SANDY LAKE FIRST NATION, Ont. – The federal government this week announced $285,053 in funding for Sandy Lake First Nation's television documentary series Ni-dibaa-chimo-winun (Our Stories).
The First Nation oversees the Sandy Lake Youth Media Outreach program, which engages multimedia production professionals who work with youth in the northwestern Ontario community to produce culturally and regionally relevant media content, says the press release. The group will use the funding to develop and produce season two of the documentary series, which features the people, stories and realities of life in their community.
The funding is being provided under the Northern Aboriginal Broadcasting component of the Aboriginal Peoples' Program.
"The Indigenous communities in northern Ontario are rich with language and culture, and it is important that their stories and realities are shared beyond the area. I am very pleased that our government is making a significant investment in Sandy Lake First Nation to preserve and protect their language and culture," says the quote attributed to Robert Nault, MP for Kenora, who made the announcement.
The Northern Aboriginal Broadcasting component of the Aboriginal Peoples Program supports Indigenous broadcasting societies to produce and distribute radio and television programming in the North. The objectives are to:
• support the production of culturally relevant Indigenous programming;
• facilitate establishment and maintenance of production facilities;
• ensure availability of a significant amount of radio and television programming;
• contribute to the preservation and promotion of Indigenous languages and cultures; and
• provide venues to articulate issues of relevance to Indigenous audiences and communities.
Applicants must be non-profit, democratically controlled, Indigenous organizations or working with Indigenous organizations that provide broadcast communications north of the 55th parallel ("Hamelin Line").
Sandy Lake is about a three hour flight north from Thunder Bay.
