Hello. My name is Lois Little. I live here in Yellowknife, and I'm here as a citizen.
I'm really glad that you came here, that you have your ears open to northerners. I'm sure you're getting the impression now that we're all pretty passionate about public broadcasting.
I'm one of those people who are very passionate about public broadcasting. I listen to CBC radio all day long, including the aboriginal languages. Listening to aboriginal languages on CBC radio reminds me of where I live, reminds me of the cultures around me. I think it helps me understand and be connected to the people around me.
For me, public broadcasting is the ultimate expression of democracy. It's citizens' voices, it's our ideas, it's our values, it's our perspective. It's all of those things. It's men's voices, it's women's voices, it's the diversity of cultures and ideas. That's what democracy is all about.
For me, CBC is the essence of democracy in Canada in a very large way. In the 21st century, when democracy is under threat around the world, I think it's incumbent on CBC to keep our democracy strong in Canada. Certainly our democracy is strong in the north. As we have global multinationals moving into the north and starting to shape public opinion and starting to influence our very small governments, just by their sheer size, it's so important for CBC to be that connection that allows citizens to speak and be heard.
I love public broadcasting. I love the fact that there is no commercial or market or political bias driving our CBC. I urge this committee to make it part of the mandate taking us into the 21st century that market and political bias will stay far away from our public broadcaster.
I guess it's because I am so passionate about public broadcasting that I have very high expectations of my public broadcaster. The CBC people around the room probably cringe when they turn on the talk-back machine, because there's going to be the voice of Lois Little, making a comment about something. But that's part of my responsibility as a citizen. We have a responsibility in a democracy to have our voices heard and to be heard.
I don't intend to lower my expectations of my government and I don't intend to lower my expectations of my public broadcaster, because those entities are me. I expect my public broadcaster to be airing all of the diverse views and values and perspectives in this territory. I expect to be hearing English and French and all of the aboriginal languages on my public broadcaster. And I expect my public broadcaster to be very creative in the way in which it uses its resources and balances all of the different views and cultures out there. I expect my public broadcaster to be very professional and very committed to the mandate of CBC.
With those high expectations in mind, in January of this year I wrote out my New Year's resolutions for my public broadcaster. My New Year's resolutions focused very much on regional programming, which is very important to me. I value both the regional and the national mandates of the CBC, but the mandate that I feel I can influence is the regional mandate. So I put together this list of nine resolutions for my regional public broadcaster, encouraging them to be more creative and more professional and more committed to the mandate of CBC.
Unlike some of the other speakers, I don't believe the CBC is good enough the way it is now. I don't think it is a matter of leaving it alone and letting it be. I think it's a matter of trying harder and better reflecting all of the voices in the north.
Speaking more from a regional perspective, it's a matter of making sure that we're hearing all of the voices, that we're not cluttering up regional programming with mindless, commercial-like goop. That does not serve the public interest and it does not serve democracy.
I would like to see this committee have more exacting standards for CBC to uphold nationally and regionally, because I have very high expectations of my public broadcaster.
I'll leave it at that. Thank you.