The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation paid out $18.4 million in bonuses this year after hundreds of layoffs at the public broadcaster.

Documents obtained through access to information laws show that the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation paid bonuses to 1,194 employees for the 2023-2024 fiscal year.

More than $3.3 million of this amount was paid to 45 executives.

This means that these executives received an average bonus of over $73,000, which exceeds the average after-tax household income in 2022, according to Statistics Canada.

More than $10.4 million was paid to 631 managers, and over $4.6 million was paid to 518 other employees.

The board approved the bonuses in June but refused to disclose the amount paid despite members of parliament requesting the figure since last December.

At that time, CBC announced it would lay off employees to help balance its budget.

In the end, 141 employees were laid off and 205 vacancies were eliminated at CBC/Radio-Canada.

The public broadcaster refers to the bonuses as performance bonuses calculated as part of the total compensation for some employees as part of contracts that promise payment upon achieving certain corporate goals.