SANDY LAKE FN – Today, while meeting with Chief and Council and Sandy Lake residents, the Honourable Robert Nault, Member of Parliament (Kenora), announced $285,053 to support Sandy Lake First Nation’s television documentary series, Ni-dibaa-chimo-winun (“Our Stories”).
“Our Indigenous communities in Northern Ontario are rich with language and culture, and it is important that their stories and realities are shared with others throughout the region and across Canada,” stated Nault. “I am very pleased that our government is making the kind of investments that are necessary in order that residents of Sandy Lake First Nation are able to preserve and protect their language and culture for generations to come.”
“We would like to thank Northern Aboriginal Broadcasting and the Government of Canada for encouraging youth in the creative arts media making disciplines. This project has a positive cultural impact by increasing Indigenous Language content for family audiences,” says Chief Delores Kakegamic, Chief of Sandy Lake First Nation.
The First Nation oversees the Sandy Lake Youth Media Outreach program, which engages multimedia production professionals who work with youth in the community to produce culturally and regionally relevant media content. The group will use the funding to develop and produce season 2 of the documentary series, which features the people, stories and realities of life in their community.
“As we move forward on the path to reconciliation, this investment will give a huge opportunity to young people to learn about their culture and to maintain their language,” concluded Nault. “These languages don’t exist anywhere else in the world. If they disappear, they disappear for good. That’s why this investment is so important to the residents of Sandy Lake FN.”
2019 has been proclaimed by the General Assembly of the United Nations as the International Year of Indigenous Languages. The proclamation aims to draw attention to the critical loss of Indigenous languages, and the urgent need to maintain, revitalize and promote Indigenous languages.
“Our government is protecting and supporting Canada’s Indigenous languages and cultures. Whether through our Indigenous languages legislation or funding programs, we are taking concrete measures to create opportunities for Indigenous languages to survive and flourish in the communities where they are spoken, by the people who speak them,” states Pablo Rodriguez, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Multiculturalism.
Quick Facts
The Northern Aboriginal Broadcasting component of the Aboriginal Peoples’ Program supports Indigenous broadcasting societies in producing and distributing radio and television programming in the North. The objectives are to:
- support the production of culturally relevant Indigenous programming;
- facilitate the establishment and maintenance of production facilities;
- ensure availability of a significant amount of radio and television programming;
- contribute to the preservation and promotion of Indigenous languages and cultures; and
- provide venues to articulate issues of relevance to Indigenous audiences and communities.
Applicants must be non-profit, democratically controlled, Indigenous organizations or working with Indigenous organizations that provide broadcast communications north of the 55th parallel (“Hamelin Line”).
Associated Links
Northern Aboriginal Broadcasting: https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/services/funding/aboriginal-peoples/northern-broadcasting.html
