Daniel MacIsaac
Northern News Services

INUVIK (Aug 13/99) - The Inuvialuit Communications Society threw a party last week and everyone was invited.

The open house was held to mark the imminent launch of the Aboriginal People's Television Network, which takes to the airwaves Sept. 1, as a nationwide broadcaster. Society employees and guests mingled, munched on muktuk and caribou soup and got down to the business of having a good time.

Debbie Gordon-Ruben, the society's assistant executive director, said the cause for celebration was genuine. The society will produce two programs for APTN on a weekly basis.

"It's something that aboriginal people have been waiting for -- not only here, but all over," she said. "Even our relatives in the south couldn't see our programming before...and even some of the groups in the south that produced programming for the North couldn't see it."

APTN will succeed Television Northern Canada, or TVNC, which was established in 1991 and designed to operate as an aboriginal television network, but which only served the North. In preparation for the APTN launch, TVNC went off the air Saturday.

"The shutdown is necessary to replace and upgrade key elements of our Yellowknife control and presentation centre," said Abraham Tagalik, APTN's chief operation officer.

Gordon-Ruben said the success of the APTN project -- it received its licence from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission in February -- resulted from a joint effort.

"TVNC members worked with aboriginal groups in the south and with individual producers and communication societies," she said, adding, "the first year will definitely be a learning process, but it will get smoother."

On hand for Wednesday's open house was Inuvik MLA Floyd Roland, territorial minister of Health and Social Services.

"This is an important event because there are still a lot of people in the south of our country who don't have a solid grounding in who we are," he said, "and this network will connect us from sea to sea to sea."

Roland also commended the network's intentions to carry international aboriginal programming and to forge international links.

"Being a part of the government, I now know we're no longer dealing with just national issues, but global ones, too," he said, "and this will open us up to see how other groups operate -- it's important to get to that next level."

One of the individuals who will help achieve that goal is Janine Blake, an on-air personality hired by the society in time for the APTN launch. Blake had her hands full Wednesday, helping interview guests and setting up sound-bites that will be broadcast in September.

"Hello Canada! You're watching the Aboriginal People's Television Network from Inuvik, Northwest Territories!," a group of some 40 guests screamed into the camera at Blake's direction.

Producer Lawrence Rogers said things are looking good for the nationwide broadcast of the society's existing Inuvialuit-language current affairs programs Tamapta and Suangaan. He also said some nature and science shows are in the works.