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

488 COLUMBIA HUMAN RIGHTS LAW REVIEW [41:429
media. In fact, funding remains a major obstacle for First Nations
media. The Broadcasting Act recognizes that the Canadian
broadcasting system should reflect the special place of Aboriginal
peoples in Canadian society. However, the Act only requires that
such programming should be provided “as resources become available
for the purpose.” 229 This wording has been problematic for indigenous
media because it makes funding unreliable and unpredictable, and
links the availability of indigenous language broadcasting to the
political process.
Similar to the United States, Canada is well positioned, both
in terms of law and policy, to advance and support a right to media
under Article 16 of the UNDRIP. Canada has begun to develop laws
that help to better ensure indigenous access to media through
licensing, funding, and technical support. Lacking in this legislative
scheme, however, is a clear articulation of the importance of media
programming in indigenous languages. Such deficiencies can be
rectified by placing indigenous languages on the same level as the
other two official languages, thereby ensuring CRTC support and
assistance for the development of cultural and linguistic media
initiatives that will, in turn, support and strengthen indigenous
media rights. Both an increase in development and improvement of
telecommunication infrastructure is necessary to promote access and
availability of media in remote parts of Canada.
Finally, Canada’s history demonstrates the particular
devastation wrought by government-sponsored assimilationist
policies and the subsequent erosion of languages. Even with funding
and technology in place, the number of proficient indigenous
language speakers able to work and consume indigenous media has
been greatly diminished. Media is vital to cultural and linguistic
survival, and language is necessary to the process of media
production. The status-quo is a conundrum created by centuries of
state-sponsored repression of indigenous cultures, one that poses
tremendous challenges to Canada’s First Nations. By supporting
indigenous media rights through additional public or state-run
initiatives, Canada can work to reverse some of the intergenerational
harms with respect to indigenous language and culture. Similarly,
such support can assist in countering stereotypes found in nonindigenous
media sectors. Finally, the economic and social
development of First Nations, as well as their participation in the
229. Broadcasting Act, 1991 S.C., ch. 11 (Can.) § 3(1)(o).