Merci.
I just want to mention, before I start, that for the sake of brevity and the committee's timetable, I will depart from my prepared text. You've been given a copy of my presentation. I've shortened it to allow for a longer Q and A session.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman and committee members. Thank you for receiving me here in Toronto. With me today are Joel Fortune from the firm Fasken Martineau.
Committee members have all learned from their political experience that the vision each of us forms of the world depends on our origins and the pivotal moments in our lives. So my comments are made in that spirit.
First of all, I'll provide you with a picture of APTN, the Aboriginal People's Television Network.
Second, since the committee is interested in public broadcasting, I'll talk about APTN's role in that regard.
Third, I'll discuss the way APTN and CBC/Radio-Canada could support each other more to better serve Canada's Aboriginal people and Canadians as a whole.
APTN was licensed as a national service by the CRTC in 1999. We launched in September of that year.
APTN had a prior life. It used to be known as Television Northern Canada, or TVNC. TVNC operated a network of northern transmitters, and offered programming produced by aboriginal communications societies across the north. The communications societies received funding from the federal government's northern native broadcast access program, NNBAP. The infrastructure of the northern network was supported by another federal government program, the northern distribution program, or NDP.
APTN still offers a great deal of programming produced by aboriginal communications societies, supported by NNBAP. This program is not like anything else you will see in the broadcasting system. It speaks directly to the experiences of aboriginal peoples in the north, and is usually in aboriginal languages. When we broadcast it on APTN, we provide subtitling for a broader national audience.
APTN also receives support from the federal government through the NDP in the amount of $2.1 million per year to offset part of the costs of our northern distribution network. For the past few years, APTN's costs have exceeded the amount of the contribution agreement.
Where APTN is different from TVNC is that we are now, thanks to the CRTC, also made available throughout Canada on all larger cable systems and on the two satellite DTH systems as part of basic service. We offer three feeds—east, west, and north—and hope to soon add a high-definition feed.
Let me refer you to a copy of our schedule, which has been circulated to you. The only reason red was chosen was that it's a very prominent colour. You can see the red is Canadian content, and most of these shows are produced by aboriginal peoples in Canada, by aboriginal producers.
APTN has been, we think, a tremendous success. First, it has made a place for aboriginal peoples in Canadian television—in fact in television at all. APTN was the first national aboriginal broadcaster in the world. Until APTN, the likelihood of seeing an aboriginal face when you turned on the television was slim to none.
I remember someone once said there that were more space aliens on television than aboriginal peoples. That person was right, and may still be, but now at least you have a choice—that is to say, Canadians have a choice. All they have to do is find APTN in the channel lineup.
Second, having APTN in the system has helped other broadcasters to better represent aboriginal peoples.
Third, APTN has created amazing opportunities for aboriginal peoples in media.
And last, the significance of APTN as a symbol of inclusion for aboriginal peoples should not be underestimated. I don't think I'm overstating things when I say that having APTN on television validates the presence of aboriginal peoples in Canadian society.
So you can see why APTN is firmly convinced that it must be seen as a public broadcaster carrying out an important public mandate.
We aren't motivated by profit. APTN is a non-profit organization. All our resources are used to expand Aboriginal peoples presence on Canadian television, and most of its resources are invested in programs that appear on the screen. We naturally want to succeed and increase our revenues, but that's only secondary to our mandate.
We are independent of government and directed by a board of directors consisting of 21 members who represent the Metis, Inuit and First Nations communities of all regions of Canada. You can rest assured that our board takes its work seriously and ensures that APTN carries out its mandate.
Our activities are transparent, and we report to the communities we serve. On our Web site, among the blogs, forums, downloads and information on our programs, you'll find our audited financial statements from the last broadcast year, information on members of our board of directors and management, our bylaws, job opportunities and detailed information for independent producers concerning our open RFP process for new programs.
APTN launched when it did and has the resources it has thanks to the enlightened application of public policy by the CRTC, and also by the Department of Canadian Heritage through the programs I mentioned earlier. APTN reflects the direct application, in the public interest, of the broadcasting policy for Canada set out in the Broadcasting Act.
APTN speaks directly to the part of the broadcasting policy for Canada in the Broadcasting Act that states that the broadcasting system should reflect what is called “the special place” of aboriginal peoples in Canadian society. Our place in the broadcasting system is therefore inspired by public legislation.
Why is it important to look at APTN as a public broadcaster, one could ask? The most important consequence is that APTN, and more broadly aboriginal peoples in broadcasting, then become a part of the formal, public purpose for our broadcasting system. Serving aboriginal peoples becomes an element of that system that should be supported through public resources and through the regulatory framework that makes our broadcasting system possible.
Now, let us turn to our Broadcasting Act. We think the act does not reflect clearly enough this understanding of aboriginal broadcasting in the system. Also, there is a part of the act that aboriginal peoples find objectionable. That is the part that says, in paragraph 3(1)(o), that programming reflecting aboriginal peoples in Canada should be made available in the broadcasting system as resources become available for that purpose.
Think about that. If aboriginal peoples are part of the “public” of Canada, which you would have to think we are, then why is it that this part of the public is dealt with on a secondary basis in the Broadcasting Act?
We know that resources are not limitless. Allocating resources is always a question of balance, and that goes without saying. So why is it necessary to say to a part of the “public”—to aboriginal peoples—that our culture, as opposed to French or English culture, should be reflected in the system only if resources are available? Why single aboriginal peoples out in a fashion that relegates them to second-class status?
This is an easy part of the act to fix. This committee in the previous Parliament recommended that it should be fixed, and we strongly urge this committee to do what it can to make that happen.
It will make a difference. It may surprise you, but there are some who do not welcome APTN, which has been made possible only through enlightened regulation. Just a couple of weeks ago, one of Canada's largest and most powerful communications companies said to the CRTC that it was a mistake for the commission to have made APTN a basic service for all Canadians—despite the profound discrimination and exclusion faced by aboriginal peoples in Canadian society.
It was said that the commission should remove the protection afforded APTN, the basis for our existence, and move to a so-called “consumer-friendly"”approach. And then the comment was made that this approach should—and this is a direct quote—“take into account the needs of people as per the Broadcasting Act and as resources are available to meet those requirements”.
Well, in this context, which in plain speech means taking APTN away, that comment gives me a chill. Perhaps you can see now why it is important to get rid of those words about resources becoming available.
In Canada, the resources are available; it's a question of making priorities. We have heard before that resources are not available. We are hearing it now on a whole range of issues facing aboriginal peoples in Canada and we will hear it in the future. Let's get rid of this second-tier treatment for aboriginal peoples in the Broadcasting Act once and for all.
Incidentally, I still don't see how getting rid of APTN as a basic service would be consumer-friendly. According to BBM—and that's a national rating system—APTN has an average weekly reach of nearly three million Canadians, with peaks of almost four million viewers, and these are almost entirely non-aboriginal Canadians. We also have a huge aboriginal audience.
In our written remarks, we pointed out that the CBC and APTN had made productive collaborative efforts in the past as public broadcasters in order to achieve common objectives. We have been encouraged by this common effort. However, we believe there is room for improvement.
We have made specific recommendations in this area in our written submission, and I will not take the time of the committee to repeat them here.
We have partnered with broadcasters and BDUs in the past few years—with key players such as CTV, Rogers OMNI Television, Bell ExpressVu, S-VOX, CanWest, Cancom, the Harvard Broadcasting radio group, among a few others—and we have clearly laid out our place in this major industry.
I suggest to the committee that the time has come to remove the last barrier that prevents us from being recognized fully by the Broadcasting Act. I am hopeful that this committee will maintain its support to amend the Broadcasting Act and help us to resist those who would see us disappear.
Thank you. I'm going to answer your questions.