Until the launching of the Anik satellite in 1972, northern regional radio was limited and television service was nonexistent except for the local circulation of videos. In I973 the North was hooked up to the South through radio and television services and for the first time, Inuit, Metis, and First Nations were able to have access to the images, voices, and messages that United States and metropolitan-based Canadians produced with southern audiences in mind. The parachuting in of southern, culturally irrelevant television programming into northern communities by the CBC Northern Service acted as a catalyst for indigenous constituency groups to organize broadcasting services in their own languages (dialects), reflecting their own cultures. Almost immediately after its initial mystique dissipated, First Peoples and their southern supporters began to lobby for culturally relevant radio and television programming and network services. They wanted participatory and language rights, as well as decision-making responsibilities about programming and southern service expansion. By the mid-l 970s, First Peoples across the country had secured funding, had established Native Communications Societies (NCS) to be the responsible administrative entity for their communications activities, and had begun operating local community radio and television projects.

     Beginning in 1976, in response to First Peoples clearly articulated demands, the federal government made large grants available to native organizations to be used for technical experiments with the Hermes (1976) and Anik B satellites (1978-81). In 1976 the Al­ berta Native Communications Society and Taqramiut Nipingat Incorporated (TNI) of Northern Quebec received this money to do interactive audio experiments with the Hermes satellite. In 1978 funding was provided to Inuit Tapirisat [Brotherhood] of Canada (ITC has recently changed its name to Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, which means "Inuit are united") of the Northwest Territories and TNI to complete a more sophisticated interactive series of technical, community development, and educational experiments on audio/video using Anik B. By 1981, after the establishment of five northern television production studios, after two and a half years of staff training, and after six months of experimental access, it was unquestionably demonstrated that TNI and ITC were capable of:

1. organizing complex satellite-based audio/ video interactive experiments involving five communities;

2. managing five production centers and satellite uplink/downlink ground stations;

3. coordinating a large staff in different locations, as well as a budget of over I million dollars;

4. producing hundreds of hours of high-quality television program output;

5. documenting technical data related to satellite experimentation and viable uses of the satellite for northern interactive communications; and, finally,

6. documenting the whole process as evidence of their credibility as a potential television broadcasting licensee.

In 1981, based on the positive results of its Anik B demonstration project "Inukshuk," the Inuit Broadcasting Corporation was licensed as a northern television service by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC-Canada's regulatory agency) to provide Inuktitut-language services to the Northwest Territories, Northern Quebec, and Labrador. In this same period, other NCS across the North were at varying stages of radio and television development, also in preparation for the licensing process and all in support of the establishment of a legislative recognition of their media demands as a distinct constituency group within the Canadian state.

     At this time, the federal government undertook a one-year consultation and planning process, the outcome of which was the Northern Broadcasting Policy (1983), and an accompanying program vehicle, the Northern Native Broadcast Access Program (NNBAP). These policy and funding decisions became the foundation for both the eventual enshrinement of aboriginal broadcasting in the 1991 Broadcasting Act and for the establishment of the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (1999).

     The Northern Broadcasting Policy set out the principle of "fair access" to production and distribution of programming by aboriginal northerners in their territories and ensured a process of consultation with First Peoples before southern-based decisions were to be made about northern telecommunications services. By 1983, 13 regional NCS had been established to be the recipients of funding from the NNBAP administered by the Department of the Secretary of State (Native Citizens Directorate). NNBAP coordinators were mandated to distribute $40.3 million over a four-year period to be used for the regional production of 20 hours of radio and 5 hours of aboriginal television per week. Funding has eroded annually, but the program is still operational.

     After an initial "honeymoon" period, it became apparent that fair distribution of radio and television programming was a key problem because of the implicit assumption within the Northern Broadcasting Policy that this task would be taken care of by either CBC Northern Service or by CANCOM (Canadian Satellite Communications Inc.), a private northern program distributor. In both cases, negotiations between NCS and broadcasters had become bogged down over prime time access hours and preemption of national programming.

     In 1988 the federal government responded to persistent native lobbying by the National Aboriginal Communications Society (a lobby group representing the interests of the NCS groups) for more secure distribution services by laying out $10 million toward the establishment of a dedicated Northern satellite transponder (channel). In 1991 a new Broadcasting Act was passed in which aboriginal programming was enshrined. Soon after, there followed a public hearing in Hull (October 28, 1991) where the CRTC approved the Television Northern Canada (TVNC) application for an aboriginal television license to serve northern Canada's cultural, social, political, and educational programming needs (Decision CRTC 91-826). By doing so, the commission recognized the importance of northern-based control over the distribution of aboriginal and northern programming. By 1992 TVNC was on the air and became the vehicle through which First Peoples began to represent themselves and their concerns to the entire North. They would no longer be restricted by geography or technology to local or regional self-representation and identity building. In this sense, the licensing of TVNC constituted de facto recognition of the communication rights of the First Peoples in the North.

     Owned and programmed by 13 aboriginal broadcast groups, plus government and education organizations located in the North, TVNC was a pan-Arctic satellite service that distributed 100 hours of programming to 94 Northern communities as a primary level of service. TVNC was not a programmer, but a distributor of its members' programming whose service covered an area of over 4.3 million kilometers (one-third of Canada's territory). In 1995 TVNC applied for permission from the CRTC to be placed on the list of eligible channels to be picked up by cable operators in the South. This approval was granted, making it possible for TVNC to become available in a variety of southern Canadian markets, as part of cable's discretionary packages. It was already accessible on an off-air basis to those who owned satellite dishes because its signal was not scrambled.

     Obstacles to TVNC becoming a national network included financial barriers, cross-culturally sensitive issues such as programs showing the hunting and killing of animals, and the cost of acquisition of rights for broadcasting in the South, which would multiply due to the expansion of target audiences. Despite these challenges, TVNC's Pan-Northern successes con­vinced its board of directors and staff to aggressively pursue a nationwide network by soliciting support from the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) and other national aboriginal organizations.

     In January 1998 TVNC hired Angus Reid (a public opinion consulting firm) to conduct an audience survey among a representative cross section of 1,5 I 0 adult Canadians regarding the desirability of establishing a national aboriginal broadcasting undertaking. Results indicated that 79 percent, or two out of three Canadians, supported the idea of a national aboriginal TV network, even if it would mean displacing a currently offered service (APTN Fact Sheet, 1999).

     By February 1998, the CRTC called for TVNC's application for a "programming service to reflect the diversity of the needs and interest of aboriginal peoples throughout Canada" (TVNC Newsletter, March 1998, p. 1). In June 1998 the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network application was submitted. To be economically viable, it was to be a mandatory service, available to nearly 8 million households with cable, as well as those with direct-to-home and wireless service providers, including ExpressVu, Star Choice, and Look TV (APTN Fact Sheet, 1999, p. I). The service targeted both aboriginal and non aboriginal audiences of all ages with a wide range of programming consist­ ing of educational and animation shows, cultural and traditional programming, music, drama, dance, (in­ter)national films, news and current affairs, as well as live coverage of special events and interactive programming. Initially, APTN promised 90 percent Canadian content with the remaining 10 percent consisting of indigenous programming from around the world, including the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and Central and South America (APTN Fact Sheet, 1999, p. 2). This has been modified to a more realistic Canadian content level of approximately 65 percent.

     On February 22, 1999, the CRTC approved TVNC's application to become APTN and granted it mandatory carriage on basic cable throughout Canada. To provide continuity of service to the 96 communities in the North, a separate feed was to be established to ensure that special programming, including legislative coverage and special events, would be broadcast in the North on an ongoing basis at no cost (TVNC, March 1999, p. 1).

     In the South, APTN provides access only for cable subscribers. It attracts a niche, not mass audiences. In trying to figure out how to maintain secure funding over long periods of time, the CRTC introduced a social cost to cable operators for carriage of APTN. Subscriber costs of$ .15 per month are paid to cable operators who then transfer the money to APTN to be used for television production costs in communities that are not economically viable enough to sustain their media economies. To complement this funding strategy, APTN carries advertising and receives external funding from CTV/BCE for the establishment and maintenance of a network of regional news centers located in the Atlantic, Toronto, British Columbia, Montreal, Ottawa, and Northern regions as part of their social benefits package. When Bell Canada Enterprises acquired CTV, a private national network, the CRTC required that it pay a social cost for its acquisition in the form of subsidizing the development of APTN's news and current affairs departments. This allowed APTN to expand its regional coverage across the country and gave it a more reasonable budget with which to work. This is an emergent financial model by which states can ensure the sponsorship and sustenance of public-service programming that might be otherwise unaffordable.

     APTN began broadcasting on September 1, 1999. Until programming surpluses could be created, programs were repeated three times daily. Broadcast language content is 60 percent English, 15 percent French, and 25 percent in a variety of aboriginal languages.

     As the sole international broadcaster in the world that carries exclusively indigenous programming, APTN is a hybrid between what has traditionally been defined as public and private broadcasting, although it models its programming style after public-service television. It is multilinguistic, multicultural, and multi­ racial in content and production staff and management. It attempts to be both local and global. It does a small amount of original production, such as a daily news and current affairs show, but mainly distributes local and regionally produced programming, as well as (in­ ter)nationally acquired aboriginal programs. The board of directors hopes to eventually expand APTN's international scope enabling it to become comparable to channels such as CNN and BBC World Service, but with an aboriginal perspective.

     Despite challenges for more secure, long-term funding and improved access at no cost to any of its viewers, that is, a first-tier placement on the channel grid, First Peoples of Canada have established themselves as pioneers in the development of cross-cultural television links across the vast Canadian territory. Technical advances in local, regional, and national telecommunications services, conjoined with the social and cultural goals of First Peoples broadcasters, have demonstrated that it is possible to use media in a sensitive manner to express cultural heterogeneity, rather than homogeneity. First Peoples have refashioned Canadian television broadcasting. They have indigenized it, transforming it into an inclusive tool for the improvement of intercommunity and cross­ constituency relations. They have utilized television programming as a vehicle of mediation into their own historically ruptured pasts and as a pathway into more globally integrated networks and futures. Much can be learned by international minority groups from the cross-cultural infrastructures and pathways that First Peoples of Canada have set in place.