Something New in the Air: The Story of First Peoples Television Broadcasting in Canada

Susan Manitowabi is an assistant professor of Native Human Services at
Laurentian University in Sudbury.

Something New in the Air traces the history of First Peoples
broadcasting up to and including the establishment of what is now known
as the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN).

The author identifies six distinct phases of that history: the
stereotypical misrepresentation of First Peoples; the emergence of
Aboriginal broadcasting policies; the consolidation and expansion of
broadcasting infrastructure; the CRTC’s granting of a licence to
Television Northern Canada (TVNC) “for the purpose of broadcasting
cultural, social, political and educational programming for the benefit
of aboriginal people in the north”; the expansion of Aboriginal
programming to the south, a process that initially involved the selling
of program services to raise money; and the founding of the Aboriginal
Peoples Television Network (APTN).

As Roth’s engaging study demonstrates, instead of allowing the media
to further erode their culture, the First Peoples succeeded in using the
media as a tool for self-development and for mediating social and race
relations.