Seeking Campus/Community Radio Support for Native Languages

[Neskie Manuel]

Weytk-p,

My name is Neskie Manuel.  I'm the new Aboriginal Programming
Coordinator at CKDU in Halifax. As part of this job, I've been
attending the National Campus/Community Radio Conference [1] in
Windsor, ON.  This is the first year the Native Radio Caucus has met,
which was called for by elder Mary-Rose Bearfoot-Jones an elder and
radio programmer at CJAM 91.5.

The conference is an annual conference held by the National
Campus/Community Radio Association [2].   We are putting forward a
motion to look for more active support for First Nations language
programming.   This support would come from the NCRA and member
stations in the form of:

 * ask NCRA staff for help in seeking funding for local language shows
 * making space to accomadate language shows
 * asking member stations to actively seek out fluent speakers and
invite them to produce innovative and exciting programming

In campus/community radio across Canada there are shows in various
immigrant languages, but the First Nations language programming is few
and far between.  There are stations across Canada that service
aboriginal people.   In Vancouver there are three member stations and
in Winnipeg there are several, in Montreal there is CKUT and in
Kamloops there is CFBX.

The Native Radio Caucus will draft a motion and submit it today I
would like to ask for comments on it.  Voting on it will occur
tomorrow and there will be time to make ammendments.  If anyone has
any recommendations or ideas of how campus/community radio stations
could help language revitalization I would like to know.

Kukstsemc.

Neskie Manuel

PS. I thought the apology underestimated the scope of the residential
schools and the damages it caused.  The level of funding and support
the Canadian government is allocating to revive languages is nowhere
near the level it used to take away those same languages.

[1] - http://web2.uwindsor.ca/cjam/NCRC08site/index.html
[2] - http://www.ncra.ca