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Please note that the Official Languages Act requires that government publications be available in both official languages.
In order to meet some of the requirements under this Act, the Commission's transcripts will therefore be bilingual as to their covers, the listing of CRTC members and staff attending the hearings, and the table of contents.
However, the aforementioned publication is the recorded verbatim transcript and, as such, is transcribed in either of the official languages, depending on the language spoken by the participant at the hearing.
TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS
FOR THE CANADIAN RADIO-TELEVISION AND
TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
TRANSCRIPTION DES AUDIENCES DU
CONSEIL DE LA RADIODIFFUSION
ET DES TÉLÉCOMMUNICATIONS CANADIENNES
SUBJECT / SUJET:
PUBLIC HEARING ON
THIRD LANGUAGE AND ETHNIC PROGRAMMING /
AUDIENCE PUBLIQUE SUR
LA PROGRAMMATION MULTILINGUE ET À CARACTÈRE ETHNIQUE
HELD AT: TENUE À:
Dunsmuir Seniors Centre Dunsmuir Seniors Centre
411 Dunsmuir Street 411 Dunsmuir Street
Vancouver, B.C. Vancouver (C.-B.)
February 1, 1999 Le 1er février 1999
Volume 1
tel: 613-521-0703 StenoTran fax: 613-521-7668
Transcripts
In order to meet the requirements of the Official Languages
Act, transcripts of proceedings before the Commission will be
bilingual as to their covers, the listing of the CRTC members
and staff attending the public hearings, and the Table of
Contents.
However, the aforementioned publication is the recorded
verbatim transcript and, as such, is taped and transcribed in
either of the official languages, depending on the language
spoken by the participant at the public hearing.
Transcription
Afin de rencontrer les exigences de la Loi sur les langues
officielles, les procès-verbaux pour le Conseil seront
bilingues en ce qui a trait à la page couverture, la liste des
membres et du personnel du CRTC participant à l'audience
publique ainsi que la table des matières.
Toutefois, la publication susmentionnée est un compte rendu
textuel des délibérations et, en tant que tel, est enregistrée
et transcrite dans l'une ou l'autre des deux langues
officielles, compte tenu de la langue utilisée par le
participant à l'audience publique.
tel: 613-521-0703 StenoTran fax: 613-521-7668
Canadian Radio-television and
Telecommunications Commission
Conseil de la radiodiffusion et des
télécommunications canadiennes
Transcript / Transcription
Public Hearing / Audience publique
Third Language and Ethnic Programming /
Programmation multilingue et à caractère ethnique
BEFORE/DEVANT:
C. Grauer Chairperson / Présidente
A. Cardozo Commissioner / Conseiller
ALSO PRESENT / AUSSI PRÉSENTS:
M. Vogel Secretary / Secrétaire
D. Jones Legal Counsel/Conseillers
G. Batstone juridiques
Volume 1
tel: 613-521-0703 StenoTran fax: 613-521-7668
ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS / TABLE DES MATIÈRES
PAGE
Presentation by / Présentation par:
Rogers Cablesystems Limited 5
Canadian-Hispanic Congress 14
Calvin Koat 18
Valerie Dare 27
Affiliation of Multicultural Societies 31
and Service Agencies
O.K. Radio Group 42
The Cambodian Community in Vancouver 50
Hardeep Dhaliwal 56
Rogers Multicultural Service (Iranian Program) 60
Anup Singh Jubbal 66
SUCCESS (United Chinese Community Enrichment 71
Services Society)
YWCA 79
Wendy Au 88
Mason Loh 97
The Agape Christian Team of Canada 105
Community Advisory Council for 109
South Asian Productions
Fairchild Media Group 114
The Vancouver and Lower Mainland Multicultural 122
Family Support Services
Meena and Anand Paranjpe 127
Civil Youth Strategy Group 135
David Ali 144
Nancy Li 144
tel: 613-521-0703 StenoTran fax: 613-521-7668
1
1 Vancouver, B.C. / Vancouver (C.-B.)
2 --- Upon commencing on Monday, February 1, 1999
3 at 1603 / L'audience débute le lundi 1er février
4 1999 à 1603
5 1 THE CHAIRPERSON: Good evening,
6 ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to this series of public
7 consultations the CRTC is holding to review its ethnic
8 broadcasting. I am Cindy Grauer and allow me to
9 introduce my colleague Andrew Cardozo. We are both
10 CRTC Commissioners.
11 2 For the next three days, today,
12 tomorrow and Wednesday, my Commission colleagues and I
13 will be listening to the comments and views presented
14 by the participants in these consultations, here in
15 Vancouver, as well as in Montreal, Halifax, Toronto,
16 and Winnipeg. We will also be receiving written
17 comments and documents by e-mail. All submissions,
18 both oral and written, will form part of the public
19 record.
20 Objective of the consultations
21 3 These consultations are part of a
22 process the CRTC began two years ago to review its
23 major policies for the Canadian broadcasting system,
24 including television and radio.
25 4 The goal of these consultations is to
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1 help the CRTC examine the policies and regulations that
2 were established in 1985 when a Broadcasting Policy
3 Reflecting Canada's Cultural and Linguistic Diversity
4 was issued. One of the most important goals of this
5 policy is to ensure that the Canadian broadcasting
6 system serves the needs and interests of all Canadians
7 by reflecting their ethnocultural diversity in an
8 effective manner.
9 5 However, since this policy was
10 issued, Canada's demographic profile has changed
11 considerably, and the amount of third language and
12 ethnic programming available in the Canadian
13 broadcasting system has increased substantially.
14 6 By looking into these issues around
15 ethnic broadcasting, we are asking: are the goals of
16 the current policy still valid? And, is the policy
17 still effective in attaining these goals?
18 7 Public Notice 1998-135 set out a
19 series of questions and invited your views in response.
20 We are ready to hear your comments. But, before we do,
21 allow me to go on to some housekeeping matters
22 regarding the conduct of this consultation.
23 Housekeeping matters
24 8 CRTC staff assisting us during this
25 consultation are Geoff Batstone, Dylan Jones and
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1 Marguerite Vogel, who is Director of our Western and
2 Territories Regional Office, she will be our secretary.
3 I invite you to call on them with any questions you may
4 have, including any questions about the process today,
5 and for the rest of the proceeding.
6 9 Our intention is to have the session
7 run until all participants have been heard. The
8 secretary will call each presenter in order. If you
9 want to make a presentation, but have not registered in
10 advance, please let the secretary know. Time
11 permitting, we will try to fit you into the schedule.
12 10 I also want to add here that in the
13 interest of ensuring that we hear from all of you and
14 hear fully your comments, we will not be asking
15 questions unless we have important questions of
16 clarification. And I think it's important, we want to
17 stress to you that doesn't reflect a lack of interest
18 on our part, but rather a desire to ensure that we hear
19 from you at these consultations.
20 11 To ensure that all parties have an
21 opportunity to make a presentation, we ask that you
22 limit your comments to ten minutes.
23 12 The proceedings will be transcribed
24 and the transcript will form part of the record upon
25 which the Commission makes its decision. So that the
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1 people responsible for this task can provide an
2 accurate record, I would ask that, when you speak, you
3 press the small red button on the microphone in front
4 of you. This activates the microphone, and is
5 indicated by a red light.
6 13 For those of you who prefer to submit
7 your comments in writing, comment cards are available
8 at the back of the room, and from the secretary. If
9 you have any comments you would like to pass on, just
10 write them on a card, sign it and give it to the
11 secretary before the end of the session.
12 14 I'd also like to add that anyone can
13 file any written submissions or comments with the
14 Commission until March 4th, I believe that's the
15 outside deadline for submissions.
16 15 We also will, perhaps, take a short
17 five minute break in about an hour and a half, and then
18 maybe a half an hour dinner break around 6:30. We'll
19 really judge how we're doing with the time and how
20 we're moving through the presenters when we have these
21 breaks.
22 16 Now, Madame Secretary, if we can call
23 the first presenter.
24 17 THE SECRETARY: Thank you,
25 Commissioner Grauer.
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1 18 A word, first, of how we're planning
2 to schedule the presenters. We would like as many
3 people as there are microphones to be around the table
4 at the same time. So with that in mind, I will call
5 names, and this is, of course, in order to cut down on
6 commute time, because we'll have about ten people
7 around the table. All ten people will present and when
8 they are finished, then they can make room for the next
9 group of ten.
10 19 So I would just like to confirm that
11 the following people are around the table. We have
12 Vera Piccini, Collette Watson, Rosanna Obando, Ignatio
13 Ponce de Lion, Calvin Koat, Valerie Dare, Vera Radyo --
14 is Anup Singh Jubbal here? -- Stuart Morton, Diana
15 Parker and Brian Blackburn, Phangsy Nou -- is Lilian To
16 in the room? Not yet, okay -- Hardeep Dhaliwal, would
17 you like to come up with this group? Thank you very
18 much.
19 20 And I think that takes care of the
20 number of microphones that we have available. Thank
21 you very much.
22 21 I would now invite Vera Piccini to
23 make her presentation.
24 PRESENTATION / PRÉSENTATION
25 22 MS PICCINI: Thank you. My name is
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1 Vera Piccini and I am the Acting Vice President and
2 General Manager for Rogers Cablesystems in B.C. With
3 me today is Collette Watson, the national Vice
4 President of Programming and Public Relations for
5 Rogers Cablesystems.
6 23 First of all, let me say how much we
7 appreciate the opportunity provided by these public
8 consultations and the honour of going first. The issue
9 of ethnic broadcasting is one that is very close to our
10 hearts and one in which Rogers Cablesystems has a great
11 deal of experience. While we don't have time today to
12 cover many of the issues and questions raised in the
13 Public Notice, we will be filing detailed comments in
14 the second phase of this proceeding. Our sister
15 company, Rogers Broadcasting, the licensee of CFMT-TV
16 Toronto, Canada's only multilingual television
17 broadcasting station, will be appearing in Toronto
18 later this week, and will address a number of issues
19 relevant to the broadcasting side of Rogers operations.
20 24 Today, we, as Rogers Cable, want to
21 focus on three key areas. One, our experience, as a
22 cable company, in satisfying the needs of ethnocultural
23 audiences on a local level; two, our track record in
24 offering ethnic programming services on a national
25 level; and, three, the role of ethnic programming
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1 services in a digital world.
2 25 Satisfying Local Needs; Rogers
3 Multicultural Channel.
4 26 Probably everyone in this room is
5 familiar with the Rogers Multicultural Channel. It has
6 been a Lower Mainland institution for twenty years,
7 currently available to over 620,000 customers. When we
8 started in 1979, we had access to only part of a
9 channel, sharing space with other programming and
10 scheduling our multicultural programs solely in the
11 evenings. Today, we are on the air 16 and a half hours
12 a day, offering quality international entertainment,
13 news, drama and sports programs from around the world.
14 27 Normally, I would hesitate to read
15 into the record a long list, but I do believe it is
16 worth making an exception in the case of the nearly 30
17 languages which make up our multicultural channel.
18 This list demonstrates the breadth and diversity of the
19 Rogers Multicultural B.C. audience. Last fall's
20 schedule -- highly representative of the Canadian
21 mosaic -- included the following languages:
22 28 Armenian, Cantonese, Danish, Dari,
23 English, Farsi, Finnish, German, Hindi, Hindustani,
24 Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korea, Mandarin,
25 Norwegian, Pashto, Polish, Portugese, Punjabi,
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1 Romanian, Serbian, Spanish, Swedish, Pilipino, and
2 Urdu.
3 29 The Rogers Multicultural Channel
4 programming is cosmopolitan -- as are our viewers. The
5 programming schedule is a mix of the linguistic and
6 cross-cultural programs reflecting the diversity of
7 language and culture in the Lower Mainland. As an
8 example, there's children's programming, such as the
9 Korean puppet show "Once upon a Time"; highly-rated
10 international variety entertainment such as the popular
11 series from the Philippines, "Eezy Dancing", and music
12 shows from Italy, India, Latin America and Iran.
13 30 Interestingly, a small percentage of
14 our audience speaks only English, yet enjoys watching
15 our multilingual programming for a variety of reasons.
16 Some of these viewers have a spouse with a different
17 cultural background, others are in language classes for
18 personal or business reasons and wish to practice their
19 skills at comprehension, and still others view it as
20 armchair travel to distant countries.
21 31 We stay in touch with our viewers'
22 needs through the Rogers Multicultural Response Line
23 which is a 24-hour-a-day voice-mail service. This
24 gives us a clearer window on our viewers' opinions,
25 their likes and their dislikes, and their suggestions
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1 for programming on the channel. For example, our
2 recent move to include more programming with English
3 sub-titles was a direct response to viewer feedback.
4 32 A multicultural channel such as ours
5 achieves three key objectives. One, links viewers to
6 their origin nations; two, promotes cross-cultural
7 understanding; and, three, strengthens and unites an
8 ethnocultural community.
9 33 But this doesn't mean that we can be
10 all things to all people -- nor does it mean that we
11 should be the only game in town. We are neither an
12 access channel nor a community television station...
13 and we are certainly not a commercial multilingual
14 station. We are a special programming service that
15 endeavours, with limited resources, to reach our
16 viewers through a mix of linguistic and cross-cultural
17 programs.
18 34 We know there is an audience in the
19 Lower Mainland for more ethnocultural programming. We
20 believe that the time and the demographics are right
21 for the licensing of another station in this market,
22 one which would have the deeper pockets necessary to
23 provide more extensive, high quality Canadian
24 programming in languages other than English and French.
25 This is an expensive proposition and beyond the
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1 financial means of a channel such as ours. We would
2 not consider a commercial, local, multilingual station
3 to be a competitor. We could never hope to achieve the
4 level of Canadian content that such a broadcaster would
5 be required to carry. And many of the producers who
6 have contributed to our success over the years would
7 welcome the opportunities that such a television
8 station would bring to the Vancouver area.
9 35 Collette...?
10 36 Community Television Programming.
11 37 MS WATSON: This year both the CRTC
12 and Rogers Community Television stations celebrate
13 their 30th anniversaries. One of the cornerstones of
14 community television is its ability to reflect Canada's
15 ethnocultural diversity in an effective way. This
16 valued contribution that Canadian cable operators make
17 to the Canadian broadcasting system fulfils a vital
18 niche in our markets. For our part, by providing
19 access to facilities, training and staff, Rogers
20 community stations are able to encourage the production
21 of locally relevant multicultural programming in many
22 of our systems.
23 38 In B.C., the Community Channel
24 provides approximately one and a half hours of
25 multicultural programming per week, and ranges from
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1 discussion of cross-cultural issues, to local events
2 and celebrations. For example, "Cross Cultural", a
3 half hour weekly program, covers a variety of
4 multicultural topics in the community mostly done in
5 English.
6 39 In Ottawa, there are 23 diverse
7 ethnic groups who produce mother tongue programs on
8 each of the English and French community channels. In
9 addition, the Italian community has a weekly one hour
10 time slot on the English community channel.
11 40 In Toronto, "Diverse City" is a
12 lighter exploration of cross-cultural issues in
13 Toronto. In addition, 16 different ethnic groups
14 produce mother tongue programming for the weekly
15 multicultural time block on this community channel.
16 2. Ethnic Programming Services on a Regional and
17 National Level
18 41 In the spring of 1996, the Commission
19 outlined its policy dealing with the issues of access
20 by Canadian programming services to broadcast
21 distribution undertakings. The guiding principle of
22 this policy was that broadcast distributors must give
23 priority to the distribution of services of licensed
24 Canadian programming undertakings appropriate for their
25 specific markets. This includes ethnic programming
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1 services where the distributor is operating in a market
2 in which 10 percent or more of the total population is
3 of one of the ethnic origins to which the service is
4 intended to appeal.
5 42 Rogers strongly believes in the role
6 of specialized ethnic programming services in the
7 Canadian broadcasting system. Currently we carry
8 Telelatino in all our systems in the Greater Toronto
9 Area and Southwest Ontario. We are offering Fairchild
10 in Toronto/Peel and Etobicoke -- even though the target
11 audience is significantly less than 10 percent of the
12 population -- and we carry it here in most of our
13 systems in British Columbia. We also carry
14 Talentvision in the majority of our B.C. systems.
15 43 While we would like to be able to
16 offer every programming service that is authorized for
17 carriage in our markets, we are currently constrained
18 by limited analog channel capacity. We are making
19 significant ongoing investments to meet our customers'
20 expectations for more choice and better service. And
21 we are introducing our digital offering this year,
22 which will significantly expand our channel capacity
23 and programming choice.
24 44 Vera...?
25 3. Ethnic Programming Services in a Digital World
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1 45 MS PICCINI: Rogers Cable believes
2 that the expanded channel capacity resulting from
3 digitization should allow the introduction of
4 additional foreign ethnic specialty services. To this
5 end, we would urge the Commission to remove the
6 moratorium on the addition of any new foreign ethnic
7 services to the Lists of Eligible Satellite Services
8 from digital distribution only. There are a number of
9 attractive programming services which, if added to the
10 digital programming line-up, would have the dual
11 benefit of helping to drive the penetration of digital,
12 as well as contributing to programming diversity in
13 this country.
14 46 In closing, to celebrate the 20th
15 anniversary of the Rogers Multicultural Channel, we are
16 proud to be relaunching the channel with a new look and
17 a new format as part of Multiculturalism Week
18 activities which begin on February the 14th in British
19 Columbia.
20 47 Thank you, and we would be pleased to
21 answer any questions.
22 48 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you very
23 much, Ms Piccini. We don't have any questions for you
24 today.
25 49 Thank you.
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1 50 THE SECRETARY: I would now invite
2 Rosanna Obando and Ignatio Ponce de Lion to make their
3 presentation.
4 PRESENTATION / PRÉSENTATION
5 51 MS OBANDO: Rosanna Obando et nos
6 sécretaire aux des Canadiennes-Hispanic Congress.
7 52 Basically, there are several reasons
8 why should be a third language and ethnocultural
9 production on the air. Primarily, as a consideration
10 to reflect Canada's linguistic and ethnocultural
11 diversity. Hispanics in Vancouver often say, "We like
12 Canada and we are glad to have the richness of this
13 country, but we are still to have fulfil our needs,
14 too". That is we need to nurture and promote our
15 values, traditions and heritage without forgetting that
16 the Spanish is our mother tongue and is part of our own
17 lives and realities in Canada.
18 53 Hispanics are active and positive
19 people. More than 20 Spanish speaking countries.
20 Hispanic men and women often express interest in each
21 other for the art, education, jobs, entertainment,
22 sports events and we also share these with Canadians
23 alike at large.
24 54 According to the National Census in
25 1996, the top ten languages in Canada after the English
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1 and French in order of importance are: Chinese,
2 Italian, German, Spanish, Polish, Punjabi,
3 Pargolote (ph), Vietnamese, and Korean.
4 55 The third language and ethnic
5 production is an issue that should have primary
6 consideration to reflect Canada's linguistic and
7 cultural diversity. Again, more than 50 of the
8 Canadian population is of an origin which is not
9 English or French, and this reflects the demographic
10 profile of our country.
11 56 Conventional television requires a
12 large viewing audience in order to secure the financial
13 support of advertisers. The satisfaction is placed
14 from values in the cultural communities has strongly
15 proclaimed the need for a multicultural content.
16 57 New hard-take media is important,
17 too. There are still audiences who are not satisfied
18 with the information provided through conventional
19 programming on television in their third language, are
20 turning to the Internet for information. Their rigid
21 framing of programming is forcing customers to switch
22 to a third language at the live services, thus losing
23 audiences.
24 58 Third language communities have
25 considerable and have today creative broadcasting
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1 material to supply to mainstream channels. The global
2 economy includes a worldwide exchange of ethnic
3 communities who are using the information for the
4 television as the media of communication. But, at the
5 same time, they are losing the right to use the media
6 on television on their own language. Ethnic
7 communities require a specific and useful information
8 in their third language to meet their basic needs.
9 Ethnic communities more claim a huge amount of
10 information as soon they arrives in Canada. Television
11 is a valuable contribution to the needs of immigrants
12 for learning the English language, as well as a means
13 to cope with the cultural shock after leaving their
14 countries.
15 59 The main purpose of having a third
16 language channel is to become involved and allow for
17 the involvement of the mainstream community, but
18 promoting more activities role through the development
19 and implementation of educative programs.
20 60 Canadian broadcasters should follow
21 the new Broadcasting Act which came into force on June
22 4, 1991, in which the Commission was given the
23 additional responsibility of ensuring that the
24 industry, through its programs and employment
25 opportunity arising out its operations reflect the
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1 specific characteristics of Canadian society.
2 61 Thank you very much. Now, another
3 member of the Congress.
4 62 MR. PONCE DE LION: Good afternoon
5 Members of the CRTC.
6 63 I would like to thank you, first, for
7 the opportunity that your Commission is giving us. We
8 came this afternoon to review the 1985 policy on third
9 language and ethnic broadcasting in Canada.
10 64 Your communication of December the
11 10th inviting the different ethnic communities today
12 reinforces the fact that these communities have grown
13 over the past few years, that their demographic profile
14 has changed and their needs to be informed increased
15 and the capacity of keeping everyone informed has
16 decreased and is limited.
17 65 That's why the ethnic communities in
18 Canada should have their own way to inform each new
19 members of their communities in their own language and
20 in their own ethnic multicultural broadcasting
21 programming.
22 66 We are not here today looking for a
23 space in the media to reinforce our culture in Canada;
24 we are here today because our communities need to share
25 a space that is going to provide enough accurate
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1 information as fast as possible to the new landed
2 immigrants to help them integrate -- to help integrate
3 them and their families into society, avoiding extra
4 cost to the system.
5 67 As a member of the 1999
6 Canadian-Hispanic Congress Branch of B.C. and as a
7 landed immigrant of this country and on behalf of each
8 community, I wish to thank you for your consideration
9 and for the opportunity to come before you today. We
10 look forward to all communities working together,
11 meeting our goals.
12 68 Thank you.
13 69 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you very
14 much, Ms Obando and Mr. Ponce de Lion.
15 70 THE SECRETARY: I now invite Calvin
16 Koat to make his presentation.
17 PRESENTATION / PRÉSENTATION
18 71 MR. KOAT: Just to start, I'd like to
19 say that on the itinerary, it should read "Contemporary
20 Multicultural Radio and Type 'E' Programming: The
21 Future of the Format". I think a long title like that,
22 we kind of ran out of room, so...
23 72 Madame and Monsieur Commissions,
24 broadcast colleagues and members of the public, my name
25 is Cal Koat. I'm a 20 year veteran of broadcasting in
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1 Greater Vancouver with over 12 years experience in
2 multicultural radio where my work continues at the
3 present time. But this evening, I'm addressing you as
4 a private individual with a deep and abiding interest
5 in this very special form of radio broadcasting.
6 1630
7 73 It's encouraging to me that the CRTC
8 has organized this review in such timely fashion, for I
9 believe that multicultural radio has arrived at a
10 crossroads and it must re-examine and restructure its
11 role, in light of society's changing needs, if this
12 format is to survive and flourish in the next century.
13 74 AM 1470, CJVB, Vancouver's premier
14 multicultural radio station, launched in 1972 and I
15 listened vicariously through my parents who, like many
16 northern European immigrants, tuned in for
17 variety-style programming in their native tongue.
18 Today, the first generation of listeners to
19 multicultural radio are fading away and the second
20 generation, my generation, has become largely
21 assimilated into our Canadian culture, consumers of
22 mainstream media. Personally, however, I can attest to
23 a sense of cultural identity and pride which could
24 still be touched by multicultural radio if it were
25 targeted appropriately.
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1 75 First and second generation
2 immigrants remain the primary audience groups for
3 multicultural radio, but as the vision of a global
4 village becomes realized through new technology and as
5 the mosaic of our multicultural society becomes more
6 diverse, there is an increasing thirst, among the
7 general populace, for a better understanding of
8 different cultures and an appreciation for their
9 artistic expressions. This is probably what has lead
10 to the current phenomenon in music called "World Music"
11 or "Worldbeat", the fastest growing musical genre in
12 the market.
13 76 Consumers of "World Music" feel
14 disenfranchised by the proliferation of "Adult
15 Contemporary" and "Hit" radio stations and seek an
16 alternative which appeals to their global
17 sensibilities. These individuals represent a new
18 audience segment for multicultural radio and lend
19 direction to ethnic radio broadcasters for the future
20 of the format.
21 77 Keeping in mind the needs of these
22 three segments of society, which make up today's
23 multicultural radio audience, I'd like to identify what
24 I see to be the challenges facing Canada's ethnic
25 broadcasters.
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1 78 When your business is diversity,
2 consistency becomes your greatest challenge. Listeners
3 what the convenience of hearing their kind of
4 programming at the times they tune in the radio.
5 Advertisers in a competitive market require the
6 confidence of long time blocks of guaranteed
7 listenership in which to place their commercials.
8 79 Ethnic radio broadcasters licensed to
9 serve a particularly high number of cultural
10 communities -- some with commitments of more than 20 in
11 their condition of licence -- have great difficulty in
12 generating longer listening blocks. Out of 20 or more
13 communities served, an ethnic broadcaster may identify
14 only one or two which have a large enough population
15 base and an economic vibrancy to attract corporate
16 advertisers and show potential for profit.
17 80 Obviously, the broadcaster will
18 devote the bulk of his sales, marketing and promotional
19 resources toward the development of programming for
20 these communities. The remaining majority of cultural
21 programs must either be subsidized by the profitable
22 programming or maintained through brokerage agreements.
23 81 Brokerages create their own
24 challenges. Since brokers purchase airtime from the
25 licensee, outside of adhering to the codes all
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1 commercial broadcasters are subject to, they may assume
2 autonomy over their broadcasting time period. This
3 makes it difficult for station programmers to
4 coordinate brokered programs with the rest of the
5 broadcast schedule. Further, if mainstream advertisers
6 are uninterested in this brokered program, the
7 potential for station-generated revenues in that time
8 block is capped at the brokered rate for the airtime
9 alone.
10 82 In order for the brokers themselves
11 to be successful, they must be certain of sustaining
12 advertising revenues from within their target community
13 to cover the costs of airtime. Without this cash flow,
14 the broker can quickly fall into a cycle of mounting
15 debt to the licensee and eventually have to back ut of
16 the agreement. Ultimately, it's another cultural
17 community which suffers the loss of radio service.
18 83 The remaining majority of subsidized
19 programs on the weekly schedule have little opportunity
20 to become profitable, through no fault of the licensee.
21 Since sales, marketing and promotional resources are
22 being necessarily funnelled into the profit-making
23 shows, subsidized programs are maintained with a
24 minimal amount of effort and occupy as little time as
25 possible on the schedule. The producers of these
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1 programs -- many of which are volunteers -- can become
2 easily disillusioned by the lack of support for their
3 efforts and simply walk away from their shows, leaving
4 a hole in the station's schedule, and leaving the
5 licensee scrambling to find an appropriate
6 substitution.
7 84 Today's multicultural radio
8 programming grid has become a very inconsistent,
9 tenuous patchwork of programs with little opportunity
10 for sustained listenership. I believe, in order to
11 stabilize and improve this situation, the Commission
12 needs to re-evaluate its policy concerning the five
13 types of ethnic programming and allow licensees the
14 freedom to effectively arrange their broadcast
15 schedules.
16 85 And rather than maintaining an
17 ever-changing and growing number of pockets of specific
18 third language programs to less profitable, smaller
19 communities, ethnic broadcasters should be allowed to
20 develop a broader, more consistent service, inclusive
21 of all cultural communities. This could be achieved if
22 Type E programming were counted toward their minimum
23 weekly requirement of ethnic programs in their
24 Condition of License.
25 86 Utilizing music as the international
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1 language, Type E programming can touch first generation
2 immigrants, the second and subsequent generations, as
3 well as disenfranchised mainstream listeners seeking a
4 contemporary radio alternative. Type E programming
5 opens up ethnic radio to a much broader listener base
6 and encourages sustained listenership through
7 consistency.
8 87 I can still remember AM 1470, CJVB's
9 original marketing philosophy, encapsulated in the
10 phrase "radio for all Canadians". In light of Canada's
11 increasing cultural diversity, it appears to me that
12 Type E programming should play a much larger role if
13 multicultural radio is to better reflect Canadian
14 society through enlightenment, awareness and
15 understanding. It also makes this important service
16 more complimentary to the other resources technology
17 has made available to ethnic communities.
18 88 Briefly, on ethnic television, a
19 picture is worth a thousand words, and moving pictures
20 speak volumes no matter what your language. Television
21 can better provide a comprehensive service to a wide
22 array of cultural communities without alienating other
23 segments of their viewing audience. SCMO licenses,
24 while hindered by our west coast topography and the
25 immobility of the system can provide specialized
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1 language programming to communities who show need for a
2 24-hour specific third language service.
3 89 Public and campus radio operate at
4 low power and can offer only limited service to a few
5 cultural communities living within a tight geographical
6 are. I also don't think it's reasonable to rely on
7 mainstream radio to "take up the slack".
8 90 Currently, mainstream broadcasters
9 may devote up to 15 percent of their weekly schedules
10 to programming in Types A to D. Yet, in Vancouver, no
11 mainstream broadcaster, to my knowledge, has taken
12 advantage of this opportunity. It makes sense that for
13 the sake of consistency, they have no desire to
14 alienate their established audience with the inclusion
15 of third language programming.
16 91 The advent of the Internet presents a
17 strong argument for re-analyzing the very nature of
18 multicultural radio. News and current events from "the
19 homeland" are abundant and accessible on the Net. A
20 music intensive, Type E radio program would compliment
21 this information service nicely.
22 92 To illustrate, a Canadian of Finnish
23 heritage could sit down at the computer with a cup of
24 coffee, scan the daily newspapers hot off the press in
25 Helsinki, while listening to the exciting next
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1 generation of Finnish folk music from groups like
2 "Hednigarna" or "Varttina" -- part of a Worldbeat-style
3 Type E radio program on "real audio".
4 93 A greater emphasis on cross-cultural
5 programming will also fill a void in the promotion of
6 Canadian ethnic music talent. Vancouver, for instance,
7 has the international reputation as "The World Music
8 Capital". Strangely, the people least aware of that
9 fact are living here on the West Coast. Radio
10 programming reflective of our cultural diversity can
11 spotlight, not only local talent from specific ethnic
12 backgrounds, but the many gifted artists who are fusing
13 different cultural elements together into new forms of
14 musical expression.
15 94 Type E programming can also be
16 readily woven into ethnic radio's existing broadcast
17 schedules along with Types B, C and D to create longer
18 blocks of listening time with more universal appeal,
19 increasing the broadcaster's potential for making the
20 programming, outside of their Type A breadwinners, also
21 self-sufficient.
22 95 Nevertheless, ethnic radio, like
23 mainstream radio, must be able to positively identify
24 its listeners if it's to attract revenues from agencies
25 and corporate advertisers. Here in Vancouver, a new,
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1 contemporary, music-intensive form of multicultural
2 radio is already cultivating an enthusiastic audience.
3 Some listeners attest to tuning in for nine hours at a
4 stretch through five different cultural programs --
5 unheard of in ethnic radio. But without survey
6 information, it's impossible to estimate their numbers.
7 96 As a show of commitment to these
8 listeners, out of respect for the licensees who took a
9 chance on such a bold new approach and in deference to
10 the Commission, who seek direction for the industry, it
11 would seem such a survey would be of great value.
12 97 It's my hope that in addition to
13 these public consultations, the Commission will
14 consider underwriting an audience survey of Canadian
15 ethnic radio as a case study.
16 98 Thank you very much for this
17 opportunity.
18 99 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you very
19 much, Mr. Koat.
20 100 THE SECRETARY: I'd now like to
21 invite Valerie Dare to make her presentation.
22 PRESENTATION / PRÉSENTATION
23 101 MS DARE: Members of the CRTC. I'm
24 listed as number 4, but I'm actually a very small "b"
25 under 3, because it was suggested by Cal that you might
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1 be interested in hearing some of the ways in which
2 ethnic broadcasting affects me and my work.
3 102 I'm a teacher/librarian at Britannia
4 Secondary Community School, an inner-city school of
5 about 1,000 students situated in East Vancouver, in the
6 lowest socio-economic neighbourhood in Canada.
7 103 The student population represents 100
8 ethnic groups speaking 40 different languages and 87
9 percent speak English as a second language. Because of
10 the ethnic diversity of our school, there is a
11 potential for either cultural harmony or racial
12 conflict, depending on how well the school programs
13 meet student needs.
14 104 Anti-racist education and programs
15 that foster cultural understanding and appreciation are
16 therefore important features of the educational program
17 at Britannia. They are offered as part of the
18 curriculum or through special programs that enhance and
19 enrich regular studies.
20 105 In my work as a teacher/librarian, I
21 develop learning activities that reflect and celebrate
22 the multicultural nature of Britannia. An approach I
23 have found particularly effective is to use music as a
24 way to investigate cultures. I integrate music with
25 curriculum studies in many subject areas by developing
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1 learning resources that encourage students to find out
2 about the lives of people around the world. An example
3 is the unit "Rhythm of Resistance" which looked at the
4 Apartheid regime of South Africa through the music
5 which was both an outcome of and reaction to social
6 brutalization.
7 106 Special World Music programs enhance
8 students' experiences at Britannia. "Sharing
9 Cultures", a World Music symposium for international
10 backed laureate program students held last December
11 provided hands-on opportunities for young people to
12 work directly with artists to learn dances, play music
13 and build instruments.
14 107 Another project will see the
15 construction of three sets of marimbas representing the
16 cultures of Southern Africa, West Africa and Latin
17 America. Made in the woodwork shop under the guidance
18 of the woodwork teacher and a musician from each of the
19 cultures, the marimbas will provide authentic
20 instruments for use in music education classes.
21 108 A final example is World Music Day, a
22 made-in-Vancouver event -- coming up on February the
23 18th, by the way -- that celebrates the contributions
24 to cultural understanding made by musicians from
25 diverse cultures. At Britannia, we are collaborating
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1 with the media and broadcasters, such as Fairchild
2 Radio, to bring performances and classroom workshops to
3 the school and an evening concert to the communities.
4 109 I am not a music specialist and yet
5 I've established a small reputation in the specialized
6 field of World Music education. How have I learned
7 what I need to know in order to develop curriculum
8 materials and organize programs that are respectful and
9 accurate? I acquire knowledge and understanding by
10 talking to artists from the cultures, listening to
11 ethnic programming on CBC, Fairchild and co-op radio
12 stations and viewing ethnocultural television programs
13 on the CBC, Knowledge, Bravo!, Rogers and Vision.
14 110 Type E programming is crucial for my
15 own personal knowledge, and in the transfer of that
16 knowledge to students in my school. The
17 recommendations I wish to make therefore, pertain
18 mainly to Type E programming. And I've got a list of
19 five of them, but I don't know if you want me to read
20 them out of just leave them with you.
21 111 THE CHAIRPERSON: You can leave them
22 with us or read them out, whatever's your preference.
23 112 MS DARE: Sure. Okay. I'll leave
24 them with you.
25 113 THE CHAIRPERSON: So thank you very
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1 much --
2 114 MS DARE: You're welcome.
3 115 THE CHAIRPERSON: -- Ms Dare.
4 116 THE SECRETARY: Would Vera Radyo make
5 her presentation now, please?
6 PRESENTATION / PRÉSENTATION
7 117 MS RADYO: Thank you. Good afternoon
8 Commissioners Grauer and Cardozo and thank you for the
9 opportunity to appear before you.
10 118 My name is Vera Radyo and I'm the
11 Executive Director of AMSSA or the Affiliation of
12 Multicultural Societies and Service Agencies of B.C.
13 119 AMSSA is a non-profit coalition of 80
14 multicultural and immigrant serving organizations which
15 are on the front-line of serving ethnic communities in
16 our culturally diverse population throughout B.C.
17 120 And I have to say that we have
18 trouble with the word "ethnic" because we are all
19 ethnic and we all have an ethnic background, but
20 because you refer to that in your questions and in the
21 title of this consultation, we do use it occasionally
22 in the brief, but our language, I guess, needs more
23 clarity, anyway...
24 121 Our coalition represents all the
25 major community societies promoting multiculturalism
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1 and anti-racism in our province. Some of the
2 organizations are large and well-known, such as
3 SUCCESS, MOSAIC, Immigrant Services Society. Some of
4 our members are small and operate in outlying areas
5 with a small budget and volunteer staff. Some serve
6 victims of torture, others focus on women's issues and
7 most assist immigrants to participate in the
8 socio-economic fabric of our communities. All of our
9 members are in the position of feeling the pulse of
10 diverse communities and readily share their concerns,
11 frustrations and visions.
12 122 Thank you for taking this important
13 initiative and affording us the opportunity to share
14 those concerns, frustrations and visions with you.
15 AMSSA is, we believe, in a unique position to assist
16 the Commission to review its policy on programming in
17 other languages to culturally diverse communities.
18 2. Background
19 123 We live in a world that is, put, as
20 we approach the 21st Century, which is quite different
21 from the one that the Commission faced even 15 years
22 ago when a broadcasting policy reflecting Canada's
23 cultural and linguistic diversity was issued on July
24 4th, 1985. There have been major demographic and
25 technological changes that underscore the importance of
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1 your task and the immensity of your challenge.
2 124 According to the 1996 Statistics
3 Canada Census Data, the percentage of visible
4 minorities has nearly doubled from 6.3 in '86 to 11.2
5 in 1996. In British Columbia in 1996, we had the
6 second largest visible minority population in Canada
7 after Ontario. There were 661,000 persons in B.C. who
8 were members of a visible minority group. These
9 individuals accounted for 18 percent of B.C.'s total
10 population, the highest proportion of any province.
11 125 Although one-half of the province's
12 population resides in the Lower Mainland, approximately
13 85 percent of B.C.'s visible minority population does.
14 AMSSA represents the entire province and we know that
15 there are large culturally diverse communities
16 throughout B.C. However, the weight of the challenge
17 lies in the Lower Mainland. Of the more than 630,000
18 immigrants in the Lower Mainland, 54 percent have
19 arrived within the last 15 years, according to the
20 Census, so now we're at '99, so it would be even higher
21 than that. Who knows? Perhaps with immigration closer
22 to 60 percent. Creatively address the challenge
23 locally and there will be adaptable spin-offs which can
24 be applied elsewhere in the province.
25 126 And we have included in the back,
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1 Appendix of extrapolated information from the '96
2 Census showing visible minorities in Vancouver, Lower
3 Mainland Population by Mother Tongue and the Total
4 Immigrant Population by Period.
5 127 We shall now address the three
6 questions which the Commission has highlighted:
7 "To what extent does the present
8 broadcasting system adequately
9 serve Canada's ethnocultural
10 communities?"
11 128 Although the 1985 policy statement
12 and subsequent initiatives by the Commission and
13 broadcasters may have been well-intentioned, we are of
14 the opinion that the broadcasting system is not meeting
15 the needs of these diverse communities. Our members
16 have surveyed the immigrant communities inquiring how
17 groups prefer to receive information regarding social
18 integration issues. The results have strongly
19 indicated that communities would like to rely primarily
20 on the broadcast media, particularly television, to
21 assist them to glean the necessary information to make
22 crucial decisions in their adjustment to Canadian life.
23 Sadly, for the most part, it is our opinion that that
24 assistance is lacking.
25 129 Although some stations have made
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1 attempts to use visible minority reporters, for
2 examples, and that in itself has positive effects,
3 those reports are not reflective of culturally diverse
4 communities. They are by their nature, representations
5 by the established news media with their own
6 perspectives. It is obvious that the station managers,
7 the program directors, the decision makers and the
8 power brokers represent the white middle class
9 constituency which the station serves. We strongly
10 recommend that when approving licenses, broadcasters
11 should be required to employ staff at all levels of
12 their organization that reflect the diversity of the
13 population being served.
14 130 On the other end of the broadcast
15 spectrum is the Community Multicultural Channel,
16 Channel 20, Rogers Cablesystems -- that made the
17 initial presentation -- which does a commendable job
18 but is under-resourced and operated by volunteers
19 resulting in variable quality broadcasting. The manner
20 in which the programming is presented begs the
21 question: How is it decided who gets access to the
22 outlet and equitable allotment of time and resources?
23 Are any attempts made to reach out to the most
24 disenfranchised -- usually those less educated,
25 unfamiliar with access and the poor? What are support
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1 systems? How and to what extent is training offered?
2 And what are the expectations of content? And how is
3 quality and contented monitored? Where are the lines
4 of accountability?
5 131 You know, we don't know the answers
6 to these questions, and that's why we're asking them,
7 but we have heard from our members concerns about these
8 issues.
9 132 Also, if quality programs were
10 produced locally for the Greater Vancouver market, is
11 there a mechanism in place to share those programs with
12 other cable systems in the province?
13 133 The second question:
14 "Given the demographic changes
15 that have taken place in Canada,
16 how can the needs and interests
17 of ethnocultural communities
18 continue to be served?"
19 134 We noted with keen interest that the
20 CRTC Chairperson, Françoise Bertrand, at the House of
21 Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage on
22 April 23rd, 1998, stated:
23 "We believe Canadians are seeing
24 the evolution of a new
25 Commission. The new CRTC will
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1 say 'regulate if it necessary',
2 but where appropriate, we would
3 prefer to let the industry
4 self-regulate under monitoring."
5 135 We urge the CRTC to determine that
6 ethnocultural broadcasting is one area that requires an
7 intervention and impetus to ensure that communities are
8 well served. Now is the time for the CRTC to make some
9 bold policy statements and reinforce those ideals when
10 Promises of Performance or POP's are submitted and
11 licences are renewed. We are sure that decisive,
12 creative measures can turn the tide and produce
13 worthwhile results of which we can all be proud and
14 pleased. There would be no priority community channels
15 had not the CRTC stipulated their use. Canadian
16 content has both been an attainable ideal and an
17 economic success.
18 136 We are not suggesting an
19 iron-fisted-rule-by-regulation approach. By its very
20 nature, ethnic broadcasting needs to be flexible and
21 reflective of various communities and subcultures.
22 However, we are advocating a strong, pro-active,
23 supportive intervention.
24 137 We recommend that an Ethnocultural
25 Broadcasting Advisory Council be established. This
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1 council would be a community-based, cross-cultural,
2 multi-disciplinary organization and would function both
3 as an ombuds person watchdog monitoring the system and
4 a professional advisory board to assist various
5 communities become actively involved in creative
6 broadcasting. With a few paid professionals and
7 support staff, the council would be primarily composed
8 of volunteer members from culturally diverse
9 communities. At CFRO-FM, Vancouver Co-op Radio, BCIT
10 broadcast students and community cable systems could
11 help provide hands-on training and experience.
12 Vancouver's ethnic radio stations could both contribute
13 to and benefit from such a council. The council would
14 ensure that a truly cooperative, multicultural approach
15 be applied to broadcasting to avoid "ghettoizing" the
16 ethnic voice. The council would be a vehicle to
17 promote further understanding and invoke interaction
18 across ethnic lines for the common good of Canadian
19 society as a whole and the respective communities in
20 particular. Common goals would be established and
21 individual differences would be accepted and
22 celebrated.
23 138 AMSSA has been impressed by the
24 approach of CFMT-TV in Toronto. The key features of
25 CFMT that we support are high quality professional
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1 broadcasting, Canadian programming focusing on issues
2 central to the communities, wide range of linguistic
3 groups represented, central accountability, corporate
4 philosophy promoting cross-cultural understanding and
5 key Canadian values, and programming that assists the
6 social integration of newcomers. We are confident that
7 the Lower Mainland could both emulate their success,
8 learn from their operation and eventually share
9 programming, either on a formal or informal networking
10 basis.
11 139 One of the areas which gravely
12 concerns us is the use of SCMO signals being broadcast
13 from Washington State into the Lower Mainland in the
14 Punjabi language. Our constituents inform us, and the
15 media confirm, the material being broadcast is hate and
16 violence mongering. Although the role and function of
17 the CRTC is not to closely monitor all on-air signals,
18 let alone SCMO signals from another country, we urge
19 the CRTC to take decisive action and refer the matter
20 to the proper governing bodies. One of the functions
21 of the proposed Ethnocultural Broadcasting Council
22 might well be to monitor such broadcasts and lodge
23 complaints when necessary.
24 "Should there be a priority on
25 the development of Canadian
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1 ethnocultural services rather
2 than importing foreign
3 services?"
4 140 In a word: Absolutely. If
5 middle-class, English speaking, white Canadians have
6 the choice of watching 50-plus TV channels, it could be
7 argued that culturally diverse communities should also
8 have the option of watching a much greater diversity of
9 television programming than they now have access to.
10 141 There are two reasons why the
11 appalling practice of filling time slots resorts to
12 foreign programs, and neither of them relates to a
13 nostalgic longing for the homeland. In the first
14 place, it is the easiest way to do "ethnic" programming
15 and outlets will often seek the path of least
16 resistance. Secondly, the ethnic communities often
17 lack the resources, training, contacts and experience
18 in the Canadian system to produce their own quality
19 programming. The proposed council could take definite
20 steps to ensure that outlets live up to their Promise
21 of Performance and that groups that are assisted in
22 obtaining their own Canadian programming. A "Canadian
23 content" guideline needs to be established to ensure
24 that the path of least resistance is not pursued. A
25 multilingual broadcast quality TV outlet would be a
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1 step in the right direction.
2 4. Conclusion
3 142 And in conclusion, I want to thank
4 you for this opportunity to appear before you and if
5 you have questions, we'd be pleased to try and answer
6 them and also if you feel there are areas you would
7 like AMSSA to research, we would attempt to do so and
8 forward our findings to you.
9 143 Thank you.
10 144 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you, Ms
11 Radyo. I think Commissioner Cardozo has one question
12 of clarification.
13 145 COMMISSIONER CARDOZO: I'm going to
14 break a rule and ask just one very quick question.
15 146 When you talk about the Ethnocultural
16 Advisory Council, what was your thought about who would
17 set that up?
18 147 MS RADYO: Well, we thought it could
19 be something that could be mandated by CRTC and that
20 the various stations that, with their Promise of
21 Performance, could contribute financially to make it
22 happen, but that it would be a central operation and
23 that it, you know, almost like a -- we haven't given a
24 lot of thought to structure, but almost like a subset
25 of CRTC that it would help fulfil the mandate, but it
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1 would be composed of people from the community, from a
2 broad range of communities, and that it would help to
3 look at the kinds of quality...
4 148 Like, we get complaints from people
5 saying: 1) they don't have access to some of the
6 current programming when they want to do Canadian
7 content and social integration issues. We gets
8 complaints about, you know, who's monitoring the
9 content and, you know, how much Canadian content there
10 is. So, an overseeing body and we think that the
11 cross-cultural linkages are really important.
12 149 COMMISSIONER CARDOZO: Thanks very
13 much.
14 150 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you, Ms
15 Radyo.
16 151 THE SECRETARY: Would Stuart Morton
17 make his presentation, please?
18 PRESENTATION / PRÉSENTATION
19 152 MR. MORTON: Thank you.
20 153 Commissioners Grauer and Cardozo, my
21 name is Stu Morton, Vice President of the O.K. Radio
22 Group. With me are Diana Parker, General Manager of
23 CKER-FM in Edmonton and Brian Blackburn, Vice President
24 of Sales for our company.
25 154 O.K. Radio owns both mainstream and
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1 ethnic radio stations. We operate three mainstream FM
2 stations in Alberta, as well as an AM/FM combo in
3 Victoria. CKER-FM is our ethnic station in Edmonton
4 and has been serving that community since 1980. We
5 also have a 50 percent interest in partnership with
6 Fairchild Media of Vancouver in two new ethnic FM
7 stations, CHKG in Vancouver and CHKF in Calgary.
8 155 First let me say that we believe the
9 Commission's ethnic policy is working. Ethnic radio in
10 Canada has grown since the introduction of the policy
11 and continues to evolve and strengthen.
12 156 In the process of reviewing ethnic
13 broadcasting, we believe it's essential to remember
14 that Canada's ethnic broadcast services are being
15 provided almost exclusively by independent private
16 broadcast operators. These stations are business
17 operations that must achieve a firm level of
18 profitability. In fact, the economic nature of ethnic
19 radio broadcasting is fundamentally the same as
20 mainstream broadcasting. Radio is a mass medium.
21 Canadian ethnic radio stations are advertiser supported
22 and as such are subject to the same economic dynamics
23 that every private radio station must address.
24 157 Advertisers must be persuaded that a
25 sufficiently large definable audience exists on the
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1 station and that is both a qualitative, as well as a
2 quantitative challenge. Advertisers need to understand
3 the tangible nature of the audience, as well as its
4 numerical size. The station's audience has to make
5 some sense on a qualitative level. It must not be too
6 fragmented and unconnected.
7 158 Advertisers generally prefer to use a
8 specialized medium to reach the smaller more
9 specialized audiences. It's simply a matter of
10 advertising logic. It makes more sense to direct your
11 entire radio budget at, for instance, the Chinese
12 community in Vancouver and use a more specialized
13 medium to reach other, smaller groups.
14 159 MS PARKER: In the programming area,
15 our experience is that ethnic radio audiences listen
16 and remain loyal to a station only if it serves as a
17 link to the homeland, but also keeps them informed at
18 the community level, as well as at the city,
19 provincial, national and international levels. We
20 believe that no special rules are needed to ensure that
21 ethnic radio provides this kind of service.
22 160 There is little need, in our view,
23 for a distinction between ethnic programming Types A,
24 B, C and D. The market dictates the type of
25 programming that can sustain advertising revenue, and
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1 that is generally Type A.
2 161 The 60 percent minimum requirement of
3 current Types A to D ethnic programming may no longer
4 be necessary in a new ethnic framework, as radio
5 stations that are committed to this speciality
6 programming generally broadcast well above the 60
7 percent minimum.
8 162 The 40 percent or less of the weekly
9 schedule that in the current policy need not contain
10 ethnic programming should, however, be left to the
11 discretion of each broadcaster. On our Edmonton
12 station, for example, ethnic programming accounts for
13 over 72 percent of our weekly schedule, but paid
14 religious programming in English is still a significant
15 part of our total revenue.
16 163 The audience for Type E programming
17 is very difficult, virtually impossible to define and
18 it is consequently not commercially viable.
19 164 MR. MORTON: We understand that some
20 ethnic communities may not feel that they have access
21 to their ideal level of service, we were recently
22 unable to provide more than an hour long program block
23 to a Polish producer who requested five hours on CHKG
24 in Vancouver. Obviously, there are only so many hours
25 per week, many of which must be devoted to serving the
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1 dominant ethnic community or the station risks being
2 marginalized in terms of its relevance to its most
3 important source of revenue.
4 165 Our Vancouver station must deal with
5 the realities of serving the huge Chinese community.
6 That's what keeps the station in business. It also
7 uses up a great deal of the station's resources. In
8 fact, the resources needed to produce nine hours of
9 Chinese programming in Vancouver are about the same as
10 those that would be needed to produce a typical 24-hour
11 schedule on any station, ethnic or otherwise. That's
12 the fundamental reality of any ethnic radio station.
13 German programming in Edmonton, Chinese programming in
14 Vancouver are only a portion of the weekly programming
15 schedule and yet the cost of producing these programs
16 is virtually the same as full-time programming in a
17 typical radio station.
18 166 The financial results, in the case of
19 CKER in Edmonton is that it has never been able to
20 achieve operating income levels of more than two or
21 three percent of revenue. In fact, we have subsidized
22 its operation from our mainstream stations almost
23 continuously over the past ten years.
24 167 MR. BLACKBURN: If ethnic radio is to
25 grow, it must be allowed to achieve firmer profit
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1 levels in markets such as Edmonton and Vancouver.
2 Radio programming flexibility is the key to a stronger,
3 healthier ethnic radio industry.
4 168 We believe there are conditions under
5 which an ethnic station offering only one or two
6 languages should be licensed, particularly in Canada's
7 largest cities. In smaller urban centres, such as
8 Edmonton and Calgary, where stations tend to offer
9 broadbased programming, there's still a need for the
10 station to find ways to control operating costs through
11 more streamlined programming. In larger centres, such
12 as Vancouver, where very large linguistic and cultural
13 communities exist, stations must be totally immersed in
14 the culture of that one ethnic community. This can
15 only be achieved by devoting virtually all of the
16 station's resources to programming in that language and
17 culture.
18 1700
19 169 There is an important role for
20 specialty media in serving ethnic communities. SCMO,
21 the Internet, campus and community stations, as well as
22 cable can increasingly serve smaller ethnic groups.
23 Webcasting on the Internet offers a tremendous
24 opportunity in this regard. Wireless Internet services
25 are even starting to appear. We have recently been
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1 negotiating with a large locally based Internet
2 provider on Vancouver Island who wishes to lease tower
3 space for this type of service. Webcasting offers a
4 much lower cost platform that is more appropriate to
5 smaller ethnic communities where the economies simply
6 don't work in the traditional radio environment.
7 170 We believe that Webcasting can evolve
8 as a tool for both the radio station and the ethnic
9 community. We can work with ethnic groups to partner
10 in developing web-based programming which in many cases
11 can be a springboard to regular programs over the air.
12 171 MS PARKER: With respect to music,
13 Canadian content requirements for recorded music in
14 languages other than English and French are a
15 particularly difficult challenge to our stations.
16 172 The Commission has asked if the
17 availability of Canadian ethnic musical selections has
18 increased over the past 14 years. Our answer is that
19 it has increased, but primarily in languages such as
20 Spanish, Italian, Portugese and Ukrainian. There is
21 still virtually no material in Chinese, Polish and
22 other markets where the immigration patterns are
23 creating large population growth.
24 173 Even at the existing 7 percent, the
25 lack of Canadian content results in the overuse of a
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1 small amount of material. Any increase would serve
2 only to diminish the exposure of the large variety of
3 music from international artists who represent the rich
4 heritage of the ethnic audiences we are licensed to
5 serve.
6 174 Our ethnic radio producers
7 enthusiastically support and promote their own ethnic
8 Canadian artists, whether they perform in English,
9 French or a third language. Many of these performers
10 have successful careers as club and/or concert artists
11 in Canada and elsewhere. Canada's record companies do
12 not provide mass promotion and sales support for ethnic
13 music because the markets are too fragmented.
14 175 Contemporary ethnic artists either
15 cross over into the mainstream market, or continue to
16 perform primarily for their own communities here and
17 abroad. Raising the level of Canadian content on
18 ethnic radio will not create a Canadian ethnic
19 recording industry.
20 176 MR. MORTON: Thank you very much.
21 That's our presentation and since you have no
22 questions, I guess we're done.
23 177 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you very
24 much.
25 178 THE SECRETARY: I would ask Phangsy
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1 Nou to make her presentation now.
2 PRESENTATION / PRÉSENTATION
3 179 MS NOU: Good evening ladies and
4 gentlemen. My name is Phangsy Nou. I am Cambodia or
5 "Khmer". I came from South East Asia, called
6 "Kampuchea" or Cambodia. I am the Cambodian Community
7 Family Support and Integration Worker.
8 180 There are approximately 1,800
9 Cambodian Community members in the Lower Mainland.
10 181 As a newcomer, or immigrant, we often
11 are enthusiastic, curious and full of excitement. We
12 are also sometimes confused and afraid. After a while,
13 we start to see the true nature of our new home
14 country. There is also often a feeling a nostalgia for
15 what has been lost. Some newcomers attempt to use old
16 solutions to new problems. Some isolate themselves and
17 choose to live in their own community. Some adjust to
18 their professional lives in Canada, but keep their
19 personal life separate.
20 182 The long term difficulties of the
21 civil war and the refugee experiences made it
22 impossible for most Cambodian people to benefit from
23 many settlement services when they were first offered
24 at time of arrival.
25 183 Even now, the Cambodian community has
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1 been here in Canada usually between 10 to 20 years,
2 they still need help, language issue.
3 184 Coming to Canada, Cambodian people
4 feel free, but they have barriers; linguistic, lack of
5 employment opportunity, appropriately structured
6 educational opportunity, information on how to access
7 services, information on recreation and social
8 events -- in the Cambodian community and the wide
9 Canadian community. Example: traditional respect from
10 young generation, et cetera, building English language
11 skills is a main problem for ethnocultural communities.
12 185 The Cambodian Community Family
13 Support and Integration Project works to meet the high
14 priority needs of Cambodians living in Vancouver/Lower
15 Mainland to preserve culture, tradition and language
16 while supporting adaptation and integration in the
17 Lower Mainland to extend English language skill -- all
18 ages -- and access to accurate information and
19 referral, et cetera.
20 186 We need to get the word out to our
21 people about health initiatives, education
22 possibilities, citizenship matters, training and
23 employment opportunities, provision of cultural sharing
24 social and recreational events.
25 187 Since many of our people do not read
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1 or write in either Khmer or English, radio and
2 television are important information and integration
3 tools for us to concentrate on.
4 188 We feel this kind of radio
5 communication and television is vital to the improved
6 well being of our community and integration in Canadian
7 life.
8 189 We would like to reach our Cambodian
9 people on a regular basis being able to use the radio
10 and television which are the easiest for them to
11 understand. We would like to provide cultural sharing
12 of music which is very much missed, and also to provide
13 critical information on how to address social,
14 educational, health and employment issues. In
15 addition, information on community events and
16 perspectives and include information on events in the
17 wider Canadian community, information on living in a
18 democratic system and respecting human rights.
19 190 It is for all these reasons that our
20 organization is interested on the particular matters
21 under consideration here today.
22 191 For Question 1 of the CRTC
23 consultation:
24 192 It is my view and the view of many
25 members of my community, the present broadcasting
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1 system does not serve ethnocultural communities well
2 enough.
3 193 One point is that ethnocultural
4 communities often do not have information about
5 ethnocultural programming that the present broadcasting
6 system is providing so there can be no benefit to us in
7 this case.
8 194 Another point is that often the
9 ethnocultural programming is put together by sources
10 outside of Canada. Sometimes this means that the
11 issues of ethnocultural communities in Canada are not
12 talked about. The information may be a little
13 interesting to us, but it often cannot address our
14 daily concerns or our needs.
15 195 Another point is that local and
16 regional community members here in B.C. can help make
17 programming very beneficial, if they are part of the
18 program planning process for programs made locally or
19 regionally in Canada.
20 196 Another point is local and regional
21 consultation is essential to determine the priority for
22 contact of any externally purchased program is also
23 important.
24 197 Come to the Question 2:
25 198 It is my view and the view of many of
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1 my community members that separate ethnic programming
2 needs to be maintained and protected within overall
3 broadcasting policy.
4 199 We do not feel that market forces can
5 be relied upon to ensure that the needs of
6 ethnocultural groups are met.
7 200 We say this because market forces
8 tend to focus on the interests of large groups or
9 wealthy groups, rather than less dominant groups or
10 groups facing barriers.
11 201 Mainstream media, to date, deals with
12 third language/culture issues very rarely and usually
13 poorly.
14 202 Media is an important tool in helping
15 ethnocultural communities learn about Canada and learn
16 to function well in Canada. The ethnocultural media is
17 doing the best job for most newcomers.
18 203 Come to the Question 3:
19 204 We strongly support the position that
20 there is a special role for Canadian ethnic
21 programming. As indicated in our response to the first
22 two consultations questions ethnic programming gives us
23 a voice and a learning/teaching tool.
24 205 Ethnic programming is very important
25 to ethnocultural communities for the first and second
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1 generation Canadians. Ethnocultural media plays an
2 important unique role that does all the things your
3 background information sheet mentions. Example: link
4 people to their country of origin; reflect Canada;
5 promote cross-cultural understanding; strengthen, unite
6 and bridge ethnocultural community within and between
7 groups both locally and across the country; provide
8 newcomers with a means to better and fully participate
9 in Canadian society by informing listeners about their
10 community, current issues, governments and the work.
11 206 Emphasis that mainstream media does
12 not generally address these issues.
13 Policy Points
14 207 The policy points, I have four.
15 208 One: It is important that CRTC
16 policy especially requires the provision of programming
17 for and by ethnocultural communities particularly the
18 smaller ethnocultural communities. The smaller
19 communities particularly require this so that these
20 essential programs which are key information tools to
21 these new Canadians can be sustained. This programming
22 can only be sustained if it is protected by policy.
23 209 Two: It is important the CRTC policy
24 mandate reliable and timely strategies be implemented
25 by broadcasters working with community to ensure
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1 community have information on both (a) imported
2 ethnocultural programming and (b) programming produced
3 locally or anywhere in Canada.
4 210 Three: Policy is needed which
5 requires local and regional consultation to determine
6 the priority for any of externally purchased programs.
7 211 Four: Ethnic programming needs:
8 Available and accessible programming in languages other
9 than English and French; to provide essential
10 information for ethnic groups about their communities;
11 and to provide Canadian programming connecting people
12 to their lives in Canada; to recognize diversities of
13 language and culture; to provide accessible and free
14 ethnic and third language programming; to provide
15 balanced ethnic and third language information from a
16 variety of sources.
17 212 Thank you for your consideration of
18 this submission.
19 213 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you, Ms Nou.
20 214 THE SECRETARY: And now would Hardeep
21 Dhaliwal make her presentation, please?
22 PRESENTATION / PRÉSENTATION
23 215 MS DHALIWAL: My name is Hardeep
24 Dhaliwal and I have worked both in the media and in
25 multiculturalism. In fact, once of my tasks right now
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1 is media training workshops for multicultural groups to
2 help them place their stories in the mainstream media.
3 216 They want to target the mainstream
4 because it's the biggest sector of the media and the
5 most powerful. They want the stories of people from
6 diverse communities told to the mainstream audience, as
7 well as to the ethnic audiences to promote a better
8 understanding between groups of people.
9 217 To be reflected in the mainstream
10 lends a certain type of acceptance. It means you have
11 arrived, you are a part of Canada. This is important
12 to people who don't come from the dominant culture.
13 The media is an important gatekeeper for the sense of
14 community and belonging, but the complaints I hear
15 about the media centre around not enough stories about
16 diverse communities and the stories which are aired are
17 often negative. In Vancouver, we've heard a lot about
18 the Honduran drug dealers, the Asian gangs and the Sikh
19 extremists. These labels damage the reputation of the
20 entire community.
21 218 To give the media credit from the
22 mainstream, they do try to balance the score, but this
23 is often done with the annual story about "Devali" (ph)
24 or Chinese New Year. That was okay in the sixties
25 maybe, but Vancouver is now too big and too diverse to
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1 continue like this. The present broadcasting system
2 does not serve the ethnocultural communities in this
3 city. There are too many good stories out there which
4 are being missed.
5 219 What is the solution? How can there
6 be places created on the dial for radio and television
7 with a mandate to reflect ethnocultural communities?
8 Right now, most of the ethnic media is found on cable,
9 Pay stations, or on the SCMO boxes. The ethnic media
10 in Vancouver must move to over-the-air channels. They
11 need the same resources to have the same quality
12 programming as the mainstream media. This programming
13 should be free and accessible to everyone.
14 220 At this time, market forces may not
15 be relied upon to ensure that ethnocultural groups have
16 access to broadcasting about their communities or in
17 their languages. It is my opinion that the CRTC must
18 maintain a separate ethnic broadcasting system until
19 the marketplace is friendlier to ethnocultural news and
20 languages.
21 221 I read the 15 page Public Notice the
22 CRTC sent out back in December and from what I read,
23 the multicultural broadcast policy looks broad and
24 detailed. I would just like to see more of the policy
25 used in Vancouver. By that, I mean some of the things
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1 that I've just mentioned, more ethnocultural programs,
2 both in English and in other languages.
3 222 You ask a question about foreign
4 versus Canadian programming. It's very important to
5 see quality programs produced in Canada which provide a
6 unique view of Canadian issues and Canadian experience.
7 I would like to see a safe place where contentious
8 issues from a community can be discussed without fear
9 of reprisal. I think an argument can also be made for
10 bringing in high quality foreign programs, a balance
11 between both Canadian and foreign produced programs
12 would probably be the most popular choice.
13 223 In the CRTC's Public Notice, I see
14 quite a lot of discussion about third language
15 programs. I grew up in B.C. speaking only Punjabi
16 until I started school. I remember hearing that Canada
17 was a bilingual country, I thought that meant English
18 and Punjabi. Later, I learned French and spent four
19 years living and working in Québec. There, I was an
20 "Allophone". When I returned to Vancouver, I started
21 working on my lapsed Punjabi, which had remained in
22 suspended animation at the level of a six year old. I
23 still have a long way to go, but I persist because as a
24 person of colour in this country, I feel I have to
25 maintain my cultural identity to keep me strong in some
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1 of the challenges I face and I believe that language is
2 the key to culture.
3 224 So I endorse the policies which
4 protect third language broadcasting, but I will restate
5 that I would like to see the ethnocultural media in
6 Vancouver on a more equal footing with their
7 counterparts in the mainstream media in terms of having
8 over the air high-quality programming.
9 225 Thank you very much.
10 226 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you very
11 much, Ms Dhaliwal.
12 227 THE SECRETARY: This brings to a
13 close the first group of presenters, but I beg your
14 indulgence. Mr. Alavi is here and his daughter is in
15 the hospital, he has to leave within the next, probably
16 20 minutes and I'm wondering if you'd all mind just
17 staying in place and giving Mr. Alavi a microphone so
18 that he can make his presentation.
19 228 Thank you very much.
20 PRESENTATION / PRÉSENTATION
21 229 MR. ALAVI: Ladies and gentlemen,
22 thank you very much for providing this opportunity to
23 me to speak before the break.
24 230 My name is Sam Alavi. I'm the
25 Program Producer for Rogers Cablesystems, and serving
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1 the Iranian community in the Lower Mainland.
2 231 Please be advised that as an
3 experienced Iranian television programming provided in
4 Canada, I would like to submit my comments and
5 suggestions in regard to multilingual and ethnic
6 programming to the Commission to be reviewed as part of
7 policy-making for Canadian broadcasting systems.
8 232 I strongly believe that the present
9 broadcasting system does not adequately serve Canada's
10 fast-growing ethnocultural and multilingual
11 communities, including the Iranians, due to the
12 following reasons:
13 233 The broadcasting tools and media
14 serving the Canadian ethnocultural communities are very
15 limited and accessing most of them are far too
16 expensive for the qualified programming providers who
17 do not presently have a variety of choices to present
18 their productions to the respected communities. So far
19 Vision TV, F8 (ph) cable network based in Toronto,
20 Ontario which devotes just their Saturday scheduled
21 time slots to ethnic programming in return for
22 reasonable price rates and the Rogers Multicultural
23 Channel of Rogers Cablesystems in Vancouver as the only
24 available telecast media in Western Canada, which
25 pioneered ethnocultural programming in the growing
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1 environment of the Lower Mainland of B.C. are the only
2 available alternatives for access.
3 234 The guidelines imposed by the CRTC
4 for restricted advertising on Rogers Multicultural
5 Channel and the lack of funding are two of the main
6 suffering drawbacks facing channels hard working and
7 committed management and also programming suppliers.
8 235 In spite of the unfortunate fact the
9 RMC, Rogers Multicultural Channel, mandate to serve the
10 approached communities with the programming of their
11 own language and culture, and the channel's outstanding
12 achievement in recent years of its existence to be the
13 voice and image of diversified people of Metro
14 Vancouver, have made it a symbol to follow for future
15 and the channel's very unique values have made the
16 members of the region's ethnocultural communities very
17 proud and happy to have this service.
18 236 The public support for the
19 continuation of this basic cable service which proved
20 and improved itself in quality and variety over the
21 years, and especially with the launch of RMC new weekly
22 schedule is starting the fall of '98 providing quality
23 programming for variety of viewers' age and interests,
24 has never been so loud and clear.
25 237 I believe the channel should be
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1 adequately funded and the imposed restrictions for
2 advertising as the only source of funding for the
3 program suppliers and also the channel, should be
4 minimized, if not lifted.
5 238 I strongly suggest that there must be
6 a priority on the development of Canadian ethnocultural
7 services presenting quality programming with Canadian
8 made content to their respective audiences and the
9 importance of foreign services, especially those
10 originated or coming from American providers should be
11 restricted in this country. We already have more than
12 enough. We already have more than enough share of
13 American-based channels and programming in Canada.
14 239 If this country ever wished to be
15 culturally independent and Canada holds to its
16 worldwide image of being a true diversified
17 multicultural country, welcoming the new or different
18 ideas of people around the globe, who decide to call
19 this great land their home, we have to come up with our
20 own cultural tools, which means like television systems
21 to make this wish come true.
22 240 It's always been frustrating for the
23 local broadcasting community, including the Canadian
24 Multicultural program providers and local telecast
25 services to see some of the unlicensed American
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1 satellite services could get access to our small, but
2 lucrative market through a variety of tactics, and they
3 get away with it every time without paying any respect
4 or applicable taxes.
5 241 The illegal U.S. dishes and satellite
6 programming are being smuggled to Canada more than ever
7 now, and there is no policing system to stop or control
8 them effectively. It's a shame for the Federal
9 government of Canada and its regulatory bodies not to
10 being able to control and enforce their own protective
11 regulations against the service providers south of the
12 border whose aggressively trying to absorb revenues by
13 fooling the Canadian audience.
14 242 The need to grant licence for a
15 nationwide multilingual network in Canada with easy
16 affordable access available on basic cable is urgent
17 and immediate. I believe the Canadian broadcasting
18 community and programming providers should be granted
19 more licences to serve the fast-growing multinational
20 population of this county in a much better and easier
21 way, and qualified producers with talent and expertise
22 should have more access to Canadian televised services
23 similar to currently successful Rogers Multicultural
24 Channel.
25 243 Thank you.
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1 244 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you very
2 much.
3 245 I guess that concludes our first
4 panel. I'd like, in particular, to thank all of you
5 for taking the time to come and assist us in our
6 considerations and making a contribution to the
7 development of our policy and remind you that if
8 anybody has anything to add or elaborate on the
9 presentations today, that we'd welcome any further
10 contributions until the 4th of March.
11 246 Thank you.
12 247 And we will take a 10 minute break.
13 Thank you.
14 --- Recess / Pause
15 1735
16 248 THE CHAIRPERSON: Ladies and
17 gentlemen. Mr. Cardozo...?
18 249 Ladies and gentlemen, the sooner we
19 get going, the sooner we can all get home.
20 250 Madame Secretary, if you could call
21 the next presenters?
22 251 THE SECRETARY: With pleasure,
23 Commissioner Grauer.
24 252 I would like to invite Anup Singh
25 Jubbal to come to the table please, Lilian To, Mobina
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1 Jaffer, Wendy Au, Mason Loh, Albert Lo, Amin Jamal,
2 Patrick Wong and Joe Chan.
3 253 Just sit anywhere there's a
4 microphone.
5 254 And I would invite Anup Singh Jubbal
6 to present first, please. If you just hit the white
7 button on your microphone, please.
8 PRESENTATION / PRÉSENTATION
9 255 MR. JUBBAL: Thank you very much to
10 the CRTC Members who are here who has given us the
11 opportunity to come and speak a few words.
12 256 I'm not a great speaker, you know,
13 but I'm too shy to speak.
14 257 I got a few points which I brought
15 with me, I didn't make a long speech of 10 minutes, it
16 may finish in three or four minutes, five minutes,
17 whatever. I want to bring a few points.
18 258 I'd like to bring the point which the
19 Rogers is doing the Community Channel, channel number
20 20, because it is very hard to get even access to the
21 Community Channel 20 to be on the program or bring the
22 views. The producers bring the program, whatever they
23 like to put it. Many things are missing, many things
24 are outside and they never were considered, they never
25 were contacted, if they're contacted they were declined
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1 all the time flatly as there is no ruling or no
2 jurisdiction on it of the CRTC.
3 259 And in my opinion, all the CRTC
4 Community Channel 20 should be accessible to the
5 public; not to just the limited groups or limited
6 number of people. This is my point. And I know I
7 don't blame the producers, they can make the money as
8 much as they can, but they also consider the community
9 at large, what they want.
10 260 Quality of the programs also by
11 Rogers, you know, they have started a program lately
12 which is not at all acceptable by the community the way
13 they give the identification. I mean, if you are
14 showing a story for 20 minutes and then Rogers comes
15 there or advertisers come there, it dies down the whole
16 thing. And I don't know the theme of the story. And
17 then you see the name, the Rogers name there and then
18 it comes back and then the story starts again.
19 261 So this is my concern, not my
20 concern, but the concern of the other community members
21 also.
22 262 The other thing is by the advertising
23 should be shown either in the beginning, Rogers can be
24 shown for 10 minutes in the beginning or 10 minutes at
25 the end, not every half an hour or 10 minutes or 15
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1 minutes. So this is my concern.
2 263 Community-wise should be heard rather
3 than the producers' own suggestions, which they have
4 the monopoly for the last many, many years. I like to
5 bring that very strongly.
6 264 And the quality of the programs can
7 be improved by the consultation of some of the groups
8 which they should be given a chance to speak and tell
9 how it can be done. If you present the program or send
10 some suggestions, you don't get no response from there,
11 and I don't where the letter goes or how it is treated.
12 265 And we -- this is regarding the
13 Rogers programming, but I'm coming at it on the other
14 Indo-Canadian programming which I belong to, I'm a
15 member of the community, I live here for the last 30
16 years and I know how the system works and so on, and we
17 are looking that if there's some more encouragement on
18 the AM or FM radio station considerations or the
19 24-hour stations to our community. There's no such
20 thing and we'd like to propose and we'll be coming back
21 to you soon on this, too, if we can get something,
22 because most of the time, Chinese, they have three
23 radio stations and we've got a large majority here and
24 we don't have much voice.
25 266 The other things I want to say, we
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1 can restructure the programs which they are going on on
2 the radio stations and the -- we must maintain the
3 cultural identity and pride. I'm Indo-Canadian, so I
4 want to protect my heritage, my identity and my
5 culture. And it's -- we also have the medium of new
6 technology, we must be going with the time as the new
7 technology goes on.
8 267 Multicultural radio is an important
9 link between the new immigrants, people coming from
10 India, they don't have access to many programs, we got
11 a couple of small feeder stations through which
12 whatever they tell us, we hear it. So if we can get
13 some more flexibility in the programs on the mainstream
14 radio stations, it is always helpful to all of us and
15 ethnic broadcasters and high members of the cultural
16 community events must be shown in there. And we must
17 get some...
18 268 There is some program coming from
19 India, one of the producers through feeder station they
20 bring it, it's a good program, some news comes from
21 there, it is really good and some other on the
22 mainstream programs, the programs are available,
23 actually, in India. So that must be brought directly
24 from there so that we can broadcast it, because I heard
25 some of the speakers before me that we shouldn't
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1 encourage -- this is my opinion, but we should
2 encourage because I come from a background and I like
3 to know how the things are going there, how I'm in
4 touch with them all the time so I can identify myself
5 and can get more satisfaction.
6 269 And also, CRTC make the survey on
7 their own, actually, to how they can do it and whatever
8 points I'm bringing, if it's a valid point, they can do
9 independent survey and must consider the points.
10 270 And it's a great learning activity
11 for the new Indo-Canadian Canadians through the radio,
12 through the television, through the media and whatever
13 easy program we can make, you know, we should make.
14 And we must organize the programs, you know, which are
15 respectful and prestigious programs. And we must
16 transfer the knowledge to the best of our knowledge,
17 whatever we can, and community must be consulted before
18 anything can be done.
19 271 I know the broadcasting system is not
20 very economical, there's too much tough competition
21 going on. The producers, the radio stations, the TV
22 stations, they have to make the money. I don't -- I
23 support that part, it must be supported and they must
24 make the money, but at the same time, they must
25 consider the effect and the enjoyment and the
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1 entertainment of the program, because I have seen, you
2 know, sometimes some radio stations, they give the
3 time, mainstream radio station I'm talking about, and
4 they have -- the quality is so poor, every two minutes
5 they have one advertisement, that's not very good.
6 Only we are just learning the -- listening the
7 advertisements, we are not listening to programs.
8 272 And also, many items are being
9 missed. And I think, you know, overall, in conclusion,
10 I would like to say that the programs should be fully
11 culturally oriented. It must have all the points from
12 the illiterate people who are not -- who can't read or
13 write, they must get the full knowledge and
14 understanding of the broadcasting industry and they
15 should get -- so that they should feel, you know, they
16 are sitting at home in this country.
17 273 Thank you very much.
18 274 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you very
19 much, Mr. Jubbal.
20 275 MR. JUBBAL: Thank you very much.
21 276 THE SECRETARY: Would Lilian To make
22 her presentation now, please?
23 PRESENTATION / PRÉSENTATION
24 277 MS TO: Thank you. I appreciate this
25 opportunity to submit to the Canadian Radio-TV and
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1 Telecommunications Commission on broadcasting policy
2 reflecting Canada's linguistic and cultural diversity.
3 278 First of all, I would just like to
4 introduce the organization that I represent, SUCCESS,
5 which has a full name, it's United Chinese Community
6 Enrichment Services Society. It's a non-profit social
7 service agency. We were incorporated in 1993.
8 279 Our primary objective is to build
9 bridges and to assist new Canadians and immigrants to
10 overcome language and cultural barriers and employment
11 barriers and to become participating and contributing
12 members of the Canadian society.
13 280 In 1998, we served more than 230,000
14 clients. We provided services through 10 offices in
15 the Lower Mainland and these services were provided in
16 about 33 different languages and we also enjoy
17 community support, about 44 percent of our funding
18 comes from community voluntary contribution. We have
19 about 16,000 members and 7,000 volunteers who helped us
20 deliver services, together with about 130 staff.
21 281 Because we serve a large number of
22 immigrant and ethnic minority individuals in the
23 community, we are very concerned about the Canadian
24 Ethnic Broadcasting Policy. These policies affect
25 ethnic programming and it also has significant impact,
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1 not only on the issues of accessibility to services,
2 but it also has a real impact on ensuring that there
3 are avenues for full integration in Canadian society.
4 282 A bit of demographic background, and
5 I guess the Commissioners are aware that Canada has
6 become a lot more culturally diverse since it first
7 enacted it's Ethnic Broadcasting Policy, 14 years ago
8 in 1985. And, as you know, it's actually stated in
9 your document that between 1991 and '96, 80 percent of
10 the one million immigrants spoke a language other than
11 English or French. And of course, the 1996 Census
12 shows that visible minorities made up about 11 percent
13 of Canada's population. And talking about the Chinese
14 population, 25.9 percent of the 11 percent were of
15 Chinese origin. And in fact, by year 2006, it was
16 estimated that the proportion of visible minorities in
17 Canada will rise to 16.3 percent.
18 283 According to the 1996 Census, an
19 estimated 310,000 Chinese Canadians lived in British
20 Columbia, and that's about 16 percent of the population
21 of Vancouver. And we believe that currently in
22 Richmond, which is a municipality adjacent to
23 Vancouver, the Chinese population reached about 40
24 percent.
25 284 The Chinese Canadian community's, in
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1 fact, diverse both culturally and linguistically and
2 with immigrants from Hong Kong, Taiwan, China and other
3 South East Asia countries. The significant increase in
4 Mandarin speaking immigrants from Taiwan and China in
5 recent years has post a need for more diverse ethnic
6 programming, even within the Chinese community.
7 285 In view of changing community mix and
8 needs, ethnic programming should be regularly reviewed
9 and adjusted accordingly.
10 286 And now, I would like to talk a bit
11 about the relevance of Ethnic Broadcasting Policy.
12 Again, it was stated in your document as our technology
13 advances with possibilities of digital broadcasting,
14 satellites, Internet, chat rooms and many other media
15 channels, CRTC must recognize that not all communities
16 are equally accessible to computers or computer
17 literacy. And of course, on the one hand,
18 accessibility to emerging technologies should be
19 considered a priority to meet the needs of ethnic
20 minorities.
21 287 On the other hand, however, ethnic
22 broadcasting policies must be in place to ensure that
23 there's availability of ethnocultural services, and
24 also, it should provide an adequate Canadian
25 broadcasting system which serves the needs of all
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1 Canadians in the ethnoculturally diverse society.
2 288 We definitely support the delivery of
3 ethnocultural programming by different vehicles. We
4 want to ensure that ethnocultural programming is
5 accessible to all the communities and some of these
6 vehicles, again, as listed should include certain
7 language specialty services and ethnocultural
8 programming available through community channels, other
9 cable companies, special programming and so on.
10 289 And I cannot stress more on the
11 importance of policy priorities to ensure that all of
12 our over-the-air broadcasters do reflect the
13 ethnocultural diversities in the communities that they
14 serve.
15 290 I realize that we missed the Hearing
16 last year on the mainstream -- so-called mainstream
17 broadcasting, but it is very important, I think it
18 is -- one of the presenters mentioned earlier that
19 there's often been negative and sensational reporting
20 in the mainstream broadcasting channels, and the other
21 kind of reporting that they make is on festivities. We
22 are hoping that there will be improvement on all the
23 other over-the-air broadcasters so that they will be
24 reflecting what is happening in the ethnocultural
25 communities that we live in and which is actually part
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1 of the whole Canadian society.
2 291 When we talk about integration of
3 Canadians, it is very important to remember that when
4 we talk about ethnocultural broadcasting policy to
5 reach these communities, it's very important to also
6 prepare the other side, the so-called "mainstream
7 community", so that they will fully accept the
8 ethnocultural community in terms of integrating in
9 employment and other areas. So the public broadcasting
10 in the mainstream community is very important in being
11 able to address these concerns.
12 292 The other issue that I want to
13 address is about diversity in ethnic programming.
14 293 A person, ethnic programming for
15 Chinese Canadians is provided mainly through Type A
16 programs as documented in your document. And these are
17 often done through ethnic broadcast stations.
18 294 There's mention about Type C, D and E
19 programs, which targets second or third generation
20 Canadians and which attempt to promote multiculturalism
21 in English or French. These are rare in the Chinese
22 community and we find that maybe some of these, maybe,
23 should be promoted to foster cultural heritage and to
24 build cross-cultural understanding.
25 295 We do support placing priority on
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1 domestic production of ethnocultural services in order
2 to transmit Canadian values to ethnocultural groups,
3 and certainly, this is very important. And we believe
4 that ethnic broadcasters and producers should be given
5 the same resources and support for domestic production,
6 which may provide additional export potential.
7 296 However, we feel that there is a role
8 for some imported television broadcast, especially as
9 it relates to international trade and news and culture,
10 which balance quality Canadian content.
11 297 Third language broadcasting allows
12 Canadians, especially those with language barriers, to
13 acquire information, to be familiarized with Canadian
14 values and issues and to engage in participating in the
15 Canadian society, while at the same time it enables
16 them to develop international connections and retain
17 the language of their country of origin.
18 298 In this new era of globalization in
19 trade and cultural exchange, third language programming
20 should be retained and encouraged to facilitate
21 integration in Canadian society and that should be
22 balanced with quality Canadian programming content.
23 299 The other issue I wish to talk about
24 is briefly on service accessibility.
25 300 The provision of current services in
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1 ethnic programming has not been able to reach
2 geographically isolated communities and those who have
3 difficulty paying the subscription fees and there's
4 some other communities that have not been able to
5 access ethnic programming. Public support to ethnic
6 programming should be provided for those who lack
7 sufficient resources.
8 301 And the last point to talk about, an
9 advisory body, I think that somebody -- presenter
10 mentioned before. We do recommend the establishment of
11 an ethnic advisory group to monitor and advise the CRTC
12 on ethnic policies. And hopefully that would help give
13 kind of balanced programming on a continuous basis.
14 302 I appreciate this opportunity to
15 review the Ethnic Broadcasting Policy and we believe
16 that linguistic and ethnic diversity in broadcasting is
17 crucial in building a fair and harmonious society. And
18 definitely the current system requires revision to
19 ensure the removal of barriers and full access for
20 ethnic and linguistic minorities.
21 303 Thank you.
22 304 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you, Ms To.
23 305 THE SECRETARY: I'd like to invite
24 Mobina Jaffer to make her presentation now.
25 1800
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1 PRESENTATION / PRÉSENTATION
2 306 MS JAFFER: Members of the
3 Commission, I'm Mobina Jaffer. I am the President of
4 the YWCA and I'd like to thank you for this opportunity
5 of being able to speak to you here today.
6 307 The 1985 Ethnic Broadcasting Policy
7 was designed to ensure that members of ethnocultural
8 groups in Canada would have access to a range of
9 programming in third languages from a variety of
10 sources, including high quality Canadian programming in
11 third languages from Canadian ethnic broadcasting
12 services.
13 308 I would like to emphasize "high
14 quality", it's my organization and my belief that the
15 CRTC has a mandate and there is the law of our land,
16 the Multicultural Act, which it also has to look at in
17 order to achieve harmony in our country, and by helping
18 with integration.
19 309 If we look at the environment today,
20 there is the mainstream broadcasting, foreign services
21 and a little bit of ethnic Canadian broadcasting. We
22 need, and you heard very eloquently from Ms Dhaliwal,
23 high quality accessible broadcasting. The big question
24 is, as in your press release accompanying the Public
25 Notice, the Commission asked whether "...Priority
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1 should be placed on Canadian ethnic broadcasting
2 services, rather than importing foreign services?"
3 310 Let me explain what that means.
4 Foreign programming in third languages is an important
5 source of entertainment for members of ethnocultural
6 groups. It provides a valuable link to current events
7 in homeland countries and to cultural traditions. In
8 my own case, before I came to this country and became a
9 Canadian citizen, I was a British subject, and
10 therefore, I enjoy, as entertainment watching "On the
11 Buses" or "Are You Being Served?". That is good for
12 entertainment, but that doesn't meet my needs as a new
13 Canadian.
14 311 Foreign programming is not a
15 substitute for Canadian programming in third languages.
16 Foreign programming does not reflect the reality of
17 life in Canada. It often presents information, conveys
18 values or addresses social issues in ways that are
19 fundamentally at odds with how things are done in
20 Canada.
21 312 Let me give you another example.
22 Some years ago, as you may remember, we had a large
23 AIDS conference here in Vancouver, and very naively, I
24 did not realize that the South Asian community has an
25 AIDS problem. I happened to be in Toronto and watched
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1 CFMT and the AIDS program and was shocked to see that
2 AIDS exist in the South Asian community. Now, as a
3 mother, that's an issue for me that I never even
4 thought about discussing with my children, because I
5 always see images of mainstream people having AIDS.
6 313 This is necessary for my family, for
7 myself, for education purposes that we see our faces in
8 the media which is a very strong -- especially the TV
9 media, a very strong reflection of who we are.
10 314 Canadian programming in third
11 languages provides members of ethnocultural groups with
12 information about their local community and about
13 Canada. It is essential to facilitate integration and
14 to ensure that everyone has an opportunity to
15 participate in Canadian society.
16 315 Let me give you another example. I
17 come from a South Asian background, and "arranged
18 marriages" is my life's reality. When I was in Toronto
19 and I saw the program on arranged marriages that was on
20 CFMT, I was envious and here we in Vancouver tend to
21 think everything goes to Toronto, but the reality is,
22 when it comes to programming such as that, everything
23 has gone to Toronto. And we, in Vancouver, are denied
24 our issues being discussed.
25 316 This arranged marriage program that
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1 was on CFMT discussed it from both points of view.
2 Normally what we see in mainstream media is where
3 arranged marriages is being criticized; here, it was an
4 issue of choice. I felt that my children were being
5 denied looking at programs of this nature.
6 317 The Ethnic Broadcasting Policy
7 anticipates that members of ethnocultural groups will
8 have access to a range of Canadian programming in third
9 languages provided on community access channels on
10 cable, on over-the-air radio and television stations
11 and on Specialty and Pay television services. It is
12 important that this range of programming be available,
13 not just so that members of ethnocultural groups have
14 the same choice as English and French speaking
15 Canadians, but they also have access to the same
16 diversity of opinions and ideas.
17 318 Statutory support for the Ethnic
18 Broadcasting Policy is found in the broadcasting policy
19 objectives of the Act. For example, section 3 (d)
20 (iii) states that:
21 "...programming provided by the
22 Canadian broadcasting system
23 should reflect the multicultural
24 and multiracial nature of
25 Canadian society."
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1 319 I would ask that you ask yourself:
2 Is the ethnocultural community being served presently
3 with what exists, especially here in our city?
4 320 The Ethnic Broadcasting Policy also
5 is supported by the Multiculturalism Policy of which I
6 spoke of earlier. That policy envisions a
7 multicultural Canada in which all people can fully and
8 equally participate in the life of this country while
9 retaining their cultural heritage.
10 321 Simply put, I believe that the
11 fundamental objective of the Ethnic Broadcasting Policy
12 should be to promote social harmony and integration.
13 Now that the Ethnic Broadcasting Policy has been in
14 place for 15 years, I believe that it is timely for the
15 Commission to ask: "Are the objectives of the Ethnic
16 Broadcasting Policy being achieved? Is the potential
17 for the Canadian broadcasting system to promote social
18 harmony being realized?"
19 322 And I think when you answer these
20 questions, you have no other thing -- no other answer
21 but to say "no".
22 323 English language broadcasting
23 services have made some effort to reflect Canada's
24 multicultural nature in the faces of the people on the
25 television screen and in the names and voices of the
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1 people on radio. But there is still very little
2 coverage or very little ethnocultural content on
3 mainstream broadcasting services. There is little
4 coverage of events and issues in local ethnocultural
5 communities, and little effort to bring ethnocultural
6 perspectives to bear on broader local or national
7 issues.
8 324 The objectives of the Ethnic
9 Broadcasting Policy will not be achieved until the
10 programming provided by mainstream broadcasting
11 services is truly inclusive of all people who make up
12 the community.
13 325 It is very interesting being from a
14 minority to see at the present time the Heritage
15 Minister fighting for Canadian content in magazines. I
16 ask her and I ask you: What about us? Canadian
17 content on television to reflect the new Canada that we
18 all live in?
19 326 And what does "inclusive" mean?
20 "Inclusive" does not mean a peppering or one anchor
21 person who looks like me. "Inclusive" means to be on
22 the floor when the programs are being decided.
23 "Inclusive" means to be included when decisions are
24 made of what kind of content the programs will have,
25 and "inclusive" means more than one anchor person that
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1 reflects a person like me.
2 327 Yes, fortunately for some people, not
3 in Vancouver, there are, for example, in Toronto and
4 Montreal, members of the ethnocultural groups who do
5 have access to a balanced and diverse selection of
6 Canadian programming in third languages. In other
7 markets that is the case, but sadly that is not the
8 case in Vancouver. Until that changes, it cannot be
9 said that the objectives of the Ethnic Broadcasting
10 Policy are being achieved.
11 328 As I mentioned earlier, this is also
12 the issue of quality. What is "quality"? You heard
13 from Ms Dhaliwal, over-the-air high quality television.
14 This is very important, and let me try and give you an
15 example.
16 329 My friends who are from the
17 mainstream community and who have permission to be able
18 to tell me things that maybe some others who don't know
19 me as well can, often say to me, you know, that when
20 they watch multicultural television they often hear a
21 whining and they find way poor quality television. And
22 I try and explain to them that that is because
23 multicultural television is like community television,
24 and when mainstream people are watching community
25 television, there is a switch in the brain to say,
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1 "Well, this is community television, it's not
2 commercial, perhaps it's not as high quality".
3 330 But sadly, I don't believe the switch
4 happens when it comes to multicultural television. We,
5 as a people, are seen as inferior because the kind of
6 programming that is being produced and it has got
7 nothing to do with the people who are producing it.
8 That's not what I'm talking about. It's the resources
9 that are available to them.
10 331 We as a community, we as a
11 multicultural community are seen as inferior. That
12 doesn't lead to good integration.
13 332 There is an important role to be
14 played by programming in third languages produced by
15 volunteers on community access channels, and I am not
16 being critical of what they do, I believe they do an
17 excellent job with the resources they have available.
18 That programming provides opportunities for members of
19 ethnocultural groups to gain experience in program
20 production and also ensures some basic level of service
21 for members of very small ethnocultural groups. There
22 is also a role for lower cost, imported foreign
23 programming, on mainstream television stations or on
24 Specialty services.
25 333 But members of my group are not
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1 well-served if that is the only type of third language
2 programming that is available. In addition, we must
3 remember that broadcasting is a powerful force in
4 shaping people's perceptions. If third language
5 programming is always of poorer quality, that will
6 negatively influence how members of ethnocultural
7 groups are perceived by other Canadians.
8 334 The Ethnic Broadcasting Policy
9 anticipates that there will be a range of third
10 language programming available, including high quality,
11 advertiser-supported Canadian programming broadcast in
12 prime time on local multilingual television stations.
13 335 I believe that the Canadian
14 broadcasting system will not reach its full potential
15 to promote harmony, nor will the objectives of the
16 Ethnic Broadcasting Policy be achieved until members of
17 the ethnocultural groups have access to a full
18 selection of the highest quality programming in third
19 languages, comparable to that available on French and
20 English language broadcast media.
21 336 The new Millennium means many
22 different things to many different people. I believe
23 that it could be an era of true social harmony, where
24 people live as equals in an increasingly diverse and
25 multicultural Canada. I believe that the Canadian
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1 broadcasting system and the Ethnic Broadcasting Policy
2 have a very critical, important role to play in helping
3 to create social harmony.
4 337 I believe that many times you have,
5 in your hands, how my children and my grandchildren
6 will be viewed. As equal or as second-class citizens.
7 338 The implementation of the Ethnic
8 Broadcasting Policy is a bit like playing the piano. A
9 piano has white keys and black keys. And each key, as
10 you know, can be played on its own, and you can get
11 some kind of harmony if you only play on the black
12 keys; and you can get some kind of harmony if you play
13 only on the black keys -- white keys. But I ask you,
14 when you're looking at your policies, to stop just
15 having us play only on the white keys and a few black
16 keys; the time has arrived when you need to play both
17 on the black and white keys.
18 339 Thank you.
19 340 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you very
20 much, Ms Jaffer.
21 341 THE SECRETARY: Our next presenter is
22 Wendy Au.
23 PRESENTATION / PRÉSENTATION
24 342 MS AU: Good evening. I'd like to
25 thank the Commissioners for the opportunity to speak as
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1 an interested member of the public on this very
2 important issue of broadcasting policy relating to
3 Canadian cultural diversity.
4 343 My name is Wendy Au, and I'm a first
5 generation Chinese Canadian and a Vancouver resident
6 for 26 years. I'm not involved in the broadcasting
7 industry, and I'm here to speak more from my experience
8 and observations from working with the multicultural
9 communities over a long period of time.
10 344 I have been involved in community
11 development work with the multicultural communities on
12 both a voluntary and professional basis. My
13 professional experiences include being the community
14 school coordinator, an executive director of a
15 community centre, an equal employment opportunity
16 program officer, and a diversity trainer. Presently,
17 I'm a social planner focusing on the development and
18 growth of the multicultural communities in Vancouver.
19 345 I am pleased to learn that the
20 Broadcasting Act establishes a number of broadcasting
21 policy objectives, and particulary in section 3, where
22 it states that:
23 "the Canadian broadcasting
24 system should serve to
25 safeguard, enrich and strengthen
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1 the cultural, political, social
2 and economic fabric of Canada."
3 346 This broadcasting policy objective
4 fits perfectly within the context of Canada's official
5 policy on multiculturalism, which envisions a
6 multicultural Canada in which all people can fully
7 participate in the life of this country while retaining
8 a connection to their cultural heritage. Therefore, it
9 is critical that the Canadian Ethnic Broadcasting
10 Policy ensure the availability of radio and television
11 programming in languages other than English or French.
12 347 I'd like to focus my presentation
13 today on the "social mandate" of the broadcasting
14 system and, specifically, to review the contribution of
15 the Ethnic Broadcasting Policy to the social fabric of
16 Canada. If the Ethnic Broadcasting Policy is
17 effective, it is a tool to strengthen the social fabric
18 of Canada.
19 Bridging Function
20 348 An effective Ethnic Broadcasting
21 Policy will help to build bridges of understanding and
22 acceptance between ethnic communities groups and other
23 Canadians; as well as within ethnic communities.
24 349 I am concerned that the "bridging"
25 between and within communities is not happening to the
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1 extent that they could be and should be.
2 350 Therefore, the objectives of the
3 Ethnic Broadcasting Policy are not being fully
4 achieved.
5 351 Let us explore some of the reasons
6 why the "bridging" are not functioning as well as it
7 should be.
8 Ethnocultural Content in the English Broadcasting
9 System
10 352 There's currently a lack a
11 ethnocultural content in the English language
12 broadcasting media.
13 353 English language media do not seem to
14 have the interest or the ability to cover issues and
15 events happening in the ethnocultural communities.
16 354 Most of the programming content does
17 not reflect the multicultural make up of the community.
18 355 When ethnocultural communities are
19 covered, it is most often negative; there are either
20 sensational crime stories of drugs and murder involving
21 members of the local ethnocultural groups, or stories
22 about particular refugee groups trying to defraud the
23 welfare system. Positive contributions or good stories
24 have difficulty gathering attention from the English
25 language media or the mainstream media, so-called.
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1 356 If English broadcasters are to
2 perform a bridging function, they must go beyond merely
3 visual "reflection" of having visible minority staff in
4 front of a camera, but with no program content that is
5 relevant to the multicultural community.
6 357 English language media must actively
7 facilitate cross-cultural understanding by including
8 information and perspectives in their programs that
9 reflect "all" Canadians, all local Canadian experiences
10 in an inclusive and equitable manner.
11 Canadian Programming in Third Languages
12 358 Canadian programming in third
13 languages is essential to provide members of
14 ethnocultural groups with information about their local
15 community and Canada, to facilitate integration and to
16 ensure that everyone has an opportunity to participate
17 in Canadian society.
18 359 Canadian produced programs in third
19 languages media, particularly on television, are very
20 often over-shadowed by imported foreign videos and
21 film.
22 360 Foreign programming does provide
23 members of ethnocultural groups with cultural and
24 information linkages to their home country. However,
25 it also risks reinforcement of negative stereotypes,
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1 traditions, and values from the home country which may
2 be contrary to the values of Canadian society.
3 361 For example, the portrayal of women
4 in a subservient role will no doubt reinforce
5 inequality among men and women, which may lead to
6 family violence. While the use of imposed force and
7 authority by parents may promote parent-child
8 conflicts, as well as perceived child abuse by Canadian
9 authorities.
10 362 Foreign programming also may not deal
11 with potentially controversial issues, such as sexual
12 orientation and other human rights issues, in a way
13 that reflects the present Canadian legal and social
14 environment.
15 363 Imported foreign films can never
16 replace the value of locally produced programs with
17 relevant Canadian content. Although we appreciate the
18 cultural connection with our homeland, it is also
19 necessary to balance this with the need for relevant
20 local Canadian content which will help us to understand
21 and establish ourselves in this new homeland. And I
22 suspect this is one of the reasons why the CRTC, in
23 your wisdom, has created the Ethnic Broadcasting
24 Policy.
25 364 To be effective, the Ethnic
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1 Broadcasting Policy must ensure that members of
2 ethnocultural groups have access to Canadian
3 programming in third languages that provides
4 information about the local community in Canada,
5 information that enhances understanding of Canadian
6 values and which facilitates smooth integration into
7 Canadian society.
8 365 I'm concerned that in Vancouver,
9 there is a serious lack of Canadian programming in
10 third languages and therefore, the social mandate of
11 the broadcasting system in this city is not being met.
12 Access
13 366 Having a social mandate and social
14 responsibility also means that the operation of the
15 broadcasting system cannot be governed solely by market
16 forces.
17 367 A complete reliance on market forces
18 will mean that many ethnic groups are forced to pay for
19 information in their own language. Especially for
20 smaller ethnocultural groups with limited economic
21 resources, they are deprived of vital information on
22 issues in their local community and Canada as a whole.
23 368 For many recently arrived immigrants
24 and refugees, the first few years of transition and
25 settlement can be very difficult, especially if they
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1 are very limited English language skills. They do
2 rely, to a large extent, on obtaining community
3 information and news via third language media. This
4 serves as a vital tool in their integration process.
5 369 A communication link in their mother
6 tongue is necessary to assist in the settlement and
7 integration. A recent survey of the Vietnamese
8 community confirmed that a large proportion of
9 Vietnamese residents have limited English language, and
10 they preferred to receive information on community
11 services and programs via broadcasting media in their
12 own language instead of printed information.
13 370 The limited access to radio and
14 television programming by some ethnocultural groups has
15 been a constant challenge and struggle. Most of these
16 local programs are produced by the ethnocultural groups
17 on a volunteer basis with virtually no resources and
18 limited technical support.
19 371 Members of the ethnocultural groups
20 are not well served by the broadcasting system if the
21 only ethnic programming available to them is of less
22 than full "broadcast" quality. The ethnocultural
23 communities would therefore continue to be presented as
24 the inferior groups or second rate citizens within the
25 broader community, which will, in turn, reinforce
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1 negative stereotypes of ethnocultural community groups.
2 372 Free access to Canadian third
3 language radio and television programming for as many
4 ethnocultural groups as possible, especially the
5 smaller ones, should remain a fundamental principle of
6 the Canadian Ethnic Broadcasting Policy.
7 373 This principle must be maintained by
8 the CRTC if the Ethnic Broadcasting Policy is to fulfil
9 its social mandate.
10 Recommendations
11 374 In closing, I would like to put
12 forward the following recommendations:
13 375 As a result of this policy review,
14 the CRTC should take steps to ensure that the social
15 mandate of the broadcasting system is being fulfilled
16 by (a) encouraging English language broadcasters to
17 reflect "all" local Canadian experiences in an
18 inclusive and equitable manner; (b) increasing the
19 availability of Canadian third language programming;
20 (c) encouraging and ensuring that third language
21 programming has adequate support to develop quality
22 local Canadian programs; (d) ensuring free access to
23 Canadian radio and television programming for as many
24 ethnocultural groups as possible; and, finally, (e)
25 developing an effective means to monitor and evaluate
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1 the social mandate of both English language and third
2 languages media.
3 376 The comparative material released by
4 the CRTC shows that in Toronto and Montreal, members of
5 ethnocultural groups have access to free Canadian third
6 language programming provided by a local multilingual
7 television station; such a station in Vancouver could
8 address some of the principle concerns expressed in
9 this presentation.
10 377 Thank you very much for the
11 opportunity to present my viewpoints and for taking
12 time to review the effectiveness of the Ethnic
13 Broadcasting Policy.
14 378 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you very
15 much, Ms Au.
16 379 THE SECRETARY: Our next presenter
17 this evening is Mason Loh.
18 PRESENTATION / PRÉSENTATION
19 380 MR. LOH: Thank you, Honourable
20 Commissioners. It's my pleasure to appear before you
21 today at this consultation. I'm appearing as an
22 interested member of the public.
23 381 Although I am a lawyer by occupation,
24 I work as a volunteer in the community, but more
25 relevant to all of this is I'm a consumer of ethnic
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1 language programming, TV and radio. And according to
2 the 1996 Statistics Canada Census, I guess over 300,000
3 of our population here in Vancouver speak at least one
4 of the foreign languages, third languages we're talking
5 about here, at home. So I presume the market is at
6 least that big and that number is two or three years
7 old. So I'm within that number and I resort to ethnic
8 language programming very much on my sources as a
9 source of information and also entertainment, too.
10 382 Now, I propose to briefly respond to
11 the three questions set out in your News Release
12 accompanying the Public Notice.
13 383 To Question Number 1:
14 "To what extent does the present
15 broadcasting system adequately
16 serve Canada's ethnocultural
17 communities?"
18 384 The Ethnic Broadcasting Policy
19 provides an effective policy and regulatory framework
20 to ensure that the needs and interests of members of
21 ethnocultural groups in Canada are served by the
22 Canadian broadcasting system.
23 385 The Ethnic Broadcasting Policy:
24 "(i) requires Canadian radio and
25 television broadcasters to
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1 reflect the multicultural nature
2 of Canadian society in the
3 programming that they provide;
4 (ii) supports the provision of
5 Canadian television and radio
6 programming in languages other
7 than English and French, to
8 facilitate integration and equal
9 participation in Canadian
10 society by members of
11 ethnocultural groups; and (iii)
12 allows for access to foreign
13 programming in third languages,
14 to provide members of
15 ethnocultural groups with
16 increased choice and diversity
17 of international information and
18 entertainment programming; and,
19 lastly, (iv) creates
20 opportunities for members of
21 ethnocultural groups to actively
22 participate in the Canadian
23 broadcasting system in languages
24 other than English or French, as
25 the creators of programming, as
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1 the employees, managers or
2 owners of broadcasting services,
3 or as the purchasers of
4 advertising."
5 386 Now, it's been almost 15 years since
6 the policy was first established, but the ethnic
7 policy, I believe, is still relevant and it's still
8 strong.
9 387 If the present broadcasting system is
10 not adequately serving Canada's ethnocultural
11 communities, the problem is not the policy but rather,
12 the implementation of the policy.
13 388 Now, on to the second question you've
14 posed:
15 "Given the demographic changes
16 that have taken place in Canada,
17 how can the needs and interests
18 of ethnocultural communities
19 continue to be served?"
20 389 There certainly have been significant
21 changes in the population of Canada in the last 14
22 years and some of the earlier presenters have already
23 touched upon that. In the Vancouver area, particularly
24 relevant for us here and for the community that I come
25 from, the Chinese speaking community, over 200,000
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1 people now identify themselves as speaking Chinese
2 language at home as their primary language, being the
3 largest group here in Vancouver.
4 390 Now with these changes in demography,
5 I believe they're placing new demands on the Canadian
6 broadcasting system. It is a good time to review the
7 implementation of the policy to ensure that it is
8 keeping pace with demands. I applaud the Commission
9 for doing this circuit and consulting the community on
10 it.
11 391 Some of the questions that I would
12 ask is: If there is a growing ethnic population and
13 there is more demand for programming in third
14 languages, is that demand being met by this policy?
15 392 The second question: Consumers also
16 are demanding more choice and diversity in third
17 language programming, higher quality and more local and
18 Canadian information programming; is that demand being
19 met?
20 393 Thirdly: Advertisers want greater
21 choice and more ways to reach their customers in third
22 languages; is that demand being met?
23 394 Fourthly: Members of ethnocultural
24 groups are looking for more opportunities to become
25 involved in the creative and business sides of the
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1 Canadian broadcasting industry; is that demand being
2 met?
3 395 The comparative data released by the
4 CRTC show that some markets are better served than
5 other markets; in some markets, the new demands are
6 being met, in other markets they may not be.
7 396 For example, if we compare the
8 Chinese community population in Vancouver to Toronto,
9 we're slightly smaller here, but we are much bigger
10 than the Chinese community in Montreal. But in both
11 Toronto and Montreal, Chinese speaking viewers have
12 access to free local television programming in Chinese
13 languages and other languages. And the local
14 businesses can use broadcast television to reach their
15 customers with advertising in Chinese languages; but
16 here in Vancouver, that is still not yet the case.
17 397 Now, this review by the Commission is
18 an important opportunity for the Commission to evaluate
19 the implementation of its Ethnic Broadcasting Policy to
20 identify demands that are not being met, and to chart a
21 course of action to ensure that the structure of the
22 Canadian broadcasting system keeps pace with Canada's
23 changing demography.
24 398 Now, the last question, the third
25 question you've posed is:
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1 "Should there be a priority on
2 the development of Canadian
3 ethnocultural services other
4 than importing foreign
5 services?"
6 399 Foreign third language services
7 provide members of ethnocultural groups with increased
8 viewing choices, just like U.S. programming services in
9 English provide English Canadians with increased
10 viewing choice.
11 400 However, foreign services are not a
12 substitute for Canadian services.
13 401 Members of ethnocultural groups need
14 Canadian third language programming to learn more about
15 Canada and to develop a sense of Canada as their own
16 country.
17 402 Canadian third language programming
18 facilitates integration, promotes equal participation
19 and ensures that members of ethnocultural groups have
20 access to a Canadian perspective on local, national and
21 international events and issues.
22 403 Canadian third language programming
23 also provides members of ethnocultural groups with an
24 opportunity to contribute their views and unique
25 perspective on Canadian society and to actively
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1 participate in the creative and business sides of the
2 Canadian broadcasting industry.
3 404 In ethnic broadcasting, as in other
4 areas of the Canadian broadcasting system, the
5 Commission should assign the highest priority to
6 Canadian ethnic broadcasting services that provide
7 Canadian programming in third languages, while, at the
8 same time allowing viewers to have access to foreign
9 services and foreign programming.
10 405 So, in conclusion, I guess you can
11 gather from me, as just one single consumer of third
12 language programming, that I like choices, just like
13 any of us if we're buying anything, we like to have
14 choices on pricing, on quality, on selection. I think
15 it's a basic demand and I urge you to consider that in
16 your review of the policy.
17 406 Thank you.
18 407 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you, Mr. Loh.
19 408 THE SECRETARY: Mr. Loh, before you
20 relax entirely, did I introduce you as Manson Loh?
21 409 MR. LOH: Yes, I think so...
22 410 THE SECRETARY: I am sorry for that.
23 Can the record reflect that this was Mason Loh.
24 411 MR. LOH: Thank you.
25 412 THE SECRETARY: Thanks very much.
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1 413 MR. LOH: Thank you, ma'am.
2 1830
3 414 THE SECRETARY: And our next
4 presenter this evening is Albert Lo.
5 PRESENTATION / PRÉSENTATION
6 415 MR. LO: My name is Albert Lo, I'm
7 the Vice President of a non-profit society called The
8 Agape Christian Team of Canada.
9 416 For some eight years, together with
10 the Chinese Committee Television Limited, we have
11 co-produced a lifestyle and culture program in the
12 Chinese language which is called "Vision Agape". This
13 local production was telecast continuously for almost
14 eight years on the multicultural channel here in
15 Vancouver until last September when it was arbitrarily
16 banned by the licensed service provider.
17 417 Today I'm here to offer some comments
18 in response to the Public Notice CRTC 1998-135 with
19 regard to the broadcasting policy reflecting Canada's
20 linguistic and cultural diversity.
21 418 Paragraph 9 of the Public Notice
22 makes reference to, and I quote:
23 "It is the Commission's
24 objective to ensure that its
25 policy, as modified by whatever
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1 changes it may determine are
2 necessary, continues to provide
3 an adequate framework within
4 which the Canadian broadcasting
5 system may serve the needs and
6 interests of all Canadians by
7 reflecting their ethnocultural
8 diversity in an effective
9 manner."
10 419 From our experience and viewers'
11 feedback over the years, we would say that the
12 Commission's policy had been reasonably effective up
13 until 1998. Public feedback also tells us that
14 beginning sometime last year, the needs and interests
15 of a significant and particular segment of Canadians
16 ceased being served and their ethnocultural diversity
17 stopped being respected.
18 420 The exact cause of this phenomenon is
19 yet to be determined. However, anecdotal evidence and
20 our actual experience both suggest that the
21 Commission's policy is basically sound, although
22 there's always room for improvement. Nevertheless, we
23 are of the opinion that there's a weakness in terms of
24 fulfilling the intent and spirit of the policy, and
25 that is implementation as alluded to by our previous
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1 presenter that I heard.
2 421 Without digressing or getting into
3 specific barriers that we ourselves encountered with
4 certain licensee, as this is not the proper forum for
5 such discussions, we would like to highlight the
6 following points for consideration by the Commission:
7 422 1) A broadcasting policy reflecting
8 Canada's linguistic and cultural diversity is a noble
9 policy. Its success would make for a more harmonious
10 and united Canada, provided all the stakeholders and
11 players support the policy by living up to its intent
12 and spirit and not merely comply in a technical sense.
13 423 2) We believe a policy that reflects
14 Canada's linguistic and cultural diversity includes the
15 concept of respect. This obviates the vital importance
16 of providing programming that promotes cross-cultural
17 understanding when viewed from a policy framework
18 perspective.
19 424 3) Ethnic broadcasting is more than
20 just a purely commercial venture. The societal
21 obligation of serving the needs of the ethnocultural
22 communities must be brought into sharp focus in
23 examining licensing framework. A licensed to provide
24 ethnic programming in a semi-monopolistic, if not
25 totally monopolistic fashion, is a privilege that
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1 carries with it a certain public trust. Licensees must
2 therefore be held accountable at all times in terms of
3 fulfilling policy requirements, not just at licence
4 renewal times.
5 425 4) To enhance the policy's
6 effectiveness, there should be provision for incentives
7 to those service providers who have conscientiously
8 supported and upheld the policy, as well as living up
9 to and fulfilled in good faith, all of the conditions
10 of their applicable licences.
11 426 5) The ethic broadcasting regulatory
12 regime -- and I refer to paragraph 17 -- to paragraph
13 27 of the Public Notice, should also include some
14 provisions for these incentives to prevent and minimize
15 the possibility of potential for any interested party
16 to profit by way of playing politics of division or by
17 promoting ethnic bribery while hiding behind some
18 clever politics of appearance. In the absence of
19 safeguards to keep this type of politics to a minimum,
20 there's a real potential for any unscrupulous players
21 in ethnic broadcasting to cause irreparable harm to
22 ethnic relations and racial harmony because of pure
23 greed or because of their own private agenda.
24 427 Finally, enforcement is an aspect
25 that should be taken into consideration in any policy
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1 we design. Without any effective enforcement
2 mechanism, a policy is just like a paper tiger. With
3 no teeth, it is not worth the paper it is written on.
4 428 In this regard, I must say it is a
5 pleasant surprise to learn of a recommendation that was
6 made earlier by the presenter from AMSSA, a
7 recommendation that we, too, would like the Commission
8 to consider. And that is to establish an independent
9 objective body with the responsibility of monitoring,
10 advising and recommending remedial actions in cases of
11 deviations from policy or where complaints arise.
12 429 The body should be comprised of
13 representatives from various ethnic communities who
14 will serve on a volunteer basis. They must also have
15 no arm's length -- non-arm's length relationships with
16 any of the licensees.
17 430 Thank you for the opportunity to
18 present our comments.
19 431 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you, Mr. Lo.
20 432 THE SECRETARY: I'd like to invite
21 Amin Jamal to present next, please.
22 PRESENTATION / PRÉSENTATION
23 433 MR. JAMAL: I thank you very much for
24 giving me the opportunity to present my views.
25 434 My name is Amin Jamal. I am a member
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1 of the South Asian Advisory Board, which is chaired by
2 Mr. Gyan Nath. Since he is in India, I was asked some
3 time last week if I would give my views. Whether these
4 represent Mr. Gyan Nath's views, I don't know, however
5 it is the Board that has the same views, I'm sure.
6 435 And because of this position, I have
7 had the privilege to meet with the managers and people
8 responsible in providing the service in the manner they
9 think fit.
10 436 So nine months ago, the service
11 provider decided to change the way the programs were
12 presented, and this was in the guise of competition.
13 They brought in more inexperienced producers, they paid
14 no attention to the quality and content. Local content
15 was no longer a priority. Those producers that had two
16 to three, and three and a half hour slots were given
17 more like half hour slots at very odd times. People do
18 not have time to phone the response line and we will
19 not complain about something very trivial or small, but
20 the service provider inculcated in people the need to
21 form and unknowingly the producers also encouraged it.
22 Now, the service provider has the ammunition of the big
23 number of complaints about dissatisfaction.
24 437 We are asked if the community was
25 adequately served. The answer is "no". The question
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1 is not how the community can be served well, but why
2 the community is not served well, although the local
3 producers have the facility and the know-how.
4 438 Nine months later, it is time for
5 delivery. You must have received a request for
6 licensing a new channel to serve the community. The
7 answer to this should be that they served the community
8 well until the service provider decided otherwise.
9 439 The question now is whether there is
10 a need for a national channel to serve the community.
11 The logical answer to this is "no". If you look at the
12 demographics, you will find disparity across the
13 nation. The Toronto program must contain 60 percent of
14 Italian programming. The advertisers will not pay more
15 to sell Ragout and pasta to the Chinese community in
16 B.C., and you cannot sell Durian to the Italians. The
17 idea is to sell what people want.
18 440 When I served on the Committee of the
19 Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants in England
20 some 25 years ago, an immigrant whose application was
21 being favourably received asked me to withdraw the
22 application. I asked him, "Why do you want to do
23 this?", he said, "I cannot live in a country where
24 they're talking about making homosexuality legal." I
25 said, "What is it to you?", he said, "I want to get out
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1 of here before they make it compulsory."
2 --- Laughter / Rires
3 441 MR. JAMAL: If they will impose a
4 national channel on the community, there will be a
5 revolt. People will look for the alternative source;
6 there is always an alternative. I think the
7 multicultural channel has lost so many viewers the
8 service provider has no idea of the numbers. The
9 satellite dish is becoming more affordable. Before the
10 viewers decide to cancel subscriptions to the basic
11 channels it is time to revert to the old programs.
12 442 Take the example of the change in
13 Coca-Cola recipe. Several years back, the company
14 decided to change the recipe, they lost their
15 marketshare and got hurt badly. Bad enough to bring
16 back the original recipe. They were lucky to win the
17 consumer back since they had a unique product to offer.
18 Why not look at the facts instead of taking chances?
19 443 It is my opinion that the service
20 provider should sit down with the old producers and ask
21 them, "What would be the best way to serve the ethnic
22 community?"
23 444 We had a meeting with the officers of
24 the service provider some 12 days ago. I asked
25 regarding the reason behind the present policy, they
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1 told me they thought the time was right for a change.
2 I asked why there were nine producers of the South
3 Asian language programs? They said because there were
4 that many applications. I asked if they would bring 10
5 more on board? They said if they offered good quality
6 programs. I asked why there was no program in Austrian
7 language? They said because nobody's applied for it.
8 I asked if it were only because the German and the
9 Austrians spoke the same language? The program manager
10 said that the Germans and Austrians spoke different
11 languages. Last week I found out that the German
12 program producer was an Austrian and the person that
13 said the countries spoke different languages happens to
14 be a person of German descent.
15 445 The service provider, evidently, has
16 no interest in serving the community and you have not
17 paid attention to the service provider's disregard to
18 your guidelines. It is my opinion that they should
19 form a committee of ethnic community members to convey
20 the needs and the policy of programming should be based
21 on their recommendations.
22 446 If Murphy's Golden Rule, "One who has
23 gold makes the rules" or a similar German saying, "Wer
24 das gelde hat kann die puppen tanzen lassen" is to be
25 applied, then I rest my case.
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1 447 I thank you very much.
2 448 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you, Mr.
3 Jamal.
4 449 THE SECRETARY: I would invite
5 Patrick Wong and Joe Chan to make their presentations
6 next.
7 PRESENTATION / PRÉSENTATION
8 450 MR. CHAN: Madame and Mr.
9 Commissioner, Commission staff and members of the
10 public, I am Joe Chan, General Manager of Fairchild
11 Media Group, and with me today is Patrick Wong, who is
12 the Group's Vice President, Corporate Affairs.
13 451 Fairchild welcomes the opportunity to
14 participate in the Commission's review of third
15 language and Ethnic Broadcasting Policy. We
16 appreciate, in particular, the Commission's efforts to
17 reach out to individuals within the many multicultural
18 communities in Canada and to gain an appreciation of
19 the role ethnic broadcasting plays in the lives of
20 Canadians.
21 452 We believe the current policy has
22 been critical in the development of distinctive
23 Canadian ethnic services and remains a key factor to
24 our success. While we intend to highlight a few of our
25 submissions, we are here today primarily to listen,
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1 along with the Commission, to the perspective of the
2 viewers in this niche we aim to serve.
3 453 The Fairchild Media Group has a
4 significant commitment to ethnic broadcasting with
5 interests in four radio stations, as well as our
6 specialty television services, Fairchild Television and
7 Talentvision.
8 454 Fairchild first entered ethnic radio
9 broadcasting in 1992 when we were issued a licence for
10 CJVB-AM Vancouver. Since then, Fairchild has expanded
11 through the acquisition of an AM station in Toronto and
12 new FM undertakings in Calgary and Vancouver, which we
13 operate in partnership with O.K. Radio Group. In
14 addition, we recently received authority to utilize the
15 SCMO of our Vancouver FM to provide a Korean language
16 service.
17 455 In keeping with the current policy
18 framework, these stations each face the challenge of
19 servicing a wide range of cultural groups in a
20 significant number of different languages. For
21 example, 14 cultural groups in a minimum of 15
22 different languages are served by our Toronto AM
23 station and over 10 cultural groups in 19 different
24 languages by the Calgary FM. In Vancouver we serve 20
25 groups in 15 languages on our FM station, while on the
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1 AM undertaking over 23 cultural community access
2 programming in at least 23 different languages.
3 456 We are proud of the tremendous
4 variety of programming these stations provide to a
5 broad cross section of communities, including
6 Cambodian, Jamaicans, Greeks, Malays, Loasians,
7 Persians, Tamils, Indians, Vietnamese and Koreans.
8 Both through our programming and as a corporate
9 citizen, Fairchild has made a concerted effort to be
10 connected to the communities we serve and in turn, to
11 connect our audience to each other and to other
12 Canadians.
13 457 In this regard, Fairchild established
14 a scholarship at the Ryerson University School of
15 Broadcasting, as well as B.C. Institute of Technology,
16 aimed at expanding the presence of Canadians from a
17 variety of ethnic origins in the media.
18 458 In 1993, we acquired the assets of
19 Chinavision, a national Chinese language specialty
20 undertaking. Today, Fairchild Television continues to
21 serve the Canadian Chinese community, broadcasting
22 primarily in Cantonese. Over 300,000 subscribers
23 currently receive the service via Direct-To-Home
24 satellite or in more limited areas, by MDS or cable.
25 459 In addition to Fairchild Television,
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1 we also operate Talentvision, a regional specialty
2 undertaking acquired in 1993 which serves over 14,000
3 British Columbian subscribers. Talentvision while
4 focuses on the fast-growing Mandarin speaking
5 population also carries programs in Vietnamese and
6 Korean.
7 460 Fairchild Television and Talentvision
8 provide a wide variety of foreign and Canadian
9 programming with news and information produced in our
10 Toronto and Vancouver studios among our most popular
11 shows. We are also pleased to report that
12 increasingly, these Canadian productions are in demand
13 as exports to other countries. Our current affairs
14 program, "Prime Stories" and "Timeline" are now being
15 licensed and shown on the cable network in Hong Kong.
16 461 The following are the issues to
17 consider: Our experience in both television and radio
18 has confirmed the important role ethnic services can
19 play in the Canadian broadcasting system by
20 strengthening the multicultural fabric of our country.
21 We firmly believe there continues to be a need for
22 distinct ethnic policy and that the fine tuning made as
23 part of this review should build on strong framework
24 already in place.
25 462 We appreciate that a public
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1 consultation is not the forum for detailed analysis.
2 We will, therefore, highlight only a few key points.
3 463 On the radio side, Fairchild believes
4 the current ethnic and Canadian content levels remain
5 appropriate and should not be increased. However,
6 licences must be provided with greater flexibility in
7 the scheduling of programs. This flexibility will
8 allow market demand to regulate program schedules while
9 the existing safeguards continue to ensure the quantity
10 and diversity of ethnic programming.
11 464 In television, Fairchild has a number
12 of recommendations.
13 465 First, we believe ethnic services
14 should be afforded the same access to distribution as
15 the Canadian Specialty Services most recently licensed.
16 In other words, upon the earlier of September 1st, '99,
17 or the introduction of digital.
18 466 Fairchild Television continues to
19 struggle to obtain cable distribution. While we are
20 available in Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary,
21 the service is not carried in Montreal, Winnipeg,
22 Ottawa, the Atlantic provinces or in many of the
23 growing communities around Toronto.
24 467 Secondly, Fairchild supports the
25 existing policy which refuses to add a foreign service
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1 to the eligible list, which would be comparative with a
2 Canadian Specialty service. Foreign services bring
3 diversity, but they do not contribute to the financing
4 or broadcast of Canadian programming, nor are they
5 tailored to the specific needs of the people residing
6 here. These continued protection is vital to the
7 growth of distinctive Canadian ethnic programming.
8 468 Finally, Fairchild does not believe
9 the licensing of a national ethnic network is
10 consistent with the evolving needs of Canadian ethnic
11 communities, particularly in a digital world. We
12 believe that with the transition to digital, the
13 opportunity should be provided to each ethnic community
14 to develop a service which best suits its needs. Like
15 all Canadians, ethnic viewers want access to a variety
16 of programming in the language of choice, available at
17 times to suit their schedule.
18 469 A national multi-ethnic network would
19 not only fail to meet these needs, but would threaten
20 the developability of the Specialty services which do.
21 However, should the Commission see fit to licence such
22 a network, we believe its Condition of Licence must be
23 structured to protect existing Specialty service and to
24 ensure service to under-served communities.
25 470 In closing, Fairchild is proud of the
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1 service we provide to a wide variety of ethnic
2 communities. We believe the current policy framework
3 has contributed much to the development of distinctive
4 Canadian ethnic programming and that through this
5 policy review, we can work to further improve our
6 systems.
7 471 Thank you.
8 472 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you very
9 much.
10 473 I think that concludes this panel and
11 I just, once again, like to thank all of you for taking
12 the time to come in and sharing your views with us.
13 It's an important contribution to our deliberations and
14 we appreciate it very much.
15 474 I'd also just like to point out to
16 some of you who may have missed it, just given the
17 number of people that have asked to appear, we haven't
18 been able to ask questions of the presenters and it
19 doesn't reflect on our part a lack of interest, but
20 just a desire to hopefully get through the list and to
21 hear from you tonight before midnight.
22 475 And on that note, what we'd like to
23 do is break for half an hour to give everyone a chance
24 perhaps to get something to eat or a coffee or a bit of
25 a break and then I think we're probably going to have
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1 about another two and a half hours -- two to two and a
2 half hours following the break. So it is five to 7:00,
3 we'll be back here at 25 past.
4 476 Thank you.
5 1855
6 --- Recess / Pause
7 477 THE CHAIRPERSON: All right, Madame
8 Secretary, shall we begin with the next group of
9 presenters.
10 478 THE SECRETARY: If I can just make
11 sure that the following people are around the table:
12 Sheshi Assanand, Meena Paranjpe -- did I say that close
13 to right?
14 479 MS PARANJPE: You said that right.
15 480 THE SECRETARY: Thank you. John
16 Khuu.
17 481 MR. KHUU: Yes.
18 482 THE SECRETARY: Okay. Is there
19 anyone else in the room who wants to speak tonight?
20 483 MS PHAM: You haven't mentioned my
21 name.
22 484 THE SECRETARY: I'm sorry.
23 485 MS PHAM: Trinh Pham.
24 486 THE SECRETARY: Oh, yes, I'm sorry.
25 487 MS PHAM: It's okay.
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1 488 THE SECRETARY: Yes. Trinh Pham?
2 489 MS PHAM: Yes.
3 490 THE SECRETARY: Great.
4 491 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: (Off mic...)
5 492 THE SECRETARY: You're going to do
6 this together? You're going to present separately, are
7 you?
8 493 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Yes.
9 494 THE SECRETARY: Okay.
10 495 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: (Off mic...)
11 496 THE SECRETARY: You're negotiable,
12 aren't you?
13 --- Laughter / Rires
14 497 THE SECRETARY: Okay. Thank you very
15 much. We'll start with Sheshi Assanand.
16 1930
17 PRESENTATION / PRÉSENTATION
18 498 MS ASSANAND: I work for an
19 organization which is called Vancouver and Lower
20 Mainland Multicultural Family Support Services, I'm the
21 Executive Director of the organization. It's an
22 organization that works with immigrant and visible
23 minority women and children who experience family
24 violence.
25 499 One of my goal of being present here
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1 today is also to put the issue of women, especially
2 immigrant and visible minority women on the table and
3 the difficulties that they experience. Our whole area
4 of work is family violence. More recently, our
5 organization, together with People's Law School, which
6 is a publicly legal education body that provides
7 educational programs for the immigrant communities, as
8 well as others. We have received funding from Heritage
9 Canada and the funding is to provide a culturally
10 sensitive service, sort of culturally sensitive
11 programming for immigrant population on the issue of
12 wife abuse, child abuse and senior abuse, which really
13 requires us to use the services of the ethnic media.
14 500 And knowing that the ethnic media can
15 be -- or media by itself can be a very powerful tool to
16 reach out to the minority communities. This is also
17 with the idea that family violence is a tabooed subject
18 which is very seldom spoken of in minority cultures.
19 We find that our expertise and the knowledge of being
20 able to provide culturally sensitive services to
21 minority communities has prompted the funders to select
22 our services to reach out through the ethnic media.
23 501 What I'm going to talk about is the
24 technical difficulties that we have encountered in
25 trying to reach out to the communities through the
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1 ethnic media.
2 502 What we have discovered is that all
3 the producers are independent producers. There is very
4 little consistency in the way they provide programming.
5 Our ability to reach out to the community entirely
6 depends on the producer's interests in the issue, as I
7 said it's a tabooed issue, so there are people who are
8 not really interested in touching this particular
9 topic.
10 503 Secondly, we find that there is --
11 they lack resources, so there isn't any consistency in
12 the resources that they have, which makes it very
13 difficult for them and organizations like ours.
14 504 The funding is limited, so there
15 isn't enough we can provide them, so really, it's
16 entirely dependent on what the producers can -- how
17 they can support us. And that's where the difficulty
18 lies.
19 505 I also want to compare -- this
20 project is a national project which means that Toronto
21 has it, the funding for it; Montreal has it and
22 Vancouver has it.
23 506 Unfortunately for us, Toronto seems
24 to have very easy access to ethnic media and to the
25 ethnic communities; Montreal and Vancouver seem to be
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1 having a lot of difficulties and again, as I said,
2 there is that inconsistency in the policy. What we
3 would like to see is that some kind of a policy that --
4 and also I want to make a point that ethnic
5 organizations or, you know, multicultural organizations
6 have -- are able to provide culturally sensitive
7 approach in reaching out to the community and ethnic
8 media can also be a very powerful tool to break down
9 the taboos and so, we feel that a combination -- and
10 just by ourselves, it is very difficult to reach,
11 because they're not going to be taking an directives
12 from us.
13 507 That if there was a consistent policy
14 and support to them, I think it would make a lot of
15 difference in making sure -- I also want to mention
16 that one of the reasons is that if you're talking about
17 the issue of family violence, you find that immigrant
18 and visible minority women who don't work, that's the
19 group we want to reach. They're not going to read the
20 paper, they're not going to, sort of, watch mainstream
21 media in that sense and understand what's going on and
22 what is available to them. So through our reaching
23 out, it's something that we can be sure that they
24 listen to the radios or they listen to the TV and learn
25 what the issue of violence is all about and what they
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1 can do to remedy their situation.
2 508 So, keeping that in mind, and that's
3 just one example, but then there are other examples.
4 Earlier on Mobina talked about AIDS and, you know,
5 issues that are not openly talked about in our
6 communities. Parenting dilemmas are other very
7 difficult subjects that minority communities need to
8 deal with.
9 509 And to give you an example, very
10 recently what happened, we've been approaching ethnic
11 media and a Chinese multicultural channel said to us
12 that they are required by Rogers for us to prepare a
13 prototype tape for them to scrutinize. If they like
14 it, it will go on. Now, I want to say that it would be
15 very difficult for minimum resources that we have to
16 produce a prototype tape to be given out for them to
17 scrutinize and I think that that would really
18 jeopardize all the work that is being put in in this
19 particular project. This is just an example of one
20 particular project, but what I'm really seeking -- it's
21 an example, what I'm seeking is that more support for
22 the ethnic media and the community organizations to
23 work together, because the information that needs to be
24 provided to the communities can come from us, but
25 through the ethnic media, and that needs to be sort of
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1 taken into account.
2 510 So basically, I actually had not made
3 any formal presentation, because I wasn't sure whether
4 I would be able to attend this, sort of, hearing. But
5 I really would like to emphasize that women and
6 children from ethnic minority communities are at the
7 bottom of the ladder. And any kind of programming that
8 is happening for them needs to be taken into
9 consideration and family violence is one such example.
10 511 Thank you very much.
11 512 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you very
12 much.
13 513 THE SECRETARY: I finally caught on.
14 You two are together, aren't you?
15 514 MRS. PARANJPE: Yes.
16 515 THE SECRETARY: Okay. I would like
17 to invite Meena and Anand Paranjpe to make their
18 presentation now.
19 PRESENTATION / PRÉSENTATION
20 516 MRS. PARANJPE: By profession I'm a
21 Speech Pathologist, currently working as a Program
22 Manager in the South Fraser Region.
23 517 As a part of my job, not as a Speech
24 Pathologist, but as a Program Manager of the
25 department, I have been also in the -- member of the
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1 Regional Diversity Committee in South Fraser Region and
2 a Chairperson for Langley Community Health for
3 Diversity Committee.
4 518 Outside my job, I had worked as a
5 President for India Music Society, Director and
6 President both. I had been a member of Indo-Canadian
7 Community for over 31 years and I worked as my two-year
8 term in the B.C. Arts Council.
9 519 Based on all this experience, I'm
10 going to share some of my thoughts.
11 520 I find that in a pluralistic society,
12 there is a need for diversity of the program, diversity
13 of the cultures to be presented. Just recently, in
14 Langley Community Health, when we did the Diversity
15 Week, we presented some various programs and the basic
16 purpose was to create an opportunity for people to gain
17 exposure in the diversity we have in our country, in
18 the multicultural fabric of our country. And it was
19 very well received.
20 521 After every program when we gave
21 questionnaires, just to give you a rough idea about 150
22 questionnaires, there wasn't a single person who said
23 they didn't like this project or they didn't like this
24 idea. So people do want the opportunity to get some
25 exposure to diversity. Whether it is through
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1 educational projects, through lectures, even through
2 food or even media programs, performing arts, they like
3 it.
4 522 The analogy comes to my mind and we
5 use that in our region to explain our purpose was a
6 rainbow. It is very hard to say where red colour ends
7 and orange starts, for example, in a rainbow. It's
8 very cohesial. The same thing happens in the
9 community. There is -- it becomes a cohesial
10 community. Every ethnic community can keep their
11 identity and at the same time try to assimilate and
12 create a beautiful picture.
13 523 In my mind, a red colour alone or an
14 orange colour alone is beautiful, but the rainbow,
15 which is a cumulative effect of all the colours is even
16 more beautiful. And that's what my point is, if we
17 have the diversity in the programs, it's available, it
18 creates a more powerful, more effective effect and
19 that's what we want for a cohesial society.
20 524 Then the question comes, as if it is
21 done locally here, there are some plus points because
22 it's more approachable for us, it's easier for us to
23 explain our needs, needs of the community, needs of our
24 project, needs of the purposes of our projects and then
25 they're likely to respond to that. And that's the
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1 experience I had so far.
2 525 As a Speech Pathologist, when I
3 approached Rogers channel, they give a good exposure
4 because speech -- speech disorders or communication
5 problems are not limited to one particular community.
6 And when we wanted to make that appeal for people to
7 give information for people where to go, how to deal
8 with it, it was easy for us to deal with various
9 communities and community channels with Rogers, because
10 it was locally done.
11 526 So I would like to request that those
12 things continue.
13 527 Thank you.
14 528 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you very
15 much.
16 529 DR. PARANJPE: I'm Anand Paranjpe.
17 Like many, I wear, not just two, but many kinds of
18 hats. And the two kinds that I want to represent today
19 is one like my wife, Meena, she and I have been in
20 performing arts, basically in the projection and
21 promoting of performing arts of Indian background,
22 which I have been doing for a long time here, for about
23 25 years in this community and nationally as founder
24 and former Director of the Raga-Mala Performing Arts of
25 Canada, which received grants from various sources, and
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1 especially SSHRC several times for us to be able to go
2 across the country and hunt out the talent that,
3 regardless of their ethnic backgrounds have learned
4 performing arts of India.
5 530 And that is the kind of medium which
6 effectively reaches out to people of various kinds,
7 performing arts being one kind of medium.
8 531 The other kind of hat that I'm
9 talking about is myself as a Professor of Social
10 Psychology. And currently a member of the Metropolis
11 Research Project, which is basically a research project
12 here with a team recognized as a Centre for Excellence
13 in the Study of Immigration. And I have doctoral
14 students who have pursued doctoral studies in
15 psychology pertaining to especially youth problems in
16 growing up between cultures.
17 532 So that's the kind of background. In
18 addition, I have been also -- I have, for several
19 years, worked as a Director, one of the Directors of
20 the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute, which promotes
21 cooperation between Indian and Canadian academics. So
22 I come from various angles at this.
23 533 In terms of the local situation of
24 the media in terms of the Rogers cable channel which
25 has been projecting out to the community at large, all
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1 the way from pop art or "Bollywood" movies, as they are
2 called, through to the presentation of classics of
3 Indian culture, such as the "Mahabharata", for
4 instance, the epic or its TV serialization, and let's
5 say, the epic "Ramayana" and its serialization in
6 contemporary forms, which reaches out not only to the
7 Indo-Canadian community, but to communities at large.
8 534 I wish to point out, for instance,
9 that there has been a presentation of "Ramayana", the
10 epic -- or rather, "Mahabharata", in international --
11 with an international cast by Peter Brook. And these
12 kinds of ways of communicating the best of one culture
13 to other cultures through performing arts, I think
14 reaching out to a lot more people than we researchers
15 and the academia can.
16 535 And it is this value of sharing
17 culture and its values through these media that makes
18 it relevant. It's not simply that we can do that
19 nationally or from one central place as in Ontario; we
20 need local participation in it for, say, various
21 reasons.
22 536 Let me add this point in terms of the
23 media of my other hat, which is working with youth
24 issues as a psychologist.
25 537 Here in Vancouver, several years ago,
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1 rather, more than twice, we have used the local channel
2 to present to the community discussion or skits or
3 various forms of presenting contemporary issues of the
4 local community growing between cultures.
5 538 As an instance, the community is
6 facing a problem of second generation immigrants
7 getting married and Indian custom of arranged marriages
8 has become a flash point in the community's current
9 situation. I, as a psychologist, along with social
10 workers, presented, with the help of the community, a
11 series of programs to reach out to people to talk about
12 what the issues are like.
13 539 Such programming can be done not
14 simply nationally level, but it needs participation
15 from local persons, local community organizations and
16 local researchers. And this is an effective way of
17 helping community face its problems and find solutions
18 by coordinating all kinds of expertise together.
19 540 So these are the different kinds of
20 ways -- finally, one other important point that I wish
21 to suggest is that a country like Canada is going to
22 become culturally strong by keeping and promoting the
23 ancestral traditions. I'm very proud to say that the
24 university I belong to, Simon Fraser, has a bagpipe --
25 Scottish bagpipe, that, for instance, beats out the
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1 local natives in their own land by going from here and
2 performing there. I feel proud about being that.
3 541 And similarly, I would like to
4 suggest that arts from all kinds of cultures should
5 grow here and how are we going to allow -- do that,
6 unless we have exposure to the community. We need not
7 centralize on this, we need to have local community
8 participation who have local identity problems. We
9 need to have integration rather than either
10 assimilation or separation and "ghettoization". And
11 the way of doing it is to share and to share the best
12 that any culture has to offer. And unless selected
13 aspects of different cultures become part of ourselves,
14 both our community level and our personal level, we are
15 not going to get...
16 542 And there are no -- no legislation
17 here. People can switch on probably any channel
18 randomly and they can find some Korean film or Chinese
19 dance presentation and fall in love. I wish to point
20 out that we have promoted, among other people, an
21 English person who is expert in "raagas" or a Japanese
22 Canadian person who presents "raagas" and we have been
23 looking for venues for presenting these artists who
24 actually assimilated the best of different cultures to
25 the public.
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1 543 And if we don't get these
2 opportunities, we are collectively impoverishing
3 ourselves, rather than enriching. We better do a good
4 use of the media. We would take pride in saying that
5 Canadians are among the top in communication media.
6 Let's use those communication media for the benefit of
7 all of us regardless of our backgrounds.
8 544 That's my submission, Madame and sir.
9 545 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you very
10 much, Dr. Paranjpe.
11 546 THE SECRETARY: Our next presenter is
12 John Khuu.
13 PRESENTATION / PRÉSENTATION
14 547 MR. KHUU: Good evening everyone. My
15 name is John and I'm currently enroling at BCIT.
16 548 Today I represent for CYS, which is
17 stand for Civil Youth Strategy Group. A group that's
18 pretty -- it's a pretty new group that provides service
19 for youths in the city. And I also represent for the
20 Vietnamese Youths Nationalist Community in B.C.
21 549 The reason for my presentation today
22 is to raise the voice of youth people regard to the
23 political thing like drugs and alcohol, gang, their
24 identity and their conflict that's happening
25 domestically or culturally.
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1 550 My presentation today is a
2 consultation for Question 2, which is:
3 "Given the demographic changes
4 that have taken place in Canada,
5 how can the needs and interests
6 of ethnocultural communities
7 continue to be served?"
8 551 First, I want to list four major
9 problems that's commonly happen to youth's people
10 nowadays.
11 552 The first one is drug and alcohol, as
12 I just said; the second is gang, and; the third is
13 their identity in the community; the fourth is conflict
14 with their family, like between youths and their
15 parents.
16 553 So in order to serve their needs and
17 interests in the right way, I would think that the
18 programming content in TV should focus more on those
19 problems. For example, having a program that's present
20 about the dangerous side of drugs, like the side
21 effect, socio-relation, et cetera.
22 554 Having a program that's present about
23 the gang issues in their community. Having a program
24 that's present about the youths' identity in the
25 community, like -- probably something like award
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1 recognition or community service for youths, et cetera.
2 And lastly is having a program that's present about the
3 solution for a problem that's relate in the conflict
4 which usually happen between youth people and their
5 parents. So from that, youth people have more chance
6 to raise their own voice to make their own voice
7 recognized to their parents and other people in their
8 community in general.
9 555 Thank you.
10 556 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you very
11 much.
12 557 THE SECRETARY: And next we have
13 Trinh Pham.
14 558 MS PHAM: Before addressing the
15 principle questions identified in the Public Notice, I
16 would like to introduce myself. My name is Trinh Pham,
17 I am a student at Simon Fraser University and the
18 University of British Columbia. And I'm here this
19 evening as one of the youth representatives for the
20 Vancouver Civic Youth Strategy Committee like John, and
21 also from the Vietnamese Youth Nationalist Community in
22 B.C.
23 559 The Vietnamese Canadian population in
24 the Lower Mainland is approximately 16,000. Although
25 we are not large in size, the community is devoted to
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1 establishing and fostering both Vietnamese and Canadian
2 traditional cultural values and beliefs.
3 560 The views I present here tonight come
4 from the concerns expressed at the Vietnamese community
5 over the past few years. And as a Canadian citizen and
6 a youth in the community, I believe that the matters
7 under consideration are extremely important, because as
8 demographic change, our priorities and cultural values
9 need to meet the needs of the people. So if these
10 issues weren't a concern for Canadians then public
11 consultations across the country are unnecessary like
12 the one tonight.
13 561 Moreover, the minority and especially
14 youth voices have been ignored or not taken seriously
15 lately. Therefore an emphasis is needed to reach out
16 and collect youth expressions and concerns.
17 562 The present broadcasting system has
18 "adequately" -- and I quote that -- served Canada's
19 ethnocultural communities in the recent years. These
20 services, however, are not -- are often dependent on
21 program availability and/or where programs are
22 purchased. Programs that have been aired on television
23 especially, have been brought mainly to our
24 neighbourhoods from the United States.
25 563 This issue is one of the main
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1 concerns of the Vietnamese community. It is a concern
2 because if the program is purchased from the States, it
3 will portray the cultures of the Americans instead of
4 the Canadians. News clips, for example, are relatively
5 appropriate since they reflect the current events
6 around the world. On the other hand, the programs,
7 they lack Canadian content and Canadian issues such as
8 cultural aspects, arts, performing arts, recent events
9 and community profile. In essence, we lose out on our
10 culture and the benefits to grow together as a mosaic
11 community.
12 564 In addition, the present broadcasting
13 system had failed to realize the needs of the
14 Vietnamese community. The majority of the Vietnamese
15 in Canada are political refugees, people who have left
16 Vietnam for political reasons, not economic.
17 Therefore, programs that are purchased overseas from
18 places such as Vietnam and shown on Canadian television
19 create a catastrophe, a domino effect you can say on
20 the Vietnamese community at large.
21 565 An excellent example of this was the
22 recent uproar seen and witnessed through a CNN news
23 broadcast report. This uprising was caused by programs
24 from Vietnam promoting the idea of communism and as
25 political refugees, here we share a common interest
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1 under the same political umbrella, we do not want
2 programs that are brought from Vietnam or other places
3 promoting the issues of communism to be aired on
4 Canadian television.
5 566 Issues such as this come near to the
6 heart of the Vietnamese community. In response, the
7 CRTC needs to pay closer attention to issues that the
8 ethnic community regards as repression, because silence
9 does not mean agreement.
10 567 Currently the multicultural channel
11 does not support us in a way is such that we believe
12 that the multicultural channel should not be privately
13 controlled by different groups, for example the
14 Vietnamese channel is controlled by privatization.
15 However, we believe that this responsibility control
16 should belong to the Board of Directors. These are the
17 people who are elected and nominated by the members of
18 the community.
19 568 In terms of radio access to
20 communities at large, it is limited. Why are we not
21 using our full radio band to full use and have
22 different communities have access to them? What are
23 the capabilities of setting up a radio station? What
24 are the steps? These are not expressed.
25 569 Radio airtime are often too expensive
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1 for community and often the radio station impose such
2 as advertising on each community. Within our own
3 community in the Vietnamese over the last year, we have
4 tried to buy airtime on 1320-AM, however over -- after
5 one year we were imposed that our own advertising could
6 not be used and only advertising from the station can
7 be used, therefore there is no funding coming back to
8 the community. As a result, we have been doing tapes
9 and issuing tapes for the community and asking for
10 donations for these tapes instead of having airtime.
11 570 So we would like to know where the
12 CRTC fits in to review individual programs if there is
13 such a policy; if not, we ask that one be created.
14 571 With regards to youth issues, the
15 current programs failed also to serve youths. How
16 often are youth positively portrayed on television or
17 radio? Not very often.
18 572 Speaking for a youth perspective, we
19 are voiceless in society because we do not have the
20 power or money, nor are we in a position to be noticed
21 for our position contribution. Only our negative
22 actions attract the camera and the microphone.
23 573 Television and radio program topics
24 have neglected to deal with issues that are important
25 to us. For instance, generation and cultural gaps in
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1 society, family values, role models, employment and
2 higher education. Moreover, the system has focused on
3 mainly ethnic youth, especially in the crime area.
4 574 I am often asked if I belong to a
5 gang because of my Vietnamese background, especially
6 after a program that has been focused on ethnic gang
7 crime or any negative aspects of youth. Whatever
8 happened to the positive side of youth? Doesn't anyone
9 care any more? I do care and the people in my
10 community do.
11 575 The negative portrayal of youths does
12 indeed lead youths into cultural pride loss and
13 uninterest in their own culture, and that is a shame
14 for loss for one's cultural heritage.
15 576 The needs and interests of the
16 ethnoculture in the Vietnamese community can continue
17 to be served by giving the voices ample opportunity to
18 become part of the mainstream voice. This can be
19 accomplished through regular consultations with the
20 ethnic community Boards of Director. For instance,
21 issues such as proper access to programming, station
22 programming view and et cetera.
23 577 Moreover, let the communities become
24 advisory boards to the CRTC when needed. For example,
25 the Public Notice tonight should have reached every
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1 community in advance. We did not receive this Notice
2 until last week, and more time was needed to prepare
3 and collect community input.
4 578 Also, have the program more widely
5 available, because those who can't afford cable will be
6 unable to view such programs. There also needs to be
7 sub-titles, closed captioning for viewers who wish to
8 view programs in other language or culture.
9 579 And yes, there should definitely be a
10 priority on development of Canadian ethnocultural
11 services, rather than importing foreign services. The
12 Vietnamese community supports this idea because first,
13 it will provide jobs for Canadians and taxpayers'
14 dollars should remain in the country. Second, it will
15 allow for the incorporation of our cultural activities
16 within our cultural realm. Third, if these
17 Canadian-made programs are successful and desired by
18 other countries, we are not only bringing revenues into
19 the country, but also allowing our broadcasting
20 industry to competently grow. Fourth, by investing in
21 local programming, Canadian values and mosaic
22 commitments to the ethnocultural communities will be
23 recognized and better received by Canadians.
24 580 In summary, the CRTC, in what we
25 believe to be need to express that the voices and
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1 provide them with the opportunity to become part of the
2 existing voice. The issues of youth, especially youth
3 of ethnic background are issues which are important to
4 them. Allow the ethnic community Boards of Directors
5 to assist in ethnic issues such as an advisory board.
6 Have more Canadian content through the development of
7 Canadian ethnocultural services rather than importing
8 foreign services.
9 581 And lastly, be cautious of programs
10 brought from other countries as not to offend a
11 community that the programs purchased from Vietnam
12 promoting communism.
13 582 Thank you.
14 583 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you very
15 much.
16 584 THE SECRETARY: Our next presenter is
17 David Ali.
18 2000
19 PRESENTATION / PRÉSENTATION
20 585 MR. ALI: Members of the Commission,
21 my name is David Ali. I'm a Canadian citizen,
22 originally from Fiji. I lived in the United Kingdom
23 for nine years before immigrating to Canada. I'm an
24 Engineer with BC Tel. I'm also a Secretary for B.C.
25 Muslim Association in one of the branches.
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1 586 I appreciate this opportunity to
2 appear before you today to present my view on the CRTC
3 Ethnic Broadcasting Policy.
4 587 I would like to see sources made
5 available to the Islamic value program through the
6 Canadian ethnic broadcasting services. Instead of
7 importing programs from overseas, it would be better if
8 these programs could be assembled here and people
9 voluntary or hired for the job.
10 588 Most of the Canadian programs that
11 are available here, which are shown on the mainstream
12 of the TV are probably early in the morning at six
13 o'clock or 7:00 in the morning when people are sleeping
14 or late at night at one o'clock or two o'clock, and
15 most of the younger generation are not watching the TV
16 at that time of the day.
17 589 I would like to see some of these
18 programs at the -- earlier on at maybe six o'clock in
19 the evening or, you know, whatever the time is
20 suitable.
21 590 Actually, Rogers is doing a pretty
22 good job of bringing all the ethnic together, but they
23 still neglect all the Islamic programs to some extent.
24 This could only be achieved by bringing the mainstream
25 TV broadcasting service and then providing this service
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1 to the community.
2 591 I would think the youth will
3 appreciate that and at the same time, it will be a
4 service to the youth who are coming up into this
5 country where things are a little different than at
6 home.
7 592 I would also like to point out the
8 misconcept people have, because they have no idea why
9 our women dress up the way they do, why the older
10 generation behaves the way they do. The only way to
11 take this misconcept out of the system is to have some
12 sort of media which will channel this thing to the
13 people.
14 593 I appreciate this opportunity to
15 express my view, and thank you very much.
16 594 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you very
17 much.
18 595 I think -- Madame Secretary...?
19 596 THE SECRETARY: Is there anyone else
20 in the room who has not presented that wants to
21 present?
22 597 Could I have your name, please?
23 --- No response / Pas de reponse
24 598 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: I actually am
25 here on behalf of a friend who couldn't make it, so she
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1 wants -- she has a letter here that she would like me
2 to read out for her.
3 599 THE SECRETARY: Okay.
4 600 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Is that okay?
5 601 THE SECRETARY: What's your friend's
6 name?
7 602 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Her name is
8 Nancy Li, that's L-i.
9 603 THE SECRETARY: Okay.
10 604 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: And I've got
11 copies of the letter that I can give you later or now.
12 605 THE SECRETARY: Mm-hmm. Go ahead,
13 please.
14 PRESENTATION / PRÉSENTATION
15 606 W. YOUNG: Her letter states, and
16 these are her views, obviously:
17 607 My name is Nancy Li. I am a regular
18 listener, audience and consumer of the Chinese media.
19 The concerns I have today relate particularly to the
20 Chinese Pay television.
21 608 I believe the role of an ethnic
22 language media in a multicultural society plays an
23 equally important role as the mainstream media in
24 informing its viewers. Given that our mainstream media
25 is monolingual and monocultural, ethnic media plays a
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1 much greater role in terms of integrating its viewers
2 into the society at large.
3 609 For many in the Chinese community,
4 China's language television is their only source of
5 information of the society they live in and of the
6 outside world. They rely on the television for news,
7 community issues and information of the society. Many
8 bilingual Chinese/English in the community also find it
9 easier to understand the news in their mother tongue.
10 610 One only has to compare the number of
11 Chinese language newspapers, hours of radio broadcast
12 and the viewership of Chinese Pay television with the
13 number of Chinese population to understand the hunger
14 for news and information within the Chinese community.
15 This should help you understand -- excuse me.
16 611 This should help you understand the
17 power of the Chinese language media that has over this
18 community. The need to inform the Chinese public of
19 the local events, news and culture is event. However,
20 I must say that this need has not been met. It seems
21 to me that the Chinese Paid television has been relying
22 very heavily on Hong Kong and Taiwan imports.
23 612 The day program time is filled up by
24 reruns of the same soap opera of the night before,
25 followed by other decade-old soaps. The evening prime
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1 time differs by one news program and one local
2 production which includes reruns of old W-5 episodes.
3 The rest of the evening is taken up by soap operas that
4 rehash themes of dysfunctional family disputes and
5 crime dramas.
6 613 If we were to believe that television
7 has any impact on the behaviour of the audience,
8 especially those of young viewers, then I would have to
9 say that the current Chinese television programs are
10 influencing viewers in a very negative way and doing
11 very little to inform or integrate the viewers with
12 their local lives.
13 614 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you.
14 615 THE SECRETARY: I believe that's all
15 the presenters we have here at this time.
16 616 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you. I'd
17 just like to thank the panel for taking the time to
18 come and share your views with us. It's very important
19 as we do our deliberations that we hear from people
20 across the country and I very much appreciate it and so
21 does my colleague.
22 617 Thank you very much for coming.
23 618 So I think we'll take a 10 minute
24 break.
25 --- Recess / Pause
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1 619 THE CHAIRPERSON: It doesn't appear
2 we have any more presenters for today and I believe
3 that concludes the presentations for this evening.
4 Have you anything to add?
5 620 THE SECRETARY: Nothing at this time.
6 621 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you and thank
7 you everybody for being here and we will reconvene
8 tomorrow at 4:00 p.m.
9 --- Whereupon the hearing adjourned at 2018 /
10 L'audience est ajournée à 2018
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