Good afternoon.
I represent the Temiskaming area in the Temiskaming—James Bay sector.
With regard to French-language television we are served by Radio-Canada, TVA and TQS, but by their Montreal stations. In other words, there is no news from Toronto. We receive very little coverage, even at the regional level. When the news shifts to our area, Rouyn-Noranda, Val-d’Or and similar places, rarely, if ever, do you hear about Kirkland Lake or Temiskaming Shores. We also get TFO, which is primarily an educational station that broadcasts Ontario content.
As for radio, there is CBON Sudbury in French which, due to recent and past cuts, no longer visits the regions. Once again, they report on Sudbury and the surrounding area but, unless there is a disaster, not on Kirkland Lake. As for English radio stations, there is CJKL in Kirkland Lake and CJTT in Temiskaming Shores. On the Quebec side, there is Radio Ville-Marie, which offers a few programs once per week but does not really serve the region.
There are no French-language newspapers. In the past, we had Les Nouvelles in Timmins. However, as Sylvin explained, that newspaper became an insert in the Timmins English-language newspaper and it is no longer distributed in our region. The Kirkland Lake Northern News and The Temiskaming Speaker out of Temiskaming Shores are the English-language newspapers.
In summary, we have very few resources to provide coverage of our activities, our victories and all the rest, unless reported in another language by the media to the people in the region in order to keep them informed. Consequently, this forces francophones to purchase both English newspapers in order to find out what is happening in the francophone community.