A Right to Media? Lorie M. Graham - Columbia Law School

484 COLUMBIA HUMAN RIGHTS LAW REVIEW [41:429
regional “communications societies” and Aboriginal language radio
and print media. 211
In the late 1970s and early 1980s Canada launched new
satellite systems. 212 In connection with this technology, Aboriginal
organizations began to produce original programming. The Inukshuk
Project, funded and initiated by Canada’s Department of
Communications, was the first to allow for the production and
distribution of Inuit television. In 1981, based on the success of these
projects, the CRTC licensed the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada to
establish an Inuit broadcasting corporation providing Inuktitutlanguage
programming in the Northwest Territories, Northern
Quebec, and Labrador. 213
Additionally, in 1983, after consultation with Aboriginal
communities, three federal departments collaborated to create the
Northern Broadcasting Policy and Northern Native Broadcast Access
Program (NNBAP). These two initiatives were meant to ensure
Aboriginal peoples “fair access to northern broadcasting distribution
systems to maintain and develop their cultures and languages.” 214
The NNBAP was aimed at providing long-term and stable funding to
broadcast organizations in Northern Canada. To this end, the
government allocated forty million dollars to stimulate Aboriginal
radio and television in the northern regions of Canada. Under
NNBAP, First Nations organized Aboriginal “communication
societies” in order to promote broadcasting in Aboriginal languages.
Unfortunately, cutbacks in spending have begun to
undermine the work of the “communication societies” and the
potential positive impact of the Broadcasting Policy. As a testament
to the importance of, and demand for, indigenous media in the face of
financial obstacles, the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network was
launched in 1999 as the world’s first Aboriginal television network.
211. The NCP helped establish over 100 radio stations, but funding for the
program was terminated in 1990, resulting in the demise of many of the stations.
Museum of Broadcast Communications, First Peoples’ Television Broadcasting in
Canada, http://www.museum.tv/eotvsection.php?entrycode=firstpeople (last
visited Feb. 5, 2010).
212. Media Awareness Network, supra note 206; Jennifer David, Debwe
Commc’ns Inc., Aboriginal Language Broadcasting in Canada: An overview and
recommendations to the Task Force on Aboriginal Languages and Cultures 6
(2004).
213. Media Awareness Network, supra note 206.
214. David, supra note 212, at 13.