It was August 2000 and here I was in Burnt Church, N.B. covering the daily showdowns on Miramichi Bay between Mi’kmaq fishers and conservation officers with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. I only started working with the Aboriginal Peoples Television six months earlier and here I was being sent to cover one of the most chaotic and violent clashes I’ve ever witnessed in my entire career.
I spent more than two weeks in Burnt Church covering this story. I logged in countless hours of overtime trying to keep up with a story that kept changing by the hour. By the end of it all, I was exhausted and a bit stressed. But I also had this great sense of accomplishment; that I was finally covering news stories that I always wanted to cover.
Ever since I decided to become a journalist, I’ve been compelled to tell stories important to Aboriginal Peoples. After all, it’s who I am. As a Mi’kmaq person born and raised on the Indian Brook First Nation in Nova Scotia, I’ve always wondered why things are the way they are on Canada’s reserves.
I grew up surrounded by poverty, addictions and general dysfunction. I also grew up not really knowing my people’s history in the Atlantic Region. It wasn’t taught in any history class I took in high school. I wanted to know why these particular situations existed and what could be done to change them.
These were the basic questions I wanted to have answered when I entered into journalism 18 years ago. I wanted to explore a part of Canadian culture that, until recently, was poorly covered by mainstream media. I wouldn’t realize until many years later how difficult that would be working in mainstream media.
When I was an intern at CBC Radio in Halifax back in 1990, I pitched a few stories that I thought were important to Aboriginal people. Some of those stories were dismissed as “too internal” because they wouldn’t appeal to the wider mainstream audience in Nova Scotia.
So I was really optimistic when all of my story pitches were well received when I first arrived at the Halifax Chronicle-Herald. Some of those stories even made it on the front page. But after a while, that encouragement to write about Aboriginal issues began to fade. There were the comments I heard secondhand by fellow colleagues, questioning my objectivity and fairness when writing about aboriginal issues. One comment I heard was that as a Mi’kmaq, I could never be objective and fair covering such stories because I would always cheerlead for my community and never really cover the tough issues.
Probably the most hurtful experience happened six months before I left the Chronicle-Herald in 1998. One day, my supervisor sat me down to discuss his concerns with me pitching Aboriginal stories. He told me that my insistence on covering Aboriginal issues would only hurt my career. He said I would never be taken seriously by the news desk, and would never be considered for promotion to the more prestigious beats at the newspaper, like city hall or the provincial legislature.
But what I found most disturbing about his comments was what he didn’t say to me. He didn’t ask me about my aspirations and career goals in journalism and how those goals fit with the newspaper as a whole. It became quite apparent from that conversation that my goals and aspirations didn’t fit with the newspaper’s plans for me. So, I left.
A year later, the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network went on the air for the first time. A couple of months later, the network started advertising for positions to create a newsroom. One of those jobs was for an Atlantic video journalist. I applied and got the job. I’ve been with APTN ever since.
This is job I’ve been waiting for ever since I graduated from Ryerson’s journalism school in 1994. I get to cover Aboriginal issues in the Atlantic region on a full-time basis. I get to do it without being questioned about my bias or objectivity. Doing the job I love has allowed me to explore all of the issues I set out to learn 18 years ago.
The atmosphere at APTN National News is no different than any other newsroom in which I’ve worked. Except the entire news staff is Aboriginal and our primary goal is covering issues and events important to Aboriginal people in Canada. The same journalism ethics and standard apply here as in any other mainstream newsroom in this Canada. We must provide our viewers with fair and balanced coverage of issues and events.
I learned the history of my people and the treaties my ancestors signed with the British in the 1700s by covering the Mi’kmaq logging rights trial in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. I’ve covered the confrontations in Burnt Church, New Brunswick between Mi’kmaq fishers and fisheries officers over the interpretation of treaty rights. And I’ve traveled to Innu communities in Labrador to cover the gas-sniffing problem among their youth. I’d never have been given the chance to cover these stories if I remained in mainstream media.
And the same goes for many of my colleagues at APTN National News. We share similar struggles when covering aboriginal stories for mainstream media. At APTN, we can cover the good and the bad news without having our objectivity and fairness constantly questioned by our supervisors and fellow colleagues. And that’s a comforting feeling for me.
I know the choice I made about my career 18 years ago has limited how far I can go in this profession. And that’s okay because I find what I do now far more fulfilling. I’ve been able to develop a beat where I can go beyond the mainstream headline into why things work the way they do in Aboriginal communities. I can now report on these issues with great authority and knowledge.
These days, more mainstream news media outlets are beginning to realize the importance of having a more diverse workforce working in their newsrooms. Canadian cities are becoming more diverse and media outlets in print and broadcast are recognizing the need to attract readers, listeners and viewers from those diverse communities.
But for me, diversity in newsrooms needs to be more than just hiring people of colour to cover mainstream issues. Diversity also means providing coverage that is reflective of issues and events important to those diverse communities. If mainstream media wants to attract more readers, listeners and viewers from diverse communities, then it has to start reporting on issues they would find interesting and not dismiss them as being “too internal.” And the coverage needs to increase and be consistent. Only then will diversity be meaningful in mainstream newsrooms.
As for me, I’ll know when mainstream media is truly being reflective of Aboriginal people once I start seeing the sort of coverage APTN National New provides on a daily basis integrated in the overall coverage of Canadian news and culture.
Maureen Googoo graduated from Ryerson’s journalism program in 1994. She is currently a video journalist/Atlantic correspondent for APTN National News with the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network.
