Small change, big meaning
This month, a seemingly small but significant change to the Canadian Press Stylebook was announced: the words Indigenous and Aboriginal should now be capitalized. CP style is used by most of the country’s reporters and editors at virtually every media outlet from B.C. to Newfoundland. And, until this month, the words Indigenous — and Aboriginal, which has fallen out of favour — were lower case, the reasoning being that they were adjectives and not proper nouns.
Many First Nations people have pointed out that news media’s refusal to capitalize Indigenous is disrespectful, but newsrooms in this country have been slow to respond. A few publications began capitalizing Indigenous in 2016 and early 2017; now the rest of Canada’s publications, including this one, will do the same.
It’s a long overdue change that isn’t hard to implement, yet means a great deal to Indigenous people. A capital letter confers a certain level of regard. A capital letter recognizes someone’s humanity. It’s not about being politically correct. It’s about showing basic respect.
But, lest the media get too self-congratulatory, it’s also the very least we can do. A news media outlet is supposed to reflect the community it serves, and it does so by telling that community’s stories and digging into the issues that matter to it. When it comes to reflecting Indigenous people and stories, capitalizing the word Indigenous is a start but, in an era of reconciliation, it is incumbent on news media to think about the kinds of Indigenous stories it is telling – and the language and words it is using to tell them. Coverage of Indigenous people has, too often, perpetuated damaging stereotypes. As an elder once told Anishinaabe journalist and educator Duncan McCue, Indigenous people only made the news if they were “dancing, drumming, drunk or dead.” The systemic problems faced by many First Nations communities are important stories, to be sure; that suicide is claiming so many young Indigenous lives in the north and that Indigenous women and girls face disproportionate violence are vital, urgent topics that need reporting.
But those are not the only stories. There are stories of resiliency, of success, of joy, of hope – only, we don’t hear about them as frequently. By focusing solely on the suffering, loss and hardship, media do a great disservice to a community that often doesn’t see itself in newspaper pages and on TV unless the news is bad.
Beyond telling those kinds of stories, reporters could do better by taking a second to ask how an Indigenous person would like to be identified. Are they Cree or Dene? Metis or Inuit? Using the Indigenous name of a community instead of using the English colonial name is another small but significant change news media could make. Those details and perspectives, which the Free Press is committed to exploring and including, are important to a story, and they also make a person and community feel seen.
Other ways forward might include accepting more pitches from Indigenous writers, or using Indigenous sources for any story on any subject, not just stories about “Indigenous issues.” In fact, excising the word “issues” from the news lexicon would also go a long way. As Cree community organizer and activist Michael Redhead Champagne tweeted in June, “Quit saying `Indigenous issues’ and framing our community as a problem. Say topic – it includes issue, solution and action.” Words matter, and language evolves. A capital letter isn’t just a sign of respect. It is a reminder to do better.