{"id":549969,"date":"2026-03-20T23:07:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T23:07:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/549969\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T23:07:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T23:07:09","slug":"ottawa-announces-17m-for-production-and-broadcasting-of-indigenous-content","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/549969\/","title":{"rendered":"Ottawa announces $17M for production and broadcasting of Indigenous content"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Text<\/p>\n

Listen to this article<\/p>\n

Estimated 3 minutes<\/p>\n

The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n

Canada announced $17 million dedicated to Indigenous broadcasters, but one federal minister says that\u2019s a stopgap arrangement.<\/p>\n

Speaking in Yellowknife on Friday, Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture Marc Miller announced $17.2 million toward the production and broadcasting of Indigenous audio and video content across the country. That funding is part of the Northern Aboriginal Broadcasting, earmarked for the Indigenous Languages Program.<\/p>\n

But he acknowledged that the initiative is a short-term boost and requires a long-term, sustainable solution.<\/p>\n

\u201cGenerally, this is a program that\u2019s oversubscribed and probably needs more money,\u201d Miller said. “These radio stations, broadcasting stations, are generally ones in need of money.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miller said 23 radio stations across Canada will benefit from the $17 million. He called the funding \u201ccritical,\u201d because these stations often broadcast to remote communities where they might not get news from other sources.<\/p>\n

“In the Indigenous space, this is perhaps a more trusted source of information, so that is also particularly important in an emergency management situation,” he added.<\/p>\n

But he also said their needs must be balanced against where and how Ottawa spends its money.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt often requires some fine tuning, so it \u2019s something I\u2019m looking at,\u201d said Miller, who has held the Canadian identity and culture portfolio for about three months.<\/p>\n

Passing on \u2018the art of storytelling\u2019<\/p>\n

Part of the funding includes more than $850,000 over two years for the Native Communications Society of the Northwest Territories, which is funneled to a local radio station, CKLB 101.9 FM, broadcasting in multiple Dene languages six days a week.<\/p>\n

Judi Kochon, an Indigenous language broadcaster at the station, said she\u2019s happy about the funding, because it can lead to more travel opportunities, and possibly better broadcasting equipment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She wants to use this money to travel to communities across the N.W.T., talking to people in her Indigenous language, and broadcast back their stories and interviews.<\/p>\n

\"JudiJudi Kochon is an Indigenous language broadcaster at CKLB 101.9 FM. She says Ottawa’s announced funding can lead to more travel opportunities for work down the road. (Elliot Pope CBC)<\/p>\n

She said travelling to places to interview people also helps attract more Indigenous youth. She would also like to take some coworkers with her who haven’t seen those parts of the territory, she added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I\u2019d like to do is pass on the oral language,\u201d she said. \u201cHow to tell stories, the art of storytelling.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 3 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":549970,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194295],"tags":[49,48,20739],"class_list":["post-549969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ottawa","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-ottawa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=549969"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549969\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/549970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=549969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=549969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=549969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}