In hard times for media companies, these people are working to bolster Indigenous news coverage in Sask. | CBC News Loaded
On this day, they're preparing to cover a powwow. The broadcast will featuring pre-recorded and live segments. Indigenous people made up about 5.2 per cent of newsrooms surveyed by the Canadian Association of Journalists in 2023. The latest Canadian census shows Indigenous people make up about five per cent of the country's total population.
Benjoe — who is Saulteaux, Dakota and Cree from Muscowpetung Saulteaux Nation, about 60 kilometres northeast of Regina — is editor-in-chief of Eagle Feather News , a Saskatchewan Indigenous news publication. Cook-Searson said it's important to have coverage in the north outside of Indigenous news as well — pointing to fires that"We were able to have that direct communication with the MBC radio station … updating people," said Cook-Searson. "They went in after hours and it didn't matter what time it was because they have a vested interest in the community."
Merelda Fiddler-Potter, a former journalist and now assistant professor in Indigenous communications and journalism at FNUC, said stories are central to Indigenous culture. "Reconciliation … can only really survive if we're able to share those stories, and once we're not, can't," said Fiddler-Potter.Even though Dan Senick isn't Indigenous himself, he sees potential in telling Indigenous stories through his new publication, Saskatchewan Indigenous News.
"These people have untold stories and we're coming across them every day," he said. "It's something we feel should be shared with the readers of Saskatchewan." A first of its kind in Canada, the four-year program blends multimedia training with the study of Indigenous issues and language, building on the two-year INCA diploma program offered at FNUC for nearly 40 years.