B.C. makes Contact with APTN

Page 6

On April 26, the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) aired their current affairs flagship program Contact that is hosted by Rick Harp live before a studio audience in Vancouver. It was the first time that Contact ever had a studio audience and it was also the first time the show was shot outside APTN's studios. Contact was filmed from Vancouver Television Studios (VTV) by VTV staff. It was also the show's season finale.

The show that originally aired on the 26th focused on Aboriginal children who are sometimes lost in the very system designed to protect them. The question for the week asked by Harp was, "Have Aboriginal foster children become a business?" Harp also explored such issues as, what happens to our children when the government steps in, will programs set up by Aboriginal groups do any better, and how groups in British Columbia are dealing with this issue.

Special guests on the show included Shawn Adams, a man who was a foster child and is now a representative of the Federation of BC Youth in Care Network; John Jardine who is with the Federation of Aboriginal Foster Parents; and Joy Ward, a representative of the Health Association of British Columbia. All of the guests are Aboriginal and all have been involved in one way or another in the "business" of Aboriginal foster care.