Broadcasters meet CRTC

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HULL, QUEBEC - Consultation on, access to and distribution of Native programming are the prime concerns of Native broadcasters appearing before hearings on the renewal of the CBC licence to broadcast.

A progression of five Native broadcasting groups appearing before the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunication (CRTC) said that consultation with their groups, and better access and distribution for Native programming on the northern service of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation were a necessity if the corporation was to properly serve Native people across Northern Canada.

The recent Caplan-Sauvageau report on broadcasting policy backs up the Native broadcasters' concern for consultation, access and distribution.

The report supports the eventual establishment of an autonomous Aboriginal language service and, in the meantime, suggests that the CBC share a trans-ponder with the various Native communications societies so they can provide greater service to Native peoples in the north.

While the report supports an extension of Native services to Aboriginal peoples across the north and into the south, it simply suggests research and consultation on Native needs in the south. (In Alberta, the "South" starts just north of Edmonton, according to the report.)

If the report does not actually ignore southern Native needs it places them well behind the needs of Natives in the north where Aboriginal peoples are a majority.

However, as Jeff Bear of the National Aboriginal Communications Society told the CRTC, there is more to the matter than population figures - educational, social and other considerations work into the equation.

"Southern Native people need access to their culture," said Bear after the hearings, " and how can these needs be met if there isn't any appropriate programming."

Access to programming for all Native people should be a priority for the government, if only so that its money won't be wasted, says Bear, "the investments made by the federal government are not going to see dividends that they expect if programs produced will not reach the intended audience."

Native groups other than NACS making submissions to the hearings were Native Communications Incorporated from Manitoba, Missinipi Broadcasting from Saskatchewan, Northern Native Broadcasting from the Yukon and the Inuit Broadcasting Corporation of the Northwest Territories.