CRTC considers future of Aboriginal radio in Ont., Alta. and B.C.

A typically competitive process, disseminating new applications for radio licences seemed to take on a more culturally significant connotation for the CRTC as it navigated a three-day public hearing for urban Aboriginal radio stations in Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia. At the end of the three-day public hearing this week, Jean-Pierre Blais said, according to a transcript, that after spending a few years as chairman of the CRTC, “you’d think it would get easier. And it’s not. In fact, this is a very hard case and my colleagues and I will have to reflect a lot on this matter.” Throughout the hearing, which ran Monday to Wednesday, the groups vying for the five licences covering Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton, and Ottawa and Toronto, as well as their supporters, highlighted a process coloured by tradition and protocol in addition to the typical business manoeuvring. “So I’d have to say that I fear that if we are not chosen for both of these licences when our Chiefs have spoken their consensual wants, this legacy, could be a noble means of retribution for ill policies, can be turn out to be a mud pie,” John Gagnon, CEO of Wawatay Native Communications Society, which is applying for licences in Ottawa and Toronto, said Wednesday. Gagnon argued that if First Peoples Radio Inc. (FPR), an arm of the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) established to branch out into radio broadcasting, received the licences it had applied for in Ontario (it applied for all three licences), it would be “a direct threat” to Wawatay’s operations, which have been running in Northern Ontario for decades. “And by virtue of our citizenship within the province, it is our expectation the ownership of the licences remain in province and held by Wawatay, keeping in mind that great resolution from Chiefs of Ontario” in support of Wawatay’s applications, Gagnon said. FPR also faced criticism from other regional broadcasters, saying that the national approach previously used by the now-defunct Aboriginal Voices Radio (AVR) harms established broadcasters operating in smaller communities. The CRTC revoked AVR’s licences after years of non-compliance with licence conditions in 2015. “I would just urge the commissioners to consider the fact of breaking the province up and having two competitive Aboriginal broadcasters within one province. It has negative impacts on us as an existing broadcaster with 27 years invested in British Columbia. It would negatively affect our bottom line,” Ron Bartlett, a sales manager within Northern Native Broadcasting, said Tuesday. Northern Native Broadcasting currently operates in Terrace, B.C., and is applying for a new licence to serve Vancouver. “There is a saying in British Columbia that if someone erects a totem pole in somebody else’s territory it is a declaration of war,” Bert Crowfoot, CEO of the Aboriginal Multi-Media Society of Alberta (AMMSA), said Wednesday. “Modern-day totem poles can be equated to erecting transmitter towers. Indigenous protocols must be respected in relation to our designated territories.” AMMSA is applying for licences in Alberta, but used to be a part of the initiative behind First Peoples Radio before it splintered, with regional organizations deciding to apply on their own, Crowfoot said. “It’s sad as what started off as a great cooperative of Indigenous broadcasting, is now near dead,” he said, adding that if First Peoples Radio “is truly interested in radio and not just a business venture, they should be allowed to build that foundation in Ottawa and Toronto. Once that foundation is built, they should expand when other markets become available.” At the hearing’s outset — following a prayer by Métis Elder Monique Renaud — Blais highlighted that the federal government wanted to “to ensure the protection and promotion of Indigenous culture” as a result of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. “The Canadian broadcasting system plays an important role in the reconciliation of Indigenous peoples with Canadian society. The Commission also raised the immediate need to serve the Indigenous community as a whole since vital questions of importance to Indigenous Canadians are not completely covered, or not covered at all, by non-Indigenous media,” he said Monday. On the hearing’s second day, Blais put the question to the representatives from Northern Native Broadcasting of whether the issues encompassed in reconciliation wouldn’t be better served through “one solid, strong united voice through a radio service,” such as the one proposed by First Peoples Radio. “Maybe we have different definitions of ‘national,’” Bartlett said. “And I don’t think three provinces make up a national body, you know, in comparison to the Canada-wide. I envision Canada-wide as national but in reality we’re talking about three provinces, licences in three provinces.” For its part, First Peoples Radio said its intention was not to negatively affect any existing group. “Because of the nature of what we are proposing, we are confident that in fact, we will not be having a negative impact on them. We're coming in with a different format, coming in with a different approach. We're targeting a market that is unique. The urban Aboriginal market is quite unique,” Jean LaRose, CEO of First Peoples Radio and APTN, said Wednesday. LaRose noted that his group had been criticized “both for being too national and for not being an actual national network,” and that, in the past, Aboriginal Peoples had attempted to create a national radio presence. “That plan unfortunately did not work. However, the vision has remained alive for very good reasons.” The three-day hearing also touched on the issue of who is best suited to serve the aboriginal community, with some pointing to VMS Media Group Ltd.’s application for the Alberta licences as an extension of their already-established ethnic programming and highlighting that it was not an Indigenous-run media organization. Kristopher Peters, VMS’ Indigenous youth and community liaison for Calgary, noted on Wednesday that the CRTC’s call for applications wasn’t limited to Type B Native FM proposals, but rather “innovative applications that focused on serving Aboriginal Canadians, regardless of the type of service proposed.” “The Commission has already had the experience of granting these five licences to a single Type B Native FM Applicant,” Peters said. “Not putting all eggs in one basket, not choosing a single operator of all stations, not choosing a single model is the Commission’s best hope of not repeating what happened with AVR.” — With reporting by Charelle Evelyn at cevelyn@thewirereport.ca and editing by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca

CRTC considers future of Aboriginal radio in Ont., Alta. and B.C.

Broadcast | March 30, 2017

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CRTC considers future of Aboriginal radio in Ont., Alta. and B.C.

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