Meeting Communication Needs

The Native Communications Society (NCS) is helping to meet the social, cultural and information needs of the North by providing programming that promotes Aboriginal language, culture and traditions. Through CKLB radio, NCS is currently the only radio service in the NWT that broadcasts northern Aboriginal and English language programming 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Broadcasts can be heard in five Dene languages in 30 communities in the NWT as well as the Diavik and Snap Lake diamond mines.

To keep listeners informed and entertained, CKLB increased its live coverage in 2007 and broadcast 11 live meetings from communities throughout the NWT. Their motto is ‘the Voice of Denendeh.'

“By providing a medium for Aboriginal people to share their successes, communicate in their language and interact with one another across the miles, the NCS is supporting and inspiring the Dene people and making them proud of their culture, heritage and language,” explains Joachim Bonnetrouge, Native Communications Society Board Chair.

Through its Strategic Investments in Northern Economic Development (SINED) initiative, INAC invested $58,000 to support the development and implementation of new digital technology. This will allow CKLB to reach a global listening audience and promote Aboriginal culture and traditions world-wide.

The availability of interactive, two-way communication, such as the Internet and blogs [an interactive online journal usually intended for public viewing] will encourage information sharing and increase international awareness of the North's people, history, stories and communities.

“‘When will I be able to listen to CKLB on the Internet?' is the most frequent question I get,” says William Greenland, Director of Radio. “INAC funding means that we will be streaming our radio station on the Internet in early 2008 and making our unique radio programming available to everyone through the world wide web.”

News items, interviews, Elders' stories, meetings and special broadcasts will be stored online and accessed through a searchable audio database or an online audio library. Preserving the special history of Northern Aboriginal people and sharing the culture, humour, traditions, political issues and public records with a global audience contributes to the understanding of a peoples' past and appreciation of its present.