Canadian Heritage committee  Discoverability remains an issue for APTN, because it's one thing that CRTC hasn't mandated. Our channel may be part of the skinny basic packages or may be one of the mandatory channels in some locations. However, in other places, we're relegated to channels 300, 400 or 500.

Canadian Heritage committee  Often, people see a great deal of snow before finding us, and it's easy to get lost in a snowstorm. Discoverability is really very important. I believe that APTN is one of Vidétron's first 10 to 15 channels. We're grouped with other channels in Rogers' skinny basic package. This

Canadian Heritage committee  The APTN channel is very present on digital and online platforms. We provide a large part of our programming online. We're trying to expand the distribution of our products online. We're looking to establish a partnership with a major distributor or with another distributor that

Canadian Heritage committee  Hearing from everyone, I think certainly from our end here at the table, the big issue for us is finding opportunities to expose the content we create, and it's defining ways to expand the opportunities we currently have. When it comes to the remuneration model, as we said earli

Canadian Heritage committee  In conclusion, this committee is examining remuneration models for creators. Clearly, artist compensation has to keep pace with changes in technology and how Canadians see and hear the content that they enjoy. At the same time, for many indigenous artists, the main question is st

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you, Chair. My name is Jean La Rose. I'm the chief executive officer of the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network and the chairperson of First Peoples Radio, which I will be speaking about in a moment. I am joined today by Sky Bridges, APTN's chief operating officer. We wi

Canadian Heritage committee  Currently, there are very few people we are not able to reach. We are part of the basic package offer and, of course, about 97% to 98% of Canadian homes are wired. In this respect, we are able to reach as many people as CBC/Radio-Canada does. Our greatest problems are in our nort

Canadian Heritage committee  That is probably—

Canadian Heritage committee  It is probably up to 40%. If we look at all our communities that are not near urban centres and are in remote areas, they often do not have access to this service.

Canadian Heritage committee  It is still necessary to go via satellite. Often, the community cannot afford more than one receiver for all of its people. Anyway, we all know that the North has an entirely different dynamic.

Canadian Heritage committee  Those numbers are set by the CRTC. They are the ones who have set the percentage of English, French, and aboriginal languages. Every year, in a certain way, we exceed that 28%, because for a lot of the programming that is in languages we will play it on the different channels,

Canadian Heritage committee  Exactly. The challenge we have even in sharing our news stories when we put them online is that anywhere in the north or remote communities they just don't have the bandwidth to be able to download them.

Canadian Heritage committee  Absolutely. Increased bandwidth would make an incredible difference in connecting many of those communities, not only to us but to each other. Right now they can't even download a news story that we have unless it's strictly audio.

Canadian Heritage committee  Obviously we're not fully able to do it, especially with the travel costs in the north, which are horrendous. We do have bureaus in the three territorial capitals: Whitehorse, Yellowknife, and Iqaluit. From there we send our staff to cover stories in remote localities. When somet

Canadian Heritage committee  Good morning, Madam Chair and members of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage. I am Jean La Rose, the Chief Executive Officer of the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network. I am an Abenakis citizen from the Odanak First Nation. With me today is Joel Fortune, our legal adv