Warning their sector is on the brink of collapse, independent third-language community television producers are asking the federal government to include a $10.52-million annual program in the upcoming federal budget to safeguard Canada’s local news sovereignty.
“Without immediate intervention, hundreds of thousands of Canadians could lose access to trusted local news in their own languages — creating an information vacuum that hostile foreign actors could exploit to spread disinformation,” reads a Monday press release from the Canadian Ethnic Media Association (CEMA). “The warning comes in an open letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney and the Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture, Steven Guilbeault, calling for swift action before it’s too late.”
The group’s budget proposal, titled the Canadian Independent Ethnic Community Television: Anti-Disinformation and Digital Transition Program, calls for a $10.52-million annual investment for two years (2025-2027) to help producers transition online and preserve multilingual local news across more than 85 language communities.
CEMA said the program would help to close a long-standing public policy gap, because independent third-language producers are excluded from existing federal programs such as the Canada Media Fund, Google News Fund, Local Journalism Initiative and the Canadian Journalism Labour Tax Credit.
“We fear that once again, despite years of engagement with officials, our voices will be lost in the noise. This is the only media sector without access to any public funding. Closing this policy gap would finally make Canada’s multicultural media system fair and inclusive,” Igor Malakhov, CEMA’s campaign coordinator, said in the association’s press release.
“If this sector disappears, Canada will lose a crucial link between its institutions and millions of citizens who rely on trusted information in their heritage languages,” added Malakhov, who is executive director of CEMA’s “Empower Canadian Ethnic Media” campaign and also editor-in-chief of the online platform and weekly OMNI 1 program Vestnik.ca, which serves Canada’s Russian-speaking community.
One in four Canadians has a mother tongue other than English or French, according to CEMA. In addition, in major cities such as Toronto and Vancouver, nearly half of the population speaks a third language at home, CEMA said.
“It is fundamental to acknowledge the crucial role that Canada’s multilingual, multicultural media plays in our democracy,” said Madeline Ziniak, chair of CEMA. “Access to a funding mechanism would finally create a fair and equitable playing field for this important sector. It would preserve trusted multilingual news for over 800,000 Canadians and help deliver on Bill C-11’s commitment to reflect Canada’s ethnocultural diversity in broadcasting.”
Adopted in 2023, Bill C-11 (the Online Streaming Act) mandates support for multilingual content reflecting Canada’s diversity, “yet no tangible impact has reached independently produced ethnic community television,” CEMA said in its press release.
“This isn’t about creating another subsidy — it’s about protecting Canadian news sovereignty and recognizing the crucial role of independently produced ethnic community television,” said Kiu Rezvanifar, president of CEMA and producer of two TV programs serving Canada’s Iranian community. “If we fail to act, we risk leaving communities vulnerable to disinformation and losing a cornerstone of our multicultural democracy.”
