This thread replaces another post I put up earlier in the day, because it changes the story completely. I had originally wondered about all those complaints filed to the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council about Don Cherry’s infamous “you people” comments, his final appearance on Hockey Night in Canada.
 
And with the four month anniversary of his firing approaching and so many complaints the CBSC asked people to stop filing them, I wondered whatever happened to that story.
 
Well, I finally got hold of someone there and here’s the answer.

They won’t be looking into it.
 
Why? A spokesperson, whose name I won’t use because I didn’t get her permission, told me when Cherry was fired and no one issued another complaint, it was considered case closed.
 
“Once we receive a complaint, we forward it to the broadcaster,” she explains. “The broadcaster responds to the persons or people who have complained, and if they are still not satisfied, they ask us to pursue further.
 
“So in the case of the Don Cherry complaints, everyone was satisfied, I guess, because the station chose to dismiss Mr. Cherry. So nobody filed what we called Ruling Requests, asking us to go forward. So the matter is closed as far as we’re concerned.”
 
So that’s it? There won’t be a hearing in this matter that consumed media attention for weeks? “We could have if someone asked us to,” she responds. “But nobody did.”
 
I also noted that there have been no decisions issued yet in 2020. Why the delay and how does the process work?
 
The CBSC gets a complaint, and then the broadcaster in question is given time to respond. If the complainant still isn’t happy with the answer, then it goes to the tribunal.
 
It can take 4 months to escalate and at least 6-7 months before a final ruling is made. Which is why you haven’t seen anything from 2020 on their site this year.
 
But in the case of Don Cherry, at least, it appears to be Game Over.