Posted by Sudbury Northern Life 
I have written for years about the colonial aspects of
living in rural Canada, most of that experience gained from my
life in northern Ontario and my family history in Nova Scotia.
It does become a little pedantic, but the essence of the
message is that you can't expect to be a grown up, mature,
sustainable community or economy, if you have no control or
accountability for your environment. If you are not entrusted
with responsibility, how would you know how to exercise it?
In the broad spectrum of life in northern Ontario, our people
are without influence. We have no meaningful input or
accountability for education policy, resource policy, energy
policy, social policy, tax policy, immigration policy, economic
strategy, or business strategies.
The mining companies do their thinking in São Paulo Brazil, or
Zug, Switzerland, the paper companies, to the extent they still
have a pulse now, do it in Maryland or Montreal, and all other
decisions are made in Toronto or Ottawa. By and large,
northerners don't care that much. They are more focused on the
economic hardship they are experiencing, rather than the power
relations that exacerbate it.
Northerners are more focused on the economic hardship they are experiencing, rather than the power relations that exacerbate it.
We can add a new silo to this pathetic legacy.
The recent decision to gut the CBC Radio infrastructure in
northern Ontario is a case in point. This is a decision made in
Ottawa, or maybe Toronto, without one second of consideration
for its impact on the north. It is obvious the disconnected
geniuses at the senior levels of the CBC sat down and said,
"Look, let's destroy what we do best so that people will really
suffer. Let's show those right wing Tories we mean business.
We'll show them how we will cut off our noses to spite our
faces," and it has worked brilliantly.
The problem, of course, is that the Tories could care less. The
CBC is no friend to them and it is payback time. They couldn't
be happier. It is the local private television stations where
they send their press releases and video tapes that worries
them.
This demolition of a huge pillar of northern Ontario life is
devastating for people who value discussion, debate and local
storytelling. The CBC Radio imprint in northern Ontario,
limited as it is, is one of the few places where northerners
actually get to have a mature conversation with one another. It
is a place where the proprietor isn't worried about upsetting
an advertiser or, for that matter, worried about upsetting a
politician. It is a place where you could actually hear a
conversation about northern concerns or listen to a northern
artist describe his or her work and have a CD played on the
air. It is a place where there was actually some news. It is a
place where northerners were actually in charge, where the
community could make connections and think in contrast to the
pap on commercial radio.
Of course, people like pap on the radio and so do I, but it is
harmful to your health if it is all you eat.
The media in the north are shadows of their former selves.
Mainline media (television, newspapers, and radio stations) are
owned by pubic companies that are preoccupied with cost cutting
and economies of scale. They have to be. They have spent so
much money buying one another and consolidating markets they
have no margin for error. With the exception of Fraser Dougall
in Thunder Bay, there is no meaningful local ownership. Almost
all decisions are formulaic and just as applicable to Kamloops
as North Bay. The media, with few exceptions, lead the colonial
parade in northern Ontario. CBC Radio, for a few hours in the
morning and afternoon, was an oasis of thoughtful connectivity.
It is an embarrassment to have to beg the Canadian Broadcasting
Corporation to preserve such a paltry investment. It is
shameful.
The prime minister should take some of that money he is
spending in the Northwest Territories to defend our sovereignty
by investing it in the CBC in northern Ontario, so there is
actually something to protect.
Michael Atkins is president of Northern Life.