APTN board hears British Columbia's complaints

Page 7

Aboriginal people living in British Columbia want more say in the operation of the world's first Aboriginal television network.

That was the general theme of a four-hour public consultation session at the Squamish Recreation Centre near North Vancouver on June 6.

All 20 current members of the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network's (APTN) board of directors were on hand, as was Jean LaRose, the network's chief executive officer. The board currently has one vacancy.

Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs president, Chief Stewart Phillip, read into the record a letter he had sent APTN in February.

"It is our view that APTN is not meeting its mandate and therefore not fulfilling its obligations as a national Aboriginal broadcaster in three vital ways," he said.

He listed board membership, accountability to Aboriginal people as a public trust, and the failure of the board to encourage the independent Aboriginal film-making community as the areas of concern.

"As the advocates and rightful representatives of First Nations in British Columbia we hereby declare our grievance in the handling of an important cultural institution," Phillip later added.

A number of independent producers said they were not getting enough access to APTN airwaves. George Henry, speaking on behalf of the newly formed Independent Aboriginal Screen Producers Association, reminded the board that film and television production is a billion-dollar industry in B.C.

Stan Dixon, publisher of Kahtou, a Vancouver-based Native newspaper, told the board he supports APTN but was there to deliver a little "tough love."

He urged the board to get to work on raising the quality of programming on the network.

"APTN is the most important vehicle there is for our people to become better than they are," Dixon said, adding that high quality programs will be the start of a cycle that would solve all the network's other problems.

He said people needed "to ache for APTN programs" in order for the network to generate the money it needs to be self-sufficient.

Currently, the network relies heavily on the 15 cent per cable subscriber fee that it receives-about $15 million annually. APTN intends to ask the CRTC that that fee be nudged upwards.

Commercial time sales have not met expectations during the first five years of APTN's existence, so a Toronto sales office has been opened.

"We're starting to actively pitch the media buyers, the major advertisers in Canada," said LaRose. "We've done the research to show that they have an incredible opportunity to reach the market in Canada that nobody else has tapped into yet. And we hope that this will translate into increased revenues to help us pay for the other things that the network wants to do in the long term," he said.

Among the other complaints expressed during the session was one about the lack of a B.C. representative on the APTN board, despite the fact that one-third of the First Nations in the country are located within the province.

Phillip and many others were upset that even some of the so-called southern members of the APTN board are really from the north. The former western Canadian rep, Brenda Chambers, is a native of Yukon but was living in B.C. She has since been replaced by Jane Woodward of Alberta.

Phillip wanted representation from B.C. and he wanted the rep to be a person from B.C.

"The request was to look at the residency issue, that whoever filled the western seat not just be a resident but that they actually are from B.C.," said APTN board chair Catherine Martin. "I think one should explore that request. I think it would disqualify many of those that are very interested and supportive and want to be part of the board." But the board heard the call for more B.C. inclusion, she added.

"I think the board listened. They heard that concern and they're looking at what it means," she said. "We're trying to make sure that all the voices are heard. B.C. happen to have a large population of producers from across the country living in B.C., and B.C. has a large population of Aboriginal people. When we committed to the CRTC we said we were going to balance the voices across the country. What does that mean? Do we have to look at how many people live in different areas? Based on the limited time we have to put out a balanced perspective of stories from across the country through news and programming, what does that mean?"

First Nations Summit Task Force member Edward John said "I see there's a distinct bias in favour of the north, perhaps to the disadvantage of the south."

The southern perception that the board had a northern bias did not properly take the network's history into account, Martin told Raven's Eye. The 10 north of 60 communications societies that have permanent seats on the board, and who vote on who will occupy the other 11 seats, started TVNC long before APTN.

"I would call them founding members," she said. "TVNC, at the time, they were the ones that developed the plan and applied to CRTC with some advisors from the south."

She said the TVNC members "had much to lose by letting go of TVNC and sharing it with the rest." That's why they wanted to ensure they had voting power for membership.

Phillip argued in his letter that the CRTC had relied on recommendations from the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples when it approved APTN's licence. That meant the network has a responsibility to the public for its actions.

Martin said the board and management must conduct business in the way they see is best for the network, but they listen to the public.

"The people spoke and said, 'Yes we want this.' The CRTC spoke and said, 'Yes, you can have it.' Did the CRTC say we're under a public trust? I don't know if that's our agreement, but we are a national network... Symbolically, we are," she said. "The board's responsibility is to the governance of the network, meaning to the commitment we made o the CRTC, which involves a commitment to the public and to the communities, which is why we have a 21-member board of directors to respond to the needs and the wishes of the community."

Phillip criticized APTN for the way it decided which programs were selected for purchase and which programs weren't. He said the process was not transparent.

Martin said APTN may have caused some confusion when it attempted to create an independent selection committee that would make those decisions so no one could be accused of bias.

The board wanted the committee to have representation from all regions, all Aboriginal groups and French and English speakers, but APTN did not receive the required applications to meet that goal. So the board decided to review its program selection policies and leave it to the people on staff to do the job according to those policies, she said.

"Policies are in place. Whether they are followed ... that's the job of the board. To say, 'Have all the programs that were selected, have all the things that have happened this year gone according to policy?' We did have an internal review on that and our findings were that there needed to be much more adherence to the programming policies in the past two years. So as a board we've directed our CEO to make those changes," she said.

"It's taken more than a year to implement the changes. The board is very responsible. They're duly diligent. And it's a large network and a large board and a large staff, so we need to look at our policies to ensure that our CEO, our only employee, is following the strategy and policies. So I think there's a change. It's slow so it's difficult to see. It takes a while to see what changes are being made."

Phillip's comments weren't all negative. The UBCIC president also congratulated the board on the network's upcoming fifth year anniversary and said, "My favorite program, without question, is the APTN national news."

The session was friendly and respectful troughout as comments ranged from glowing commendations to carefully worded criticisms.

At the end, Martin said, "On behalf of the board I ask you for patience."