So you think you know Canada, eh? Seven myths about our neighbors to the north

Via Scoop.it – MediaMentor

[excerpt] The United States shares a border with its neighbor to the north, Canada, that’s 5,525 miles long – or if you happen to be Canadian, that’s 8,891 kilometers – not that anybody really uses kilometers, mind you. Did you know that our border with Canada is the longest unprotected border in the world? I’ll bet there are a lot of things you don’t know about our friendly neighbor to the north.As someone who has been married to a Canadian for 25 years, I am an expert on appreciating the subtle cultural differences between our two nations. I continue to be surprised by how little most Americans know about the great nation of Canada. When asked, What’s the capital of Canada?, 55% of Americans guessed Toronto. Another 25% chose Montreal. And 15% responded, Could you repeat the question? The correct answer, of course, is Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. Many Americans think of Canadians as beer-swilling, hockey-playing, toque-headed, parka-wearing moose-hunters, whose favorite food is a beaver tail pastry, covered in maple syrup. In reality, only a small minority of Canadians are moose hunters. Most prefer to hunt caribou. The true picture of Canada is much more nuanced and includes Royal Canadian Mounties officiating curling matches on floating pack ice. The sad truth is that most Americans know next to nothing about our next-door neighbors to the north. Time to set the record straight. Here are seven widespread myths (only two of which I’ve been spreading) about Canada and Canadians. […]
Via blog.seattlepi.com

Spark | CBC Radio “Aboriginal Futures” Airing March 4 (1:05 ET/1:35 NT) & 7 (2:05 local time, 2:35 NT).

Via Scoop.it – NWT News

Spark is a blog, radio show, podcast and an ongoing conversation about technology and culture, hosted by Nora Young. FYI, CBC is airing a special edition of its technology program Spark on “Aboriginal Futures” on Sunday at the times below. I was told it will also air on March 3 and be available by podcast on March 3 from the CBC Spark site. Here is a link to Spark: http://www.cbc.ca/spark/
Spark: Aboriginal Futures
Airing March 4 (1:05 ET/1:35 NT) & 7 (2:05 local time, 2:35 NT). Nora Young and National News Reporter Duncan McCue co-host a special edition of Spark to explore how Aboriginal communities are finding digital solutions to long-standing problems. In Squamish Territory, podcasts revitalize a nearly-extinct language. In Kahnawake, Mohawk youth dream about their place in the future as they time travel through video games. In Ottawa nightclubs, powwow music meets electronic beats. And across Canada, First Nations people are using social media to govern their territories and carve out their place in the open territory of cyberspace.
Via www.cbc.ca

‘Take the NWT flag down’ Yellowknife social issues committee

Via Scoop.it – NWT News
[excerpt] ‘Take the NWT flag down’ Council complains about lack of GNWT input on social issues Simon Whitehouse
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, February 29, 2012 SOMBA K’E/YELLOWKNIFE
Continued absenteeism and foot-dragging by senior GNWT bureaucrats on the city’s social issues committee left one irate city councillor Monday night suggesting the territorial flag should be taken down from city hall until the government takes the committee more seriously. “It is hard for me to understand why the GNWT considers ameliorating social issues to be a conflict,” added Coun. Paul Falvo, referring to statements made by department deputy ministers when they do attend meetings, arguing that they can’t offer input into many issues discussed at a city-led meetings because it would put them in a conflict of interest. “This follows on the heels of the disappointing response on Northland. Maybe we should do like Danny Williams and take the NWT flag down (to get them) to start recognizing Yellowknife’s role as part of the NWT. ” The poor attendance and lack of input from deputy justice minister Sylvia Haener and Dana Heide, deputy minister of Health and Social Services, led to city council to unanimously pass a resolution Monday calling for government officials to play a lesser role on the committee from now on while meeting bi-monthly instead of every three months as it does now. Many issues the committee deals with involve policy decisions made by the departments of Justice and Health and Social Services, hence the perceived conflict by GNWT officials. “It has been a struggle to find issues that we can really make a difference on,” said committee chair Amanda Mallon. “The terms of reference were originally set up so that (the social issues committee) would meet every three months and we were set up for 10 people. […]
Via nnsl.com

Quebec’s La Presse newspaper articles outrage many Nunavik Inuit

Via Scoop.it – Nunavut

Quebec daily newspaper “La Presse” ran this image Feb. 25 on the front of a section containing a series of articles on Nunavik. (IMAGE COURTESY OF CYBERPRESSE.CA) [excerpt] Many in Nunanvik say Montreal’s French-language daily newspaper, La Presse, went too far, running a “negative” and “prejudiced” portrayal of Inuit in a Feb. 25 feature section. La Presse published a multi-story feature on Nunavik in its Saturday edition called La Tragédie inuite, the Inuit tragedy. (Note that the story is only available in French.) http://www.cyberpresse.ca/actualites/quebec-canada/national/201202/25/01-4499749-la-tragedie-inuite.php?utm_categorieinterne=trafficdrivers&utm_contenuinterne=cyberpresse_vous_suggere_4499750_article_POS1 La Presse reporter Pascale Breton and photographer Hugo-Sébastien Aubert travelled to Puvirnituq for their series of articles on a recent murder, local school drop-out rates, and foster families. The feature package also included a photo spread on homeless Inuit living in Montreal. But Nunavimmiut said the coverage focussed too much on the social issues plaguing their region. And Kuujjuaq-raised law school graduate Joseph Flowers wrote a letter, signed by 60 Nunavimmiut, to La Presse’s editor this week which argues that the series of articles contain racist overtones. “Pascale Breton….presents a story in which we, the Inuit, are murderers, alcoholics, drop-outs, lazy, homeless, negligent parents, and citizens insensitive and unconcerned about the issues we face in our region,” Flowers writes. “Breton is simply telling us what she observed when she spent seven long days in the North. It’s true, I reply, that we have major problems in our communities, there’s no question about it,” Flowers says. “But to tell a one-sided single story after having spent a short week in one village in the North is no way to give southern Quebeckers… an idea of the nuances, of the richness, of the potential that northern life offers. “[There’s] no story about the wisdom of our elders, of the successes of our youth, of the innovative systems of governance we have, of our citizens’ economic, political, and social engagement in the villages,” Flowers says. Readers in Nunavik were equally incensed with the image that ran on the front page of the feature section in La Presse. The image shows two photos, which, when pieced together, form the body of a chained sled dog with an Inuk man’s head. […]
Via www.nunatsiaqonline.ca

Northwest territories Clip Art and Stock Illustrations. 21 Northwest territories clipart illustration for download. – GoGraph

Via Scoop.it – NWT News

21 Northwest territories illustrations, clipart GoGraph Stock Photography, Illustrations, and Stock Footage allows you to quickly find the right graphic.
Via www.gograph.com

Cabin Fever Music Festival, Yellowknife NWT

Via Scoop.it – NWT News

Cabin Fever Music Festival, Yellowknife NWT Cabin Fever Music Festival
The Top Knight
* Friday, March 2nd – Doors open at 6pm to 1am
* Saturday, March 3rd – Doors open at 1pm to 1am
The Side Door
* Saturday, March 3rd – Doors open at 1pm to 11pm
* $10 each day at the door
* $5 for Music NWT Members
First come first served
jessica heine * ron kent * tyler shea * 3 across d eye * fruit maritime kitchen party * hindsite * norm glowach * prisillas revenge * wake up hazel * mary caroline cox * loose change * lonely council * dawgwoods * kelly clarke * oscar perez * the three winners from the x factor from the side door
and MORE!!
Music NWT [musicnwt@gmail.com]
Via www.scribd.com

Alliance of Aboriginal Media Producers

Via Scoop.it – MediaMentor

First Nations, Inuit and Metis Media Producers in Canada… Welcome to the Alliance of Aboriginal Media Producers’ (AAMP) talent directory. AAMP’s members are First Nations, Inuit and Metis producers who are active in the film, television and digital media sectors in Canada and internationally. More than 35 producers of feature films, documentaries, children and youth, variety, drama, comedy and reality programming are listed in our directory. If you are a distributor, broadcaster, commissioning editor, acquisition manager or content buyer, please take a moment to visit our members pages where you’ll find company profiles, producer biographies, contact information and links to production company websites, videos and trailers. For more information about AAMP, email aampcanada@gmail.com. Thank you for your interest.
Via allianceofaboriginalmediaproducers.com

The Persistence and Creativity of Canadian Aboriginal Newspapers | Demay | Canadian Journal of Communication

Via Scoop.it – MediaMentor
Canadian Journal of Communication, Vol 18, No 1 (1993) [excerpt] The Persistence and Creativity of Canadian Aboriginal Newspapers Joël Demay (University of Ottawa) Introduction More than two years have elapsed since the federal government decided to cancel the Native Communications Program (NCP), the main funding source for Canada’s Aboriginal newspapers. The NCP had been started in 1974 to provide support to Native Communication Societies so that they could in turn provide media services (mainly newspapers, some community radio as well) to the Native people of their region. In a radical departure from its long, though wavering, commitment to the development of Native communication, the federal government cancelled its $3.45 million NCP in its 1990 budget. That decision sent waves of shock and anger across Canadian Native communities. Non-Native Canadians have also denounced the shortsightedness of the federal decision. At the time of the cuts, the imminent death of this country’s Native press was predicted. Although two newspapers have indeed stopped publishing as a direct consequence of the cuts (Kainai News died in Alberta and Micmac News went “dormant” in Nova Scotia), the rest of the Aboriginal press still reports and publishes, albeit material somewhat different from the NCP time and in conditions which are far from ideal. A surprising number of editors are looking beyond the financial strain and frailty of today at the growth and possible prosperity of tomorrow. Nevertheless, the newspapers are all in fragile situations. Often the sheer determination of the men and women putting those papers out is what allows them to survive. To assess the situation, the author talked with many of those dedicated individuals in a telephone survey of Aboriginal newspapers this past summer. This article is based on those interviews. After analyzing why Kanai News and Micmac News finally stopped publishing, a review of the newspapers by region will be presented. Lessons in survival are then drawn from the newspapers’ experiences and prospects for the future proposed. […]
Via www.cjc-online.ca

The Development of Aboriginal Broadcasting in Canada

Via Scoop.it – MediaMentor

[excerpt] Early in the game, when southern television began to bombard the airwaves in northern communities, Canada’s Aboriginal people made the connection between cultural survival and the ownership and control of media. Community radio and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s (CBC) Northern Service short-wave radio had been an integral part of northern life since the mid-1950s. By the early 1970s, 16 per cent of Northern Service programming was in Inuktitut and, with CBC and government-funded training and technical support, radio began to be used throughout the North for everything from political information and local news to bingo and the communication of family messages. The catalyst for Native-owned and operated broadcasting came in 1973 when the CBC began beaming southern Canadian and American television via satellite into northern communities. The Inuit welcomed some programs, such as Hockey Night in Canada, but many Aboriginal leaders and elders saw southern programming as a threat to their language and cultural traditions. They were upset that the sounds and images entering every home failed to reflect anything of their own reality and values. One young leader, Rosemary Kuptana, who later became president of the Inuit Broadcasting Corporation, likened the onslaught of southern television to the neutron bomb. “This is the bomb that kills the people,” she noted, “but leaves the buildings standing.” […]
Via www.media-awareness.ca

RT @nunavutcollege: An update on the needs of #Iqaluit #Creekside Village #Fire Victims

Via Scoop.it – Nunavut

Donations were pouring in from all over Iqaluit this week to support victims of Sunday’s fire at Creekside Village. Nunavut Arctic College is thankful to all those who have provided support, time and love. Iqaluit, NU (February 28, 2012) – Overwhelming support from donors has helped Nunavut Arctic College (NAC) meet the needs of the Creekside Village fire victims. Nunavut Arctic College is working hard to ensure 83 students and their family members get back to a regular routine as quickly as possible after a fire in Iqaluit left them homeless on Sunday night. Most students affected by the February 26 fire now have assigned housing. There are a couple students staying with family and at local hotels, however, they should have housing units assigned by end of day today or tomorrow. “Getting back to class will bring back normalcy to the lives of our students,” said Arctic College President, Michael Shouldice. “We’re working really hard with our partners to get our students settled in new housing as soon as available.” Donations of cash and store gift cards are best, if possible, as shopping and setting-up a new home assists in the healing process – it also ensures that the specific needs of a family are met. To make a donation, please call the Red Cross donation line at 1-800-418-1111 and say, “I’m donating to the Current Iqaluit Response.” The Canadian Red Cross is providing new pillows, sheet sets and personal hygiene kits to all those affected, along with financial support for clothing and food. To donate items, please bring them to NAC’s Ukkivik Old Residence. The current needs are laundry soap, cleaning cloths and supplies, blankets, dishes, pans, coffee pots, eating utensils, and non-perishable food items. However, thanks to the generosity of Iqalummiut, electronics, footwear and clothing are no longer needed. The Iqaluit Post Office will also be accepting donations of non-perishable food items, which they will deliver to the Old Residence. “We truly can’t thank the community enough for their out-pouring of support,” said Shouldice. “You have made a difficult situation bearable for our students.” ### Media information: Jamie Bell
Public Affairs Officer
Email: nacpublicaffairs@gmail.com Peesee Pitsiulak Stephens
Nunavut Arctic College Campus Dean
Tel: 867-979-7216
Via www.nunavutecho.ca