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rfmcdonaldThe cable channel of the subject line, launched in 1999 after nearly two decades' worth of discussion and planning to serve a core demographic of First Nations, got a big scoop when it broke the story of an apparently corrupt former senior advisor to Stephen Harper.
As Marsha Lederman noted in the Globe and Mail this weekend past, APTN is fairly ambitious--a national network in the broadest sense.
APTN's problem is apparently that few people outside of the First Nations took it seriously.
Whether or not the Carson affair will change this is another subject, although the growing size of Canada's First Nations population--especially but not only in western Canada--means that it will be increasingly difficult to ignore First Nations issues.
While other media have been digging into the story of Bruce Carson, the former senior advisor to Stephen Harper whose conduct regarding the promotion of water filtration systems to First Nations reserves has been referred to the RCMP for possible investigation, it was APTN that first broke the story.
They recently ran a one-hour special (h/t Red Tory) going in-depth recapping their investigation into Carson, which includes the revelation Carson's 22-year-old fiancée Michele McPherson, a former Ottawa-area escort known as Leanna VIP whom he bought an expensive home outside Ottawa with, had a contract with a company selling water filtration units earning her a percentage of gross sales of water units to First Nations reserves across Canada that would have potentially been worth as much as $80 million to McPherson. In question is whether Carson tried to open doors for his girlfriend's business with his connections to the Harper government, as the company was hoping to see Indian and Northern Affairs put up millions to fund the program.
You can see where the wheels come off in Carson's interview with APTN, when they begin to ask about his fiancée and begin to hint at knowledge of her past profession.
It further deteriorates when they hit him with an e-mail that shows he claimed to have spoken with the Prime Minister and gotten advance notice of Vancouver Island North MP John Duncan's appointment as Indian Affairs minister, promising Duncan's appointment to cabinet wouldn't impact their hopes of funding for the program and that him and Duncan are good friends.
As Marsha Lederman noted in the Globe and Mail this weekend past, APTN is fairly ambitious--a national network in the broadest sense.
Launched in 1999, APTN offers programming about first nations, Inuit and Métis, ranging from cartoons (Little Bear) to drama series (Blackstone) to news programming in English, French and several aboriginal languages. Most of the programming originates in Canada, but you’ll also find Hollywood films and Northern Exposure reruns – and a lot of infomercials.
With an annual budget of about $37-million (based on 2008 figures) APTN derives the bulk of its revenue from subscriber fees. That year, the federal Canadian Heritage department gave the network $2.1-million; advertising brought in about $2.5-million. APTN’s hiring policy favours aboriginal candidates, and more than three-quarters of the staff are native. [. . .]
On the news side of the operation, APTN airs APTN National News on weekdays; and on alternating Friday nights, the current-affairs programs APTN In Focus and APTN Investigates. Their mandate: focus on aboriginal issues, and also provide an aboriginal take on other news.
“Please don’t take offence,” [Paul Barnsley, executive producer of investigative news] said during an interview this week, “but the mainstream media doesn’t really spend a lot of time on aboriginal issues in-depth and doesn’t necessarily understand them that well.”
Since launching in 2000, APTN’s news operations have grown substantially, with 11 bureaus now across the country, each staffed, when at full complement, by a cameraperson, a video journalist and a reporter. They cover stories of interest to aboriginal viewers. Among them: funding issues, court proceedings, Assembly of First Nations activities, and protests.
APTN's problem is apparently that few people outside of the First Nations took it seriously.
Karyn Pugliese, 41, was with APTN for six years beginning with its news programming launch, and now hosts the current-affairs show @issue on iChannel. “One of the reasons that I had to leave APTN was that I was getting too emotional. There are certain stories that I have a hard time talking about without starting to cry because you go into communities and you see who are nice people. They have loving families and they’re living in conditions that are just intolerable.”
Pugliese knew people in those communities often spoke with her – sometimes about a taboo subject, against the wishes of others – in order to effect change. But she also knew her stories wouldn’t necessarily accomplish that.
“You sometimes see W5 or CBC break the story and then at the end of the day when they go for their Canadian Association of Journalists awards they can talk about how that made a big difference. You sit there and you watch over the years the amount of stories that APTN has broken, and the really quality work and quality journalism and facts, and follow the money. They put all this research and all this effort into it, but it doesn’t have the same impact.”
Whether or not the Carson affair will change this is another subject, although the growing size of Canada's First Nations population--especially but not only in western Canada--means that it will be increasingly difficult to ignore First Nations issues.
