Thank you, Madam Chair.
Good morning, Mr. Blais.
I believe one of the great success stories of Canadian broadcasting in the last 15 years is indigenous broadcasting, APTN. Maybe it's because I'm based in Winnipeg. They offer close to 100 indigenous independent producers in three different streams, including in the remote north. They are linked up with the world indigenous broadcasting network. They are a great benefactor of paragraph 9(1)(h), which has been supportive of many excellent public broadcasters, but the reality is, according to a report I have or some notes I have, paragraph 9(1)(h) is a fee on BDUs. Close to 200,000 Canadians have cancelled their television, cable, or satellite service since 2015, which will greatly impact the revenues of a network like APTN and many more. It will impact local access, in some cases, to indigenous language broadcasting.
I'm wondering if CRTC has given some thought to that. Will you assure Canadians that valuable indigenous programming and indigenous language programming will remain viable and well funded into the future?