SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The three remaining staff of CKLB radio station have received layoff notification but will continue working in hopes regular programing will return to the airwaves as early as July.

The troubled CKLB radio station's remaining employees have been laid off but they are hoping to be back on the air by July if funding comes through. Radio employees are pictured last summer from left, Clayton Bishop, Deneze Nakehk'o, Lawrence Nayally, Marlene Grooms and Judi Kochon in front. - NNSL file photo

"We're all going to stay on, we're just negotiating in what capacity," said Deneze Nakehk'o, director of radio. "I don't want to be responsible for running this place into the ground if there could be some way I could make the radio station get back to what it was before."

Nakehk'o said he and his co-workers were given notice of the layoffs two weeks ago, adding that they had expected to be back on the air in October and then January, so the stress has been mounting for the employees who remain after layoffs in July.

In a closed-door meeting of the Native Communications Society (NCS) last Friday, board members sat down with representatives from the Department of Education, Culture and Employment (ECE) to discuss the future of the multilingual broadcaster.

Previously, core funding came from the federal Department of Canadian Heritage and Languages, but was delayed last year after an audit called into question the broadcaster's reported expenses.

Although a funding application is currently pending with Canadian Heritage, it is unknown when it may be approved - the fiscal deadline of April 1 having past.

In an e-mail to Yellowknifer, Heritage Canada media spokesperson Len Westerberg said $8 million is available through Northern Aboriginal Broadcasting to be divided between 13 communications societies; however, funding is not guaranteed each year.

"Funding levels can vary from year to year for all recipients. The funding amount depends on the activities submitted in the application," said Westerberg.

Society CEO Les Carpenter told Yellowknifer due to the organization's strained relationship with the federal department, he is starting to worry the money will not come through.

"We're in limbo with the federal government ... which makes me nervous," he said. "It's an impending election and when that happens, aboriginal issues get pushed to the bottom of the barrel."

Carpenter said the government has been reducing the organization's funding for the last five years, estimating the station was receiving approximately 30 per cent of the amount it requested. NCS was approved for $650, 953 in the 2014-2015 fiscal year, but only received $464,407. Westerberg said the organization's funding was affected when it stopped producing television. NCS had started Dene A Journey, but it is now being produced separately from the organization.

"The full amount originally approved will not be released as activities and deliverables outlined in the contribution agreement with NCS have not been met," he said.

E-mail correspondence between Native Communications Society and Heritage Canada obtained by Yellowknifer under the Access to Information Act shows the government requested an audit of the organization in 2013 because of difficulty linking certain expenditures to actual production requirements. According to the e-mails, funding from Heritage Canada was put on hold because NCS did not provide required financial reports on time, requests for more information were ignored and numbers in the general ledger failed to line up with expenses - resulting in missing funds.

Nakehk'o said they are hoping through the devolution process, financial responsibility can be transferred to the territorial government.

In the past, Nakehk'o said the GNWT committed around $200,000 a year to offset the wait time for federal funding. Now the board is hoping the territory will become the primary contributor.

Nakehk'o said board president John Catholique has requested $1 million in funding from the GNWT, but he is skeptical the government will be able to provide that much. Nevertheless, he said if a reasonable deal is negotiated, the station hopes to gradually hire back the eight people who were laid off.

"We're hoping for a substantial increase in our core funding, so we would be able to hire all of the staff we let go of," he said, remaining mum on the dollar amount NCS owes Heritage Canada for funds received while the station was off air.

"I'm not sure what the dollar amount is," he said.

CKLB stopped producing original programming in July 2014 and has continued to reduce staff since.

Nakehk'o said if the station is able to come back from this, they hope to eventually integrate the five Dene languages, plus French and English, into the programming - making them the only broadcaster in the country to do so. He said the service they provide plays a vital role in connecting a region of isolated communities.

"If they don't have road access, it is so easy for these communities to feel isolated ... and a lot of our media organizations focus on Yellowknife," he said. "Our radio station connected these people and made them feel part of something."

Carpenter said as long as the station is off the air, residents who speak any of the nine official indigenous languages are being denied a fundamental right.

"People in the communities are not getting the information that should be their constitutional right to receive, in the language of their choice," he said. "All this information that's going out there every day is not going to be filtered back to the communities."

Discussions between ECE and the broadcaster were expected to continue this week. Both parties declined to comment on the talks while negotiations are ongoing.

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