal and Vancouver and worked for more than two decades as a Radio Producer with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.  As a Producer, she sought to educate and entertain listeners about the need for social change.  She loved a good story and was always looking for ways to give voice to those seeking equality.  She also had an encyclopedic knowledge of music and got great joy out of listening to Saturday Afternoon at the Opera. 

 

To learn more about Brooke, you can read the Obituary that was published in the Globe and Mail.  You can also listen to two of Brooke’s stories that were broadcast across the country on CBC Radio in 1994 (Segregated Schools, Harbord Collegiate 100th). 

Here are just a few of the reasons that Brooke’s co-workers and friends nominated her for a CBC Radio Peer Award:

  • She was a hugely talented radio producer.

  • Brooke loved and respected the audience.

  • She brought an astonishing breadth of knowledge and an insatiable curiousity about the human condition to her work.

  • She inspired and challenged us with her pioneering devotion to diversity, and her passion for social justice.

  • To so many, Brooke was a mentor who offered wisdom, perspective and shelter in the storm.

  • She was brave, generous and fiercely committed to radio and public broadcasting.

 

We miss her.                                                                                                                                                             

Jane Chalmers

Vice-President

CBC Radio

Posthumously awarding Brooke the 2006 CBC Radio Peer Award

Brooke Forbes and the Fund

The Fund was set up in 2006 to continue the work Brooke Forbes (see below) did introducing minority youth to the joy of making radio.  Until 2021, we awarded funds annually to charitable organizations that taught audio production skills to young people.  Starting in 2021, we are funding internships for racialized students in the Journalism and Communication program at Carleton University. The Fund is overseen by an Advisory Committee consisting of Brooke's former colleagues at CBC and Vancouver Co-op Radio.

Tributes

I felt blessed to start the day seeing Brooke … Not many people could say they feel so changed by just her presence but that was the power of Brooke, her listening ear, her smile and always her amusing adventures.

                      

Lisa Ayusa, CBC Producer

 

 

She made sure we told stories about people on the wrong side of the power equation.                                                     

George Jamieson, CBC Producer

Brooke believed in the power of radio to change lives. She created and ran a Radio Camp for minority youth for six years. Each year, she searched Toronto high schools for students who had potential and brought the lucky ones to the CBC for a week to learn how to produce radio. Her Radio Camps were the inspiration for the Brooke Forbes Legacy Fund. For her significant contributions to CBC Radio, including the Radio Camps, Brooke was awarded posthumously, CBC Radio’s Peer Award.