MediaSmarts Tags - Aboriginal People

Passing on information orally was possible when the traditional languages were still very much alive, which is no longer true today. In a single century, approximately 10 Aboriginal languages have become extinct and a dozen others are in danger of becoming so, according to the Atlas of Canada. A number of studies have predicted that only Ojibwa, Cree and Inuktitut will still exist in 50 years.

This section hones in on many issues that are specific or unique to Aboriginal people in Canada, including the underreporting of crimes against Aboriginal people by news media and the unique challenges faced by Aboriginal people seeking to produce content for their own communities.

Even rarer is when Aboriginal people are positioned in mainstream media as experts or commentators on major issues of public interest. An exception to this was an initiative in 2010 when the Quebec newspaper Le Devoir published exchanges of letters and opinions between Ghislain Picard, Chief of the Assembly of the First Nations of Quebec and Labrador and Manon Barbeau, founder of Wapikoni Mobile.

Level: Grades 9-12

Author: Matthew Johnson, Director of Education, MediaSmarts

Overview

Hollywood's versions of "how the West was won" relied totally on the presence of Native tribes, who were to be wiped out or reined in.

Level: Grade 9-12

Author: Matthew Johnson, Director of Education, MediaSmarts

Duration: 2 to 2 ½ hours

Overview

In a hashtag, darkly: How #Ottawapiskat turned the tables on media coverage of native issues

That Aboriginal women are likely to be victims of violence is not news: Aboriginal women aged 25 to 44 are five times more likely to suffer a violent death than other women in Canada. Amnesty International (Stolen Sisters, 2004 and No More Stolen Sisters, 2009) and the Native Women’s Association of Canada (Voices of our Sisters In Spirit, 2009 and What Their Stories Tell Us, 2010) have documented more than 500 cases of Aboriginal women who have gone missing or been murdered since the 1960s. Half of the cases have never been solved.

Level: Grades 9-12

Duration: 1-2 hours

Author: Matthew Johnson, Director of Education, MediaSmarts

Overview