Media, Bill C-18, and Indigenous inclusion

OTTAWA—Bill C-18: An Act Respecting Online Communications Platforms that Make News Content Available to Persons in Canada, or the Online News Act, is expected to replace the archaic system of funding of news organizations from 1991. It was written in another time and world. It reflected a time when physical newspapers were king, the internet was a Star Trek dream, and Google was how one might look at a hot individual and perhaps result in some peer critique. It was also a time of Indigenous invisibility in Canada. First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples were struggling to be heard. The Oka Crisis had just taken over the front pages and nightly newscasts, the first time that Indigenous issues were seen by many Canadians. Reflective of the exclusion of Indigenous Peoples in the time of the Broadcasting Act of 1991 made vague reference about Aboriginal Peoples by noting broadcasters “should … reflect the circumstances and aspirations and the special place of Aboriginal Peoples." When an act says "should," you know it won’t be enforced. The act went on to say that “programming that reflects Aboriginal cultures should be provided as resources become available for the purpose." This assumed that broadcasters have money that is for everybody else, but there’s special money to pay for Aboriginal content—meaning, Indigenous Peoples were separated out from broadcasting for Canadians. And only if there’s money, right? It’s the last thing on the list apparently. It’s quite the apartheid in an act. The first version kept the clause that media should be inclusive of all Canadians including Indigenous Peoples. C’est ça. No reference to Truth and Reconciliation Call #84 that requires the federal government ensure media be properly reflective of the diverse cultures and voices of Indigenous Peoples across this land. No reference to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Article 19 which demands that “states shall take effective measures to ensure that state-owned media duly reflect Indigenous cultural diversity.” Thankfully, intervenors have ensured that Bill C-18 in subsequent readings have included Indigenous media and Indigenous voice. It took some serious intervention and that is not the way that reconciliation works—legislation drafters take note. But we’re included in the third reading. There remains a sticking point and it’s about the clause referencing Indigenous storytelling. Before anybody has a reaction, let’s be clear about the construct of storytelling. It’s a cultural phrase to describe how we share information based in our cultures. It’s that simple. So let’s not get into a situation where a draft bill might try to refuse funding to Indigenous media and storytellers, or try to tell us how to do our cultures. Indigenous storytelling follows cultural protocols about how all things are connected through time and space. The news story about missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls isn’t a four-minute thing—it’s complicated with roots in history, broken relationships with police forces and racism. So we take the time to tell the story in a good way. It's storytelling. Bill C-18 defines news content as inclusive of Indigenous storytelling that an Indigenous news outlet makes available to Indigenous communities. Gold star to the drafters to note that Indigenous storytelling is done by Indigenous storytellers: Indigenous reporters and writers. If it’s based in Indigenous culture, then it requires the Indigenous creator. So fund them equitably like any other news producer as the TRC demands. And then the gold star is removed for the assumption that Indigenous storytelling is only for the Indigenous community. That’s like saying Tanya Talaga’s books can only be read by Indigenous peoples, or that APTN’s contribution is only for Indigenous communities. Come on people, it’s not 1991 anymore. Rose LeMay is Tlingit from the West Coast and the CEO of the Indigenous Reconciliation Group. She writes twice a month about Indigenous inclusion and reconciliation. In Tlingit worldview, the stories are the knowledge system, sometimes told through myth and sometimes contradicting the myths told by others. But always with at least some truth. The Hill Times

Media, Bill C-18, and Indigenous inclusion

Bill C-18 assumes that Indigenous storytelling is only for the Indigenous community. That’s like saying Tanya Talaga’s books can only be read by Indigenous Peoples, or that APTN’s contribution is only for Indigenous communities. Come on people, it’s not 1991 anymore.

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Media, Bill C-18, and Indigenous inclusion

Bill C-18 assumes that Indigenous storytelling is only for the Indigenous community. That’s like saying Tanya Talaga’s books can only be read by Indigenous Peoples, or that APTN’s contribution is only for Indigenous communities. Come on people, it’s not 1991 anymore.

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