Evan Adams.

3817 THE CHAIRPERSON: Good afternoon, Mr. Adams.

INTERVENTION / INTERVENTION

3818 MR. ADAMS: Good afternoon. Before I give my intervention on behalf of
Gary Farmer's application I would like to
introduce myself.

3819 My name is Evan Adams. I am a Cosalish writer and actor. I'm a
third-year medical student at the University of Calgary.
I'm a 15-year member of the Association of Canadian Radio and Television
Artists, ACTRA, and a 12-year member of the
Canadian Actors Equity Association. I'm a past advisory committee member
and assessor for the Canada Council Dance
Program and a member of the Alberta Medical Association and Canadian
Medical Association.

3820 I am a strong supporter of radio as an essential means of
communication within and between native communities. I
appreciate the positive role currently played by native radio broadcasters
in many nations across Canada. These primarily rural --
and this is important -- primarily rural and northern broadcasters provide
an irreplaceable voice for many First Nations peoples
living in relative isolation. Yet one-third to one-half -- and this is from
the Prime Minister's office; it's closer to one-half --
one-third to one-half of all aboriginal Canadians live in urban centres
where native radio is often completely unavailable. One-half
of our band lists are mixed-race people, many of whom do not live on
reserve but desire some linkage to their heritage.

3821 More and more aboriginal people, myself included, leave our reserves,
our homelands, our cultures, our languages, and
everything we know, in pursuit of the dominant cultures' mandates. We move
south to urban centres in pursuit of work and
educational opportunities.

3822 I have spent seven years in post-secondary training, with three more
to go, in order to achieve my goal of being a practising
physician.

3823 My point in this is simple: I moved south many years ago. My English
is much better; my own language is much worse.

3824 The urban aboriginal person has few resources in support of their
desire to cross over into fuller participation in the
dominant culture.

3825 Thus far, most of the cultural initiatives for aboriginal peoples have
centered on rural areas.

3826 Incidentally, 90 per cent of health dollars are spent on reserve for
aboriginal people and not for off-reserve aboriginal people,
and this is a trend that follows through in many areas of government support.

3827 Basically, the aboriginal person has been categorized, mistakenly, as
a rural person.

3828 The urban aboriginal is alive and well and crossing over into the
mainstream. In pursuit of our studies and work, we move
south and intra-urban. We stop hearing our languages. We are away from the
voices of our elders. We stop living inside of our
vivid heritage. I do not see aboriginal faces in my medical school. I do
not hear aboriginal voices. Compared to the north, the
urban Indian is culturally bereft.

3829 I grew up speaking English and French in an officially bilingual
country. I completely understand and feel the need for
protection of the vitality of "la Francophonie" in predominantly
English-speaking Canada. I draw that parallel today. An
anglophone French Canada would expect to hear English language and culture
somewhere in their day-to-day life. Ditto a
francophone in English Canada. I am not unreasonable in my desire to hear
even an echo of my people in my day-to-day life.
Urban aboriginal radio programming would go a long way to this end.

3830 Recently, I cut pictures out of a Wal-Mart flier because inside was an
aboriginal woman modelling clothes. She wasn't
wearing beads and feathers, she wasn't derelict, nor a depiction of the
media-popular "Indian social problem". She seemed an
everyday, nice, ordinary person of obvious aboriginal descent. It was my
reaction to this image that galvanized me to appear here
today. I am a perfectly ordinary aboriginal person living in a city and I
never see images of contemporary aboriginal life -- at least,
I see it so seldom that when I do see it, I feel amazement. This young
woman now hangs on my bathroom door as concrete proof
of my existence.

3831 ACTRA, the Association of Canadian Television and Radio Artists,
recently released their annual report, stating that people
of colour represented less than 2 per cent of the roles in radio and
television last year -- a decline even from the previous year --
yet aboriginal people themselves are approximately 3 per cent of the
Canadian population. Clearly, Canadian radio and television
are failing miserably to represent the cultural diversity, current
demographics and the multicultural, pluralistic society that makes
Canada so great.

3832 No aboriginal radio is readily available in this city. Aboriginal
representation is once again absent in this field. I still do not
hear aboriginal voices.

3833 Gary Farmer has been instrumental in the launching of Aboriginal
People's Television Network last year. APTN brings
aboriginal cultural television programming to mainstream and aboriginal
audiences.

3834 Gary Farmer has a long, unwavering history of dedicated service to the
aboriginal community. He continues to break ground
and has been unquestionably the leader in aboriginal media.

3835 Gary Farmer's application for Aboriginal Voices Radio shows foresight
and attempts to fulfil a dire need. The need for
native radio is as great, if not greater, for aboriginal people living in
the midst of these multicultural cauldrons.

3836 The Aboriginal Voices Radio service has committed to providing a voice
for urban aboriginal people and to supporting
connections between and more rural native communities. They are committed
to supporting artists, producers and performers.
They are committed to encouraging enterprise, industry and innovation. They
are committed to including diverse voices, especially
the energy of youth and the wisdom of elders. And I am committed to
supporting their licensing.

3837 Thank you for allowing me time to speak on their behalf.

3838 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you, Mr. Adams, for your presentation.

3839 Earlier in the process, there was some representations made by others
that perhaps Toronto programming in Calgary might
not be as effective as it could be because of the time zone differences and
the smaller amount of local input.

3840 Do you have any thoughts on that?

3841 MR. ADAMS: I think that any radio programming that's going to try and
be important to all urban peoples needs to have a
wider base. I think it's possible to have regional programming and
further-reaching programming as well.

3842 I am not from the Calgary area. My people are from British Columbia. I
have come here to study. Most of the urban
aboriginal people you will find in any of the cities will not be from the
nations that are close by, so I don't see that programming
from other nations is a problem. In fact, I think it should be welcomed.

3843 Many of us work at national levels for our peoples. Many of us need to
have experiences and sensitivity to indigenous
peoples who are not from our bands and our families. I don't see how
programming from other places is going to be a detriment.
In fact, I think it's going to be beneficial.

3844 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you very much, Mr. Adams. There's no further
questions.

3845 MR. ADAMS: Thanks.

3846 THE CHAIRPERSON: I apologize. We do have a few more for you, perhaps.

3847 Commissioner Cram...?

3848 COMMISSIONER CRAM: I only wanted to say I wish you success in your
medical career. I think you have already
started your signature looks exactly like any other doctor's signature looks.

--- Laughter / Rires

3849 MR. ADAMS: Thank you.

3850 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you, Mr. Adams.

3851 MR. ADAMS: Thanks.

3852 THE CHAIRPERSON: Mr. Secretary...?

3853 MR. BURNSIDE: Thank you, Mr. Chair.

3854 As I said earlier, we will backtrack a little bit and we will call
Intervention No. 7, Richard Agecoutay, who is representing
the Banff Centre for the Arts, the Aboriginal Arts Program.

3855 You may proceed when you are ready.

INTERVENTION / INTERVENTION

3856 MR. AGECOUTAY: Greetings and thanks for allowing me to speak on behalf
of the Aboriginal Voices Radio Network.

3857 My name is Richard Agecoutay. I'm a Soto Assiniboine Cree, originally
from southern Saskatchewan. I have been living in
Alberta now for about seven and a half years.

3858 My background is in the cultural industries. I spent a number of years
in radio and television and theatre. I last worked in
Calgary at the A-Channel, as a news cameraman, an editor and associate
producer. I know very well there are challenges of
being an aboriginal person working in mainstream television industry and
radio.

3859 I'm here to address and support the application by the Aboriginal
Voices Radio Network on two levels: first, personally; and,
secondly, as the program production co-ordinator for the Aboriginal Arts
Program at the Banff Centre.

3860 Aboriginal peoples throughout the Americas have always had a strong
tradition regarding the spoken word. Our oral
traditions have enabled us to survive and continue to survive in an
ever-changing political, social and spiritual environment. The
sacred stories of our ancestors were first passed down by word of mouth.
These stories have woven a strong and vibrant fabric
that sustains us in our endeavours to persevere as a unique people with
unique cultures.

3861 It is only logical that we, as aboriginal peoples here in Canada, have
an entity such as the Aboriginal Voices Radio Network
that supports our voice using the technology of radio.

3862 Not only would the Aboriginal Voices Radio Network provide this with
an opportunity to latch onto the remaining cultural
vestiges of our ancestral cultures, but as well it will bridge the
traditional with the contemporary.

3863 Our contemporary perspectives will be reflected in the programming
schedule by AVRN in areas such as: news, talk radio,
politics, contemporary culture and entertainment.

3864 AVNR will also provide a continuum for our traditional languages by
providing an opportunity for the preservation and
dissemination of these languages on the airwaves throughout Canada. These
traditional elements will be parallaxed with new and
fresh works by writers, poets, playwrights, journalists and storytellers
alike.

3865 Most immediate, the Aboriginal Voices Radio Network will impact the
wealth of our aboriginal recording artists throughout
Turtle Island. No longer will our artists be marginalized by the mainstream
commercial attitudes of today's radio stations. The
Aboriginal Voices Radio Network will lend validity to so many artists that
toil away in obscurity. By supporting and giving airplay
to these artists, AVRN will allow our collective spirit to take flight and
soar freely.

3866 Secondly, as a worker in the cultural industry -- I just have to go
through my notes -- we are happy that AVRN will be
allowing an opportunity for our cultural workers, aboriginal cultural
workers, to work within this industry.

3867 As you know, aside from relevant programming, AVRN will provide
employment, and this will aid in the area of community
economic development within our society. As you already know, the cultural
industries in mainstream Canada are responsible for
many employment opportunities as well as huge economic spinoffs. Areas such
as television and film, for instance, provide
thousands of jobs and many, many millions of dollars that stimulate the
Canadian economy. Yet within these industries again we
are grossly under-represented.

3868 Having a national aboriginal radio network would be an early step in
the right direction addressing these inequalities. Not
only will it provide jobs but it will stimulate the creation of new works
and offer a platform for artists to share their work. AVNR
will also provide an avenue to market these new cultural works.

3869 At the Aboriginal Arts Program at the Banff Centre, we have an
aboriginal dance program, a screenwriting program,
aboriginal women's voices program, a curatorial program. All these programs
will fit nicely into content for the Aboriginal Voices
Radio Network.

3870 We toil hard, many hours at the Banff Centre. We are understaffed, as
many aboriginal institutions across Canada are. We
are fighting for the voice of our people. Our culture is strong. We are
looking to continue to see our voices being shared and to
build communities across Canada. This is done through the arts. The arts is
one of the most powerful places where our people
can work and pass on our ideas about our culture and to continue to pass on
these so our future children can have pride and
become an aboriginal person.

3871 With that, I am proud and happy to support AVRN, on a personal level
as well as from the Aboriginal Arts Program at the
Banff Centre.

3872 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you, Mr. Agecoutay.

3873 Commissioner Langford, do you have questions?

3874 COMMISSIONER LANGFORD: Thanks very much.

3875 Just a couple of questions, and it may be on an area of this
application you are not familiar with, and if it is, well, you're not.

3876 Were you here this morning when we heard from a Mr. Bert Crowfoot who
was opposing this application?

3877 MR. AGECOUTAY: I was in transit, but I have been briefed by Bert
Crowfoot --

3878 COMMISSIONER LANGFORD: You have been briefed.

3879 He went on in some detail and I can't hope to put it all in one
caption, but I think, trying as hard as I could to be fair, to
categorize what he had to say it was something like this, that he saw the
need for such an application being granted in Calgary for
a voice for the aboriginal people on the radio in Calgary but thought that,
at this particular time, the application was premature,
that it was underfunded and would, in a sense, be really not a local voice
but a repeat of the Toronto station, which in fact didn't
yet exist: it has been licensed, but hadn't got it up and running.

3880 I think what he was saying was that there are some good, strong local
voices here already, that the time would come for an
application such as Mr. Farmer's but the time was not now.

3881 Do you have any views on that intervention?

3882 MR. AGECOUTAY: Well, I'm not about to begin to speak Bert Crowfoot's
mind, but in my own personal view, any voice
of aboriginal people, wherever it comes from is important.

3883 We currently are working on a streaming project at the Banff Centre
for aboriginal people. I currently listen to American
Indian radio on satellite. That is so far removed from the area of Banff,
yet I am drawn to listen to it because any news in Indian
country is news to anyone throughout Turtle Island.

3884 Yes, in this region there are people that can represent the Alberta
region, but the national network will just offer an avenue
for those people to tap into, to share the resources that are coming out of
the national network, as well as develop regional
programming. Radio is a medium that is quite cheap and accessible for our
people to access.

3885 What we are trying to do at the Aboriginal Arts Program at the Banff
Centre is to develop audiostreaming for our people
because most band offices now -- well, most homes -- not most homes but
most band offices have the capability of streaming
audio and they can access and develop their own radio programming on the
Internet. I know the CRTC is not licensing the
Internet. That is one of the reasons why we are going that route because we
do things with artists and artists have a different
mindset and think outside of the box. I know that term is overused.

3886 On a personal level, I feel that any aboriginal news or music coming
from anywhere is definitely -- it can have a place
alongside of regional.

3887 I will go back to the Eros example. They play artists from all over
the world, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Sadie Buck. Sadie Buck
has cut a CD at our programming and I hear it played by American stations.
Our artistic groups are so small and marginalized
outside of the mainstream media that we tend to play what is recognizable
all across Turtle Island, all the new bands that are
coming up, all the old established artists are being played on almost every
major aboriginal radio network in the States and local
ones in Canada.

3888 I don't see a national network being a threat to the local programming
because it will only offer, hopefully, more resources,
but at least an avenue for local people to get their voice out onto a
national network. Because we come from such many diverse
areas, it is important to hear social, economic, political and spiritual
issues that are happening throughout the country. That way
we can share and it develops our community. It offers us a platform to
understand the reality of our brothers and sisters
throughout Turtle Island.

3889 COMMISSIONER LANGFORD: Thanks very much.

3890 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you, Mr. Agecoutay. Those are all our questions.

3891 MR. AGECOUTAY: Okay.
Turtle Island Native Network
Aboriginal News & Information
http://www.turtleisland.org
E-mail: infocom@...