III. Development of Northern and Inuit Broadcasting

    In the early 1980s, it became quite obvious that the creation of a more equitable system of access to media and communication technologies was a priority. This New World Information Order was based on the 1978 report of UNESCO's International Commission for the Study of Communication Problems, known as the MacBride Commission after its president Sean MacBride.
    For many years, the cultural and financial dependence of developing areas on dominant economic powers (such as the US or southern Canada) had hindered the development of the type of local television that might have had the potential to better serve the interests of viewers. According to the MacBride Commission, equal opportunities in communication were part of the basic human rights in the same way as freedom of expression. Besides, it was urgent for developing areas to be given the technological and financial means to produce their own programming and thus preserve their cultures and identities with a greater independence and self-reliance concerning television production.
    Regarding the Canadian North, this chapter aims first at considering the arguments for the development of an Inuit broadcasting system, then at examining the Canadian government's attitude toward Aboriginal broadcasting by comparison with New Zealand. Finally, it offers an account of the development of Inuit and Aboriginal broadcasting in the Canadian North as a consequence of the New World Information Order.

A) Arguments for the Development of Inuit Broadcasting in the North

    The most important argument for the development of an Inuit broadcasting system was clearly the preservation of Inuit interests. In this respect, Inuit broadcasting came as a response to help mitigate the damaging effects of television studied in chapter two but also to restore their place in Canadian society.
    To begin with, thanks to home-made programs an Inuit broadcasting system could promote the preservation and strengthening of Inuit's ancestral culture, enrich Inuit's cultural and social fabric, provide positive role models as well as make sure that Inuktitut remains a living language spoken by all the Inuit. In October 1998, when Canadians were invited to express their views concerning TVNC's application for the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network, Shellene Moore, a "supporter of aboriginal communication philosophies" as she terms herself, addressed the CRTC as follows:

Our language is a very important element in preserving the distinctness of being Aboriginal people. Both language and culture depend on the survival of our spirituality, knowledge of the sea and land harvesting skills, healing traditions, intellectual and cultural properties promoted and protected, if not by the appropriate political entities then by each and every aboriginal person using their own words.(1)

    A network providing a relevant and in-depth Inuit point of view could help Inuit to interpret local, national and international issues and events in the context of their own understanding in order for them to readily appreciate the implications of the Euro-Canadian way of living and the developments taking place in the North.
    Northern communities are quite isolated from one another in Nunavut (making up one third of Canada's land mass): the only way in or out of settlements is by plane (or snowmobile) and these huge distances make electronic media such as television of vital importance to the development of improved communication between Inuit and between Northerners. Television could provide a virtual forum to exchange and vehicle their ideas, contribute to the national and international flow of information and exercise their right to freedom of expression.
    An Inuit broadcasting system also meant employing Inuit in the planning, production and distribution of their own television programs, providing them with training opportunities and communication technologies.
    All in all, we can say that according to Daniel Lerner's criteria, Inuit broadcasting would enable Inuit to express themselves and to take their own place as "participants" in the Canadian nation, or in other words to become citizens.

    Television is not only considered in terms of audience but also in terms of consumer market: viewers are above all consumers, they consume goods and services and television is one of them.
    First of all, if we study the market of television in the Canadian North, it appears that CBC had a de facto monopoly in the early 1980s. There was absolutely no alternative service for the Northwest Territories' sixty communities and 42,800 inhabitants whereas southern Canadians enjoyed at least three channels and most of the time twenty thanks to cable television (and American networks). As a result, there was a severe imbalance as far as pluralism was concerned between the North and the South.
    The absence of private competitors such as CTV was due to a persistent misconception: the Northern market was theoretically too small and too spread out for commercial television operators. According to the Northern News Services website (NNS Market Data, http://www.nnsl.com, 1999), the North is a much bigger potential market than many realise and to some extent it has been a neglected market:

- Disposable income of many [Qablunait] Northerners is far above the national average because of the high wages paid. This creates a particularly attractive market for luxury and semi-luxury products.

- Distribution systems are in place. Getting products to dealers or consumers is not nearly as complex as many suppose. [...]

- Northern consumers buy far more per capita of some products than do their Southern cousins.

    In these conditions, a commercial television channel including both Inuktitut-regional programs and English-mainstream programs can be profitable. This argument is supported by the splintering of the mass-market model.
    The splintering of the mass market model suggests that the notion of a television network being created to appeal to audiences on a universal level began to decline in the early 1980s with the development (in the US) of services targeting special interest groups. The aim was to gain better marketing or advertising opportunities to these groups. Such services were either thematic (e.g. Cable News Network, Music Television) or ethnic (e.g. Black Entertainment Television).
    Black Entertainment Television (BET) was launched by former vice president of government relations for the National Cable Television Association, Robert L. Johnson in January 1980. It was created to serve the specific interests of the African-American community by "delivering quality entertainment, information, merchandise and leisure time activity to the growing African-American marketplace".(2)
    Today, BET Holdings Inc. , one of the leading Black-owned and Black-operated media companies in the US, operates five cable channels but also businesses outside the cable industry such as a publishing division or restaurants. In addition to Black Entertainment Television (56 million subscribers in January 1999), BET Holdings Inc. launched four other channels targeting African-American consumers but also foreign markets such as Europe and Asia. For instance, BET on Jazz, a 24-hour jazz programming service launched in January 1996, reaches 1.5 million international subscribers (it is available in France through the TPS DTH (Direct-To-Home) satellite package and cable networks).
    Black Entertainment Television has proved that an ethnic television channel is not necessarily a cultural ghetto and can become a fantastic show case (e.g. BET on Jazz). It has also demonstrated that it is possible for a commercial television channel to target a specific community within a given nation provided the consumer market is large enough to attract the advertising manna (in addition to subscription fees). However, when the consumer market is not large enough, there is another option to secure the necessary financial means: public financing.

CBC North's organisation is the perfect example of what should have been done with television: it proves that Northern broadcastings in Inuktitut can be successful provided the necessary funds (CAN$ 12,000,000) are raised.

As soon as the late 1970s, satellite technology made it possible to broadcast local and specific programs in Northern communities. First, the national network's signal was being delivered to one of the four regional production centres:

- CBC Western Arctic- Inuvik, NWT (service in English, Gwich'in, Inuvialuktun)

- CBC Mackenzie-Yellowknife, NWT (service in English, Dogrib, North Slavey, South Slavey and Chipewyan)

- CBC Eastern Arctic-Iqaluit(Frobisher Bay), NWT (service in English and Inuktitut)

- CBC Yukon-Whitehorse, YU (service in English and Gwich'in-Loucheux)

later joined by:

- CBC Kivalliq-Rankin Inlet, NWT (service in English and Inuktitut)

- SRC Nord Québec-Kuujjuaq, PQ (service in French and Cree)

    Then, the regional production centre could beam its signal to the satellite which would bounce it back to any receiving station where it was redistributed throughout the local community by a low power relay transmitter. As a consequence, the Inuit audience could receive not only live national CBC programming but also regional and most of the time local programming. For instance, CBC Eastern Arctic in Iqaluit would produce ten hours a day of regional and local programs and more than half of it was in Inuktitut, including on prime-time. The Inuktitut programming featured current affairs shows, phone-in shows, a full range of newscasts, shows about old legends exploring Inuit's oral tradition) and even recipes.
    Concerning community stations, CBC would provide the basic studio, the maintenance and a training program for volunteer announcers, whereas the community (with help from the territorial government) was in charge of the operating expenses.
    This radio system and above all access community broadcasts enjoyed a great success and this model of public multi-local broadcasting was certainly the most appropriate for a Northern television network. It was possible and not that costly.

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