Publisher's Message

Twenty-five years old! It seems just like yesterday that we were submitting our proposal to establish the Aboriginal Multi-Media Society (AMMSA) and its fledgling newspaper - later to be named Windspeaker. AMMSA was fortunate to have a board of directors and management that had the foresight to plan for the future and begin a journey towards self sufficiency and financial independence.
That started with a goal setting workshop in 1987 to be self sufficient in five years. This goal was prompted by the announcement that the Alberta provincial government was phasing out their funding for Native media and we were given three years notice. We were three years into that goal when we received word that all funding for Native Communications Program was cut in the 1990 federal budget.
The 1990 federal announcement caught us off guard and we only had seven weeks to become financially independent. I still remember that day when I had to notify half of our 24 employees that they no longer had jobs.
It's been eighteen years since the demise of the Native Communications Program which funded eleven Aboriginal newspapers. Today, only Windspeaker and Wawatay News (Ontario) remain.
Windspeaker and AMMSA have not only survived but have prospered and expanded despite the onslaught of so-called Native newspapers in the early 90's which were just get-rich-quick schemes by non-Native publishers and salespeople. At one time there were eight of these publications operating out of Edmonton alone.
The poor quality and low standards of these publications tarnished the image of all legitimate Aboriginal media, particularly in Alberta. Quality matters and in the last few years many of these publications have ceased publishing.
Despite all of this, Windspeaker has continued to thrive. Windspeaker's relentless pursuit of excellence, objectivity and independence have shaped into an acknowledged and respected authority of the news and issues that impact lives and communities throughout Indian Country.
AMMSA is more than Windspeaker - we also have Alberta Sweetgrass, which was developed to fill the void when Windspeaker was transformed into a national publication. Since 1994, AMMSA has also added Saskatchewan Sage, British Columbia Raven's Eye, Ontario Birchbark and Aboriginal Business Quarterly to our family of publications. AMMSA also owns and operates CFWE-FM radio. Alberta's first and most extensive Aboriginal broadcaster since 1987. We are presently serving more than 75 Alberta Aboriginal communities via satellite. An extensive and ambitious expansion plan has been developed to broadcast CFWE throughout Alberta. As we continue to increase CFWE's coverage area our plan is to include every First Nation and Métis Settlement in Alberta as well as Edmonton, Fort McMurray and Calgary in the next few years. We are converting many of our low powered transmitters into more powerful 10 to 30 kilowatt regional transmitters in the next few years.
The past twenty five years have seen many faces come and go. All who have been with AMMSA during these years, have had a role to play in our reaching this incredible milestone. Your contributions to the Aboriginal Multi-Media Society and the evolution Aboriginal media have been invaluable. I thank you for helping to make AMMSA what it is today - a recognized leader in Aboriginal communications in North America.
In 1983, we were young and chasing that dream of things that were not possible at that time. We took risks and made things happen. We were riding a young horse, called enthusiasm. Today we are 25 years older and it's time to start training a few younger horses that can take up the cause. We used to say from "Smoke Signals to Satellites". But we've gone beyond satellites to the world wide web. We are changing our focus to the web and you will see many great changes in the coming years to focus on delivering the news via the web, pod casts, etc.
This year promises to be very exciting for Windspeaker and AMMSA. On behalf of our Board of Directors, management and staff, I want to thank our readers, listeners, loyal subscribers, advertising clients friends and supporters who have been instrumental in our success in the last 25 years. We look forward to serving you for at least another 25 years.