Media must do better on aboriginal issues

For Canadian journalists, one word best applies overall to coverage of these issues: Failure

Look at any study of Canadian media coverage of Aboriginal Peoples and you will see the many words that indict journalists: ignorance, indifference, denial, colonialism, cultural chauvinism, bias, discrimination, racism.

While we could debate these labels, and the attitudes they assume — and certainly some individual journalists deserve praise for exemplary coverage — it is hard to deny that one word best applies overall to media coverage of aboriginal issues: Failure.

As last week’s summary of the final report of Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission tells us, Canadian journalists have themselves acknowledged our failings in reporting on indigenous peoples. The report, which documents the disgraceful history and legacy of Canada’s residential schools, cites a 1993 submission to the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples by the Canadian Association of Journalists. It stated: “The country’s large newspapers, TV and radio news shows often contain misinformation, sweeping generalizations and galling stereotypes about Natives . . . The result is that most Canadians have little real knowledge of the country’s Native peoples or the issues that affect them.”

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission found little change in Canadian media coverage in the two decades since, concluding that “this historical pattern persists.

“Media coverage of aboriginal issues remains problematic; social media and online commentary are often inflammatory and racist in nature.”

The report contends that the media’s “role and responsibility” in reconciliation requires journalists to be well-informed about the history of Canada’s Aboriginal Peoples. It calls for Canadian journalism programs to require education on the history of Aboriginal Peoples, including the legacy and “ethical dimensions” of residential schools.

I will not and cannot dispute any of the commission’s findings regarding Canadian journalists and media coverage of aboriginal issues, most especially the shame of residential schools, which the commission deems “cultural genocide.”

This feels personal to me. I majored in Canadian history at university and while I learned something of aboriginal issues, I don’t recall ever learning about residential schools. Most shamefully, I grew up in Brantford, Ont., and never understood that our local Mohawk Institute was an “Indian Residential School” notoriously known as the “mush hole” for its substandard, mushy food.

It is only now, as I delve deeper into this Canadian history, and read the testimonies of survivors of residential schools that I have learned that 15,000 First Nations children went through the Mohawk Institute, robbed of their First Nations identities and given substandard educations. I learned that too many of these children were victims of physical and sexual abuse, and that through the many years the school operated, some children simply disappeared, never to be seen by their families again. How did I grow up so close to this and not know about it?

In seeking truth and reconciliation, looking back has its value. But as the commission’s 94 recommendations make clear, the actions to be taken to right the legacy of past injustice are now critical.

The call to action to Canadian journalists is clear: The media has a role and responsibility in reporting on the realities of aboriginal issues and in creating greater understanding for all Canadians of this shared history and its continuing legacy.

To that end, the most encouraging initiative I am aware of has been undertaken by Journalists for Human Rights (JHR), a Canadian media development organization that has launched a program to train and mentor aboriginal journalists in Northern Ontario so that they can better tell their own stories, both within their own communities and throughout Canada in mainstream media.

The program also provides training to non-aboriginal journalists so that they can cover aboriginal issues with greater context and sensitivity. JHR has also launched an Indigenous Reporters Program to provide scholarships and internship opportunities to young, indigenous students seeking to become journalists.

A JHR report from last summer titled, “Buried Voices: Media Coverage of Aboriginal Issues in Ontario” makes clear the need to improve reporting on indigenous issues. It found the aboriginal population widely under-represented in mainstream media and concluded the little coverage done was largely negative in tone and focused on conflict, protests and “noise.” Coverage of the residential schools issue was almost non-existent.

Among those who provided analysis for JHR’s report on “buried voices” was Cindy Blackstock, a First Nations advocate and professor. Blackstock decried the minimal coverage of residential schools and expressed hope that the Canadian media will do a better job in telling the truth and reconciliation story.

“Journalists have a historic opportunity to set the bedrock of truth telling from which reconciliation and the full realization of Canadian values can grow,” she wrote. “Let’s hope they don’t miss it.” publiced@thestar.ca