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INUVIK
Bureaucratic haggling is bringing popular community radio station CKLB to the brink of extinction, according to Les Carpenter, chief executive officer of the Native Communications Society of the NWT (NCSNWT).

Les Carpenter, chief executive officer of the Native Communications Society of the NWT, says the organization still hasn't received its full amount of funding from the Department of Canadian Heritage for 2012. - Danielle Sachs/NNSL photo

After receiving neither funding nor a contribution agreement from the Department of Canadian Heritage for 2012, the station was forced to go off the air for five days at the end of December, he said.

However, the silence has lasted longer in Inuvik due to technical difficulties with equipment in town, according to Deneze Nakehk'o, director of radio for the station. The issue has since been resolved and the signal has been broadcasting as of Jan. 8.

Inuvik resident Mishelle Furlong said the station was greatly missed during the shutdown.

"I phone in every other Saturday just to send greetings to family and friends ... But without the radio there is nothing to listen to and you miss out on the announcements about what's happening," Furlong said, adding she hopes CKLB won't disappear for good.

The station is incredibly important to the community and it help promotes aboriginal languages, she said. Furlong, for instance, isn't fluent in Gwich'in but she has been able to pick up some of the language from programs on the radio station.

"I've learned just by listening and I try to get as knowledge as I can when I hear people speaking," she said. "If they (Department of Canadian Heritage) don't fund the program then what do we do?"

Carpenter said the station has been trying to work within its means.

"We had intended to be off for a certain amount of time based on our staff being off and on vacation so we decided to save some money where we could," said Carpenter. "If you're an aboriginal organization you're kind of used to this."

The organization receives about 77 per cent of its funding from the Department of Canadian Heritage and is currently surviving off the dregs from the 2011 budget, said Carpenter.

Ideally, the budget for NCSNWT should be at least $1.8 million, said Carpenter. It is currently operating with just under $1 million. The funding that doesn't come from the Department of Canadian Heritage comes from the GNWT and through some advertising.

There are 22 employees working on both the television production and radio broadcasting sides at the station. Without the funding for 2012, Carpenter said the society relies on high-interest bank loans to get it through another day.

"It's a lot of games but that's what we've come to expect," said Carpenter.

Without the necessary funding, aboriginal programming is on the brink of extinction, said Carpenter. But the Department of Canadian Heritage insists funding has not been cut to CKLB, but instead has doubled in recent years.

"With this funding comes a responsibility to taxpayers," said Sebastien Gariepy, spokesperson for James Moore, the minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages. "Just like every other organization that receives funding, the Native Communications Society, which runs CKLB, must comply with the funding agreement it signed and provide the Department of Canadian Heritage with the documents set out in that agreement."

The required forms and information have been submitted to the Department of Canadian Heritage five or six times, said Carpenter.

"They said it's because of reports we haven't submitted, which is just bullshit," said Carpenter. "They keep on asking for changes, then we resend and then they ask for the original way again. They're doing everything they can to frustrate us into giving up.

"The federal government, since they've put in a majority government, are looking to kill off aboriginal programming."

When CKLB was off the air, a lot of regular listeners called or contacted the station, said Nakehk'o.

"We're still here and we're not going away," said Nakehk'o. "Our people come from an oral tradition and we're a radio station. The elders in the communities sit at home and listen to their radios. It's a way of filtering the information and participating in community events. Whenever we're off the air we get a lot of calls."

William Greenland, radio host and producer at CKLB, also said he had people asking him what was wrong.

"One asked me to look at his receiver and see if it was broken," said Greenland.

CKLB provides programming to more than 30 communities across the NWT, northern Alberta and three diamond mines in six languages – English, South Slavey, North Slavey, Gwich'in, Chipewyan and Tlicho.

– with files from Miranda Scotland

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