In 1983, after a decade of lobbying, the Canadian federal government established a Northern Broadcasting Policy which laid out the principles for the development of Northern native-produced programming for communities North of the 55th latitude line. With the policy was an accompanying program vehicle called the Northern Native Broadcast Access Program. This program was given $40.3 million to be distributed over a four-year period to 13 regional Native Communications Societies in the North in order to produce 20 hours of regional radio and/or five hours of television per- week in First Peoples' languages, reflecting their specific cultural perspectives. Although funding has eroded over time, the policy and programs are still operational.

One of the key problems identified quite soon after the Program was initiated was that of program distribution via satellite. Transponder rental costs were prohibitive and it became apparent early in the implementation process that a dedicated Northern transponder would be the solution to the negotiation problems involved in piggybacking on existing distribution services, such as that of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's Northern Services or CANCOM (a commercially-based Northern distribution service).

In January 1987, in response to the issue of distribution, Canadian aboriginal and Northern broadcasters met in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories to form a non-profit consortium with the goal of establishing a Pan-Northern television distribution service. In 1988, the Canadian government gave the organizers $10 million to establish Television Northern Canada (TVNC). In 1991, Canada's regulatory agency, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) approved

TVNC's application for a native television network license to serve Northern Canada for the purpose of broadcasting cultural, social, political and educational programming. On 21 January 1992, TVNC began broadcasting. TVNC's network is owned and programmed by 13 aboriginal broadcast, government and education organizations in Northern Canada. Members include: the Inuit Broadcasting Corporation (Ottawa, Iqaluit) the Inuvialuit Communications Society (Inuvik), Northern Native Broadcasting, Yukon (Whitehorse), the OkalaKatiget Society (Labrador), Taqramiut Nipingat Incorporated (Northern Quebec), the Native Communications Society of the Western N.W.T. (Yellowknife), the Government of the Northwest Territories, Yukon College, and the National Aboriginal Communications Society. Associate Members are CBC Northern Service, Kativik School Board (Quebec), Labrador Community College, Northern Native Broadcasting, Terrace, Telesat Canada, and Wawatay Native Communications Society (Sioux Lookout). Services extend to Labrador, Arctic Quebec., Nunavut (formerly the Inuit regions of the Northwest Territories), Western Northwest Territories and Yukon. Programming is produced in at least seven aboriginal languages, as well as in English and French. The TVNC's mission statement elaborates its goals:

Television Northern Canada shall be (is) a dedicated northern satellite distribution system, for the primary benefit of aboriginal people in the North, by which residents of communities across northern Canada may distribute television programming of cultural, social, political and educational importance to each other, increasing communications access and promoting dialogues h] their remote and underserved homelands (TVNC, 1 March 1993).

As a primary level of service for the North, TVNC spans five time zones and covers an area of over 4.3 million kilometers (one third of Canada's territory). The organizations involved broadcast approximately 100 hours per week to 94 communities. TVNC is not a programmer, but a distributor of its members' programming. Core Northern programming consists of:

- 38 hours per week of aboriginal language and cultural programming; -

23 hours per week of formal and informal educational programming;

-12 hours per week of produced and acquired children's programming, over half of which is in aboriginal languages.

As seen from the number of programming hours scheduled, the Native Communications Societies cannot afford to produce enough materials for round-the-clock exhibition. Consequently, TVNC is wrapped around with Environment Canada weather forecasts, as well as newstexts from Broadcast News.

Despite funding cutbacks, TVNC is the only aboriginal television network in the world which broadcasts such a high volume of programming from indigenous sources. As a Pan-Arctic distribution undertaking, it is theoretically in a position to forge connections with Inuit and aboriginal groups in other countries, such as Greenland, Alaska, Finland, Russia (Siberia), Australia, and New Zealand, Brazil, and Bolivia (among others). This could be achieved through program exchanges and uplink-downlink satellite arrangements, but TVNC administration faces two problems: incompatible video/electrical standards and financial barriers. What TVNC does do is offer Northern viewers limited access to programming about activities of indigenous peoples from around the globe, when this is feasible.

In May 1995, TVNC applied to be placed on the Revised Lists of Eligible Satellite Services to be picked up by cable operators throughout Canada. Approval was granted in November 1995. Availability of Northern-produced programming on Southern channels expands Northern broadcasting to a new dimension. It represents the completion of the Canadian broadcasting mandate--permitting broadcasting to move in all directions from the South to the North, North-to-North and North-to-South. This is a leap forward from the unidirectional importation of Southern culture to the North which began in 1973. By permitting TVNC to be broadcast in the South, the Canadian regulatory body is attempting to ensure that all Canadians have an opportunity to acquire a more coherent understanding of the North and its residents.

In December 1995, the CRTC approved a deal between Arctic cooperatives Limited (ACL) and NorthwesTel to split up the northern cable TV market between them. At the same time, the CRTC noted that it expects, but does not require, ACL and NorthwesTel to pay 55 cents per cable TV subscriber into a special programming fund to be administered by TVNC. The money is intended to pay for the development and distribution of First Peoples television programs. Hopefully, these expectations" will be met without resistance.

The most current initiative of TVNC is their participation with ACL and Northwestern in the creation of a new company for the purpose of constructing an affordable and accessible high-speed communications network in Northern Canada. The granting of a license to TVNC and the integration of TVNC in the Northern information highway infrastructure represents Canada's recognition of the importance of Northern-based control over the distribution of its own native and Northern programming and telecommunications services. TVNC is the vehicle through which First Peoples are able to represent themselves and their concerns across Canada's expansive territories. First Peoples are no longer restricted by the geography of diffusion technology to local or regional self representation and identity-building. In this sense TVNC constitutes a de facto recognition of the communication rights of First Peoples in Canada's North.

-Lorna Roth