Question Period Note: Northern Aboriginal Broadcasting

The Northern Aboriginal Broadcasting component of the Indigenous Languages Program provides funding and supports the production and distribution of Indigenous radio and television content, with a focus on distribution in the North. Annual funding for Northern Aboriginal Broadcasting has remained static at $7.9 million since 1997. Northern Aboriginal Broadcasting currently supports 22 clients for the 2026-28 fiscal years.

• Broadcasting and media are essential platforms for Indigenous representation, cultural resilience, and language revitalization.
• Northern Aboriginal Broadcasting provides a critical service in the North, supported by $7.9 million in ongoing annual funding to create and distribute Indigenous radio and television programming.
• In 2024–25, this program supported the creation of 98,538 hours of new radio content, including 45,641 hours in Indigenous languages such as Cree, Michif, Dene, Inuktitut, and Ojibway.
• Modernization of the Northern Aboriginal Broadcasting is underway to advance and strengthen support for the Indigenous broadcasting sector in Canada; advancing Indigenous self-determination and fulfilling commitments under the United Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act.

• The Northern Aboriginal Broadcasting (NAB) program was created in 1983 as the former Northern Native Broadcast Access Program. The program became permanent in 1987 with 13 founding Indigenous communications societies that serve the North.
• The NAB provides programming funding and supports the production and distribution of Indigenous radio and television content, with a focus on distribution in the North. NAB’s objectives are to support the production of culturally relevant Indigenous programming; facilitate the establishment and maintenance of production facilities; ensure availability of a significant amount of radio and television programming; contribute to the protection and enhancement of Indigenous languages and cultures; and provide venues to articulate issues of relevance to Indigenous audiences and communities. The NAB is a direct-support grants and contributions program administered by Canadian Heritage (PCH).
• The program has stable funding of $7.9 million, which has remained unchanged since 1997. NAB is the only dedicated federal funding mechanism for Indigenous broadcasting and remains the primary source of funding for broadcasters in the North. Applicants must provide broadcast communications north of the Hamelin line which is drawn at the 55th parallel and defines the Canadian North for policy purposes.
• In 2012, PCH determined organizations in the South could be eligible for support if they broadcast programming north of the 55th parallel.
• In 2015, the program introduced a funding formula to increase objectivity that considers the number of hours of new content and the number of hours of Indigenous language content.
• In 2023, NAB was included in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act Action Plan under Shared Priority 106, which commits Canadian Heritage to “provide increased ongoing funding for Northern Aboriginal Broadcasting and expand nationally to support Indigenous broadcasting and the revitalization and preservation of Indigenous languages and cultures.”
• In 2024-25, NAB supported 25 clients for a total of $8.6M in funding. Supplementary funding of $500,000 was provided to some recipients in 2024-25.
• In 2024-25, 20 organizations produced 98,538 hours of new radio content, which included 45,641 hours of new Indigenous language programming. The component also funded 5 organizations to produce 205 hours of new Indigenous language television content.
• NAB Program modernization is underway, beginning with a May 2026 engagement exercise led by the Indigenous Media Association of Canada to strengthen direct support to Indigenous media.

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