Good afternoon, Madam Chairperson and committee members.
Thank you for the invitation to discuss Bill C-18. I am Jean LaRose, president and chief executive officer of Dadan Sivunivut. I am Abenaki from the Odanak First Nation, and I thank the Algonquin nation for allowing us to meet on their unceded territory.
Dadan Sivunivut was created by APTN in 2019 to assume responsibility for APTN's non-television activities. Among other businesses, Dadan Sivunivut oversees First Peoples Radio, which operates radio stations in Ottawa and Toronto, and is active in IndigiNews, a digital news service based in western Canada that covers the ancestral and unceded homelands of the Halkomelem and Squamish-speaking peoples.
Dadan Sivunivut supports the objective of Bill C-18, which will provide ongoing support for news organizations to offset the impact of dominant digital intermediaries on Canadian journalism.
However, the bill needs to better reflect the unique place of indigenous news organizations based on Canada's commitment to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. UNDRIP includes the express recognition of the rights of indigenous peoples to operate our own media in our own languages.
At the least, Bill C-18 should place indigenous news outlets on the same footing as non-indigenous local news services. Intentionally or not, the bill creates a kind of hierarchy of news services, and diverse news outlets, including those serving indigenous communities, are placed on a lower tier than other local news services.
Let me explain. As it stands now, subclause 11(1) of the bill requires that agreements with digital intermediaries must include “a significant portion of...local news businesses” and “contribute to the sustainability of those businesses”. In comparison, with regard to indigenous news outlets, those agreements need to include only “a range of news outlets that reflect the diversity”, which includes language, race, and indigenous communities. This is a much lower standard. The bill does not require that a significant portion of indigenous news outlets be included or that the agreements contribute to sustainability. It should.
We have proposed specific language to improve the bill that would address this issue. I will quickly take you through it.
Our proposed language would include a reference to UNDRIP in the recitals to the bill and a reference to indigenous storytelling as a component of indigenous news. We propose a specific definition for an indigenous news outlet: one that is controlled by indigenous peoples and produces news content for indigenous peoples.
We propose that, in subclause 11(1) of the bill, agreements reached by digital news intermediaries include a significant portion of indigenous news outlets and meaningfully support their sustainability.
We propose that the eligibility criteria for news outlets in clauses 27 and 31 of the bill also reflect the unique characteristics of indigenous news outlets and the core issues affecting indigenous rights and self-government in the same way that Canada's democratic institutions and practices are core matters for non-indigenous new services.
Lastly, we propose that the list of arbitrators to be maintained under clause 31 of the bill include indigenous persons.
These changes would help to make Bill C-18 meaningful for indigenous peoples and for our right to operate our own media in our own languages.
This is a critical time in Canada for indigenous peoples and for Canadians as we travel together on the road to reconciliation. We will face challenges, but we are hopeful that we will also earn the rewards of greater understanding and a revitalization of indigenous cultures and languages.
We support Bill C-18 with the changes we have proposed as one step on this road, but it is only a step.
We have also encouraged the government to provide direct support for indigenous media through independently administered, stable and meaningful funding. While I recognize that a fund is not what we are discussing today, I strongly believe that a fund, administered by an independent body and focused on supporting a new generation of indigenous journalists in indigenous media, as well as other diversity media, is a necessity. We should not lose sight of the high barriers that indigenous peoples face in conserving and promoting our cultures and languages. No one bill will be sufficient, though if it truly reflects indigenous rights and cultures, this one will help at a critical time.
I would be pleased to answer any questions you may have. Thank you.