Honouring the Truth Reconciling for the Future

348 • Truth & Reconciliation Commission81) We call upon the federal government, in collaboration with Survivors and theirorganizations, and other parties to the Settlement Agreement, to commissionand install a publicly accessible, highly visible, Residential Schools NationalMonument in the city of Ottawa to honour Survivors and all the children whowere lost to their families and communities.82) We call upon provincial and territorial governments, in collaboration withSurvivors and their organizations, and other parties to the Settlement Agreement,to commission and install a publicly accessible, highly visible, Residential SchoolsMonument in each capital city to honour Survivors and all the children who werelost to their families and communities.83) We call upon the Canada Council for the Arts to establish, as a funding priority,a strategy for Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists to undertake collaborativeprojects and produce works that contribute to the reconciliation process.Media and reconciliationThe media has a role to play in ensuring that public information both for and aboutAboriginal peoples reflects their cultural diversity and provides fair and non-discriminatoryreporting on Aboriginal issues. This is consistent with Article 16:2 of the UnitedNations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which says, “States shall takeeffective measures to ensure that State-owned media duly reflect indigenous culturaldiversity.” Canada’s Broadcasting Act (1991) sets out national broadcasting policy forall Canadian broadcasters with regard to Aboriginal peoples. The policy states theneed to,through its programming and employment opportunities arising out of itsoperations, serve the needs and interests, and reflect the circumstances andaspirations of Canadian men, women, and children, including equal rights, thelinguistic duality and multicultural and multiracial nature of Canadian society,and the special place of aboriginal peoples within that society. [S. 3.1.d.iii]The Act then states a more controversial obligation, that “programming that reflectsthe aboriginal cultures of Canada should be provided within the Canadian broadcastingsystem as resources become available for the purpose” (S.3.1.o). 241A submission to the federal Task Force on Aboriginal Languages and Cultures in2004 pointed out deficiencies in the Broadcasting Act related to these service provisionsfor Aboriginal peoples. It stated:The Act did not enshrine Aboriginal language broadcasting as a priority: insteadit noted that … [S. S. 3.1.d.iii] means that Aboriginal language programming