Second petition to reverse aboriginal radio decision filed by VMS

VMS Media Group Ltd. has filed the second petition to cabinet asking the government to overturn the CRTC’s decision on licences for operating urban aboriginal radio stations, following a July appeal by an Ontario-based group. In the petition to governor-in-council dated July 28, VMS — which applied for two licences in Calgary and Edmonton, Alta. — argued that not only does the decision to award the licences to the Aboriginal Multi-Media Society of Alberta (AMMSA) fail to “meaningfully contribute to a diversity of news voices” in the city and “ignore the support of indigenous communities,” but also that the inclusion of Northwest Territories and Alberta commissioner Linda Vennard on the decision-making panel was “procedurally unfair” due to a previous conflict of interest investigation. Wawatay Native Communications Society filed an appeal last month after it was not awarded licences for Ottawa and Toronto stations. In the petition, VMS raised the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner’s finding that Vennard had contravened the Conflict of Interest Act by accepting birthday flowers and chocolates in 2015 from representatives of Multicultural Broadcasting Corporation Inc., which owns two radio stations branded as Red FM in Calgary and Surrey, B.C. In its decision, the CRTC “determined that the approval of VMS’s application could have an undue negative financial impact on the Calgary ethnic radio market and its incumbent ethnic radio stations,” VMS said in its petition. “Amongst the incumbent ethnic radio stations in question is CKYR-FM (RED FM). There are only two ethnic radios stations in total in the Calgary ethnic radio market.” VMS added that given the ethics watchdog’s finding, Vennard “should never have been placed in a position of ruling on a matter that directly turned on RED FM’s interests so soon after decision.” The successful proponent, AMMSA, already operates stations in Edmonton and Fort McMurray, VMS said, and giving it another leads it to becoming the “dominant aboriginal radio operator in northern Alberta.” VMS does not currently have any licensed stations, operating on subsidiary communications multiplex operation (SCMO) channels, the petition said, nothing that “the awarding of radio license(s) to VMS to serve either (or both) of Calgary or Edmonton would have introduced a new voice to indigenous broadcasting in Alberta and provided meaningful competition for the first time.”

Second petition to reverse aboriginal radio decision filed by VMS

Brief | August 9, 2017

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Second petition to reverse aboriginal radio decision filed by VMS

Brief | August 9, 2017

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