Indigenous Radio Broadcasting
"The Indigenous broadcasting sector is an integral part of Canada’s diverse media landscape and provides a unique offering by broadcasting content that preserves Canada’s Aboriginal languages, helps to retain cultural traditions, and offers opportunities for Indigenous youth across the country to participate in media production" (Szwarc, 2018).
In Lorna Roth's 2005 book, Something New in the Air: the Story of First Peoples Television Broadcasting in Canada, she speaks of how in before the 1960s, the stereotypes of Indigenous people were found easily on radio and television and the potential harm it could have on their culture. So by the 1970s, Indigenous people had begun producing their own community radio stations. Today these Indigenous community radio stations are found around Canada, many available online to stream from anywhere. But these community radio stations also tie community together through sharing news of births and deaths, search and rescue assistance calls, a place to plan and broadcast solution ideas to community problems, and selling items such as cars (Bonin, 2017). They are free and easily accessible.
Indigenous Radio in the Media
- The Importance of Indigenous Radio-Olivia Marie GoloskyIndigenous Corporate Training Inc. blogpost
- What Is So Special About Indigenous Community Radio?Cultural Survival Blogpost
- Spoken from the Heart-Indigenous Radio in Canada(PDF) Prepared by the Canadian Commission of UNESCO.
Spoken from the Heart addresses the current state of Indigenous radio broadcasting in Canada and its influence on the promotion and revitalization of Indigenous languages. - The Development of Aboriginal Broadcasting in CanadaMedia Smarts/Canada's Centre for Digital and Media Literacy.
- History of Aboriginal BroadcastingHistory of Canadian Broadcasting-Canadian Communications Foundation
Indigenous Radio Stations
- Acimowin
Indigenous Community Radio on Fridays from 9am-1am on Edmonton's independent radio 88.5 FM - CBC North Radio Programs
Different programs hosted by Indigenous hosts throughout the week at different times in the Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, & Nord Quebec. - CBC Unreserved
Unreserved is the radio space for Indigenous community, culture, and conversation. Host Falen Johnson takes you across Indigenous Canada introducing listeners to the storytellers, culture makers and community shakers from across the country. Sunday at 7 p.m. and Tuesday at 1 p.m on CBC Radio One - CFNR Network
Canada's First Nation Radio covers over 80 communities on 5 frequencies in Central & Northern B.C. - CFTIServing New Brunswick and the Elsipogtog First Nation on 101.5
- CHON FM
CHON-FM is the only First Nation dedicated broadcaster in the Yukon with a wide and far reaching satellite delivered radio network. CHON-FM broadcasts on 98.1 FM in Whitehorse, and 90.5 FM in most communities in Yukon, Northern BC and Western NWT as well streaming live - CKON
Located in Akwesasne, a Mohawk nation territory that straddles the Canada–United States border - ELMNT FM
Serving Toronto (106.5) & Ottawa (95.7 FM) areas with Indigenous focused programming throughout the week and weeknight Indigenous Language Programming from 9pm-12 at . - Missinipi Broadcasting Corporation
Serving First Nations and Métis population in Saskatchewan - Nantaii
A CBC North show on Weekdays from 1-2 MT serving the Gwich'in communities of the Western Arctic and Old Crow, Yukon, as well as broadcasted throughout the NWT. Hosted by William Firth
- Native Communications Inc. (NCI)
Serving Manitoba. NCI is an Indigenous service organization offering radio programming, designed for and by Indigenous people. - Nipivut
Nipivut is a radio program by and for Inuit of Montreal. It is broadcast partly in Inuktitut, and partly in English. Every second Tuesday from 6pm-7pm - NIsh Radio
92.3 FM in Georgina Island, Ontario. The station airs a community radio format for the area's First Nations community - Nuxalk Radio
Serving the Bella Coola, BC area. Nuxalk Radio aims to be a part of building a grassroots Indigenous radio network with the focus on maintaining our languages, healing and empowering our Nations. 91.1 FM - OKâlaKatiget Society Radio
Radio station serving the North Coast and the Lake Melville region of Labrador on 99.9 FM. Offers online broadcasting. - Taqramiut Nipingat Radio
Northern Quebec. To promote, by communications means, the culture and the image of Inuit, by Inuit, to the Inuit and to the national and international scenes on 94.1 FM and online streaming - Tŝilhqot’in Radio
An Indigenous broadcasting group supporting revitalization and restoration of Tŝilhqot’in language and culture while building on the need to discuss relevant indigenous issues on a shareable platform to thousands across the country. Serving the Cariboo Chilcotin/Williams Lake area of B.C. 104.5 - Unceded Airwaves
Unceded Airwaves is a bi-weekly radio program produced by CiTR’s Indigenous Collective. We are committed to centering Indigenous voices and offering alternative narratives that empower Indigenous people and their stories. Every other Thursday from 6-7 on 101.9 in Vancouver - Windspeaker Radio CJWE & CFWE
Playing country music and highlighting Indigenous & Métis news. CJWE serves the southern half of Alberta, while CFWE serves the northern half.
Library Resources on Indigenous Radio
- CBQM written & directed by Dennis AllenDennis Allen pays tribute to the "Moccasin Telegraph" in his latest documentary, CBQM. He crafts a nuanced and big-hearted portrait of the place they call McPhoo, a small town that hugs the banks of the Peel River, about 150 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle through their daily radio shows. Available through streaming. An NFB film
- Kramer, J. (2018). BROADCASTING SOVEREIGNTY: Exhibiting nuxalk radio at the university of british columbia. BC Studies, (199), 151.Because the work of the Nuxalk Nation was displayed in a university gallery space, UBC students and other visitors witnessed another form of broadcasting Nuxalk knowledge and authority - one that mimicked a potlatch, wherein guests legitimize their host's history and rights to land and resources through seeing them ceremonially enacted in speech, song, dance, and materialized crests.
- Moscato, Derek. "Cultural Resiliency and the Rise of Indigenous Media."From Canada to Japan, and Australia to Mexico, this ambitious and wide-reaching work examines a broad international movement that at once protects ancient languages and customs but also communicates to audiences across countries, oceans, and political boundaries.
- Recommendations for a New Consultation Process and Policy for First Nations, Inuit and Métis Broadcasting - Final ReportThis report reflects the discussions and presentations that took place at the Future of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Broadcasting: Conversation and Convergence gatherings from February to June, 2017. The gatherings aimed to bring practitioners, policy makers and academics together as allies to prepare a context for respectful and meaningful consultation. The idea was to create or identify the terms of reference for the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) review the Native Broadcasting Policy
- Songlines to Satellites: Indigenous Communication in Australia, the South Pacific and Canada by Helen Molnar and Michael Meadows.Songlines to Satellites explores the developmental history and policy environments of the Indigenous media sectors in Australia, New Zealand, the South Pacific Island countries and Canada.
Proposed CRTC Indigenous Radio Stations
On June 14th, 2017, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) created five new radio licenses to serve Indigenous populations across Canada.
Their press release stated that the CRTC was "fulfilling an urgent need for radio stations for Indigenous people in the cities of Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Ottawa and Toronto, which [had] not had a station entirely devoted to Indigenous people since 2015".
The stations will broadcast on the following frequencies: