John Stevenson
31 July 1989
What follows is a brief report detailing the efforts of the National Campus and Community Radio Association (NCRA/ANREC) to the lobby the Ontario government to provide funding for community and student radio stations in the province.
On 12 January 1989 I visited CKLN in Toronto to speak with David Barnard (CKLN program director and a NCRA/ANREC director) and Punam Khosla (CKLN station manager). In the course of our conversation, Khosla mentioned that a study of community radio in the province, commissioned by the Ministry of Culture and Communications (MCC) and completed by Wilkinson and Associates, would soon be released. She encouraged me to contact the author of the study, Keilly Wilkinson. On 14 January I visited Wilkinson at her home in Rosedale. Wilkinson indicated to me that while the the study had yet to be published its recommendations of provincial funding in the form of a subsidy for ethnic programming would be accepted by the MCC. A memorandum to cabinet would soon be submitted, she said, and the program put into place. Wilkinson gave the impression that her study was very specific in its recommendations concerning what form the funding should take, and that the funding was more or less secure. Our discussion then turned to the policy situation at the federal level, with an emphasis on how the NCRA/ANREC might be able to receive operational funding. In the course of the conversation, Wilkinson suggested that the association ask for funding from each provincial government (with the exception of Québec), from the federal government, and from Canadian-owned corporations. She further suggested that the NCRA/ANREC ask for $10 000 from the Ontario and federal governments, and for $5 000 from each other provincial government.
I took these recommendations to the winter NCRA/ANREC board of directors meeting, held on 28/29 January in Montréal. At that meeting, I was given the mandate to pursue organizational funding from federal government and other sources, and immediately began work on a project proposal with Martha Marie Kleinhans (NCRA/ANREC national coordinator) and John Matthews (association treasurer). A tentative deadline of 25 February was set for completion of the proposal. However, the project was delayed by work on the Girard-Mohr CRTC study of campus radio, and by the Intercollegiate Broadcasting System Conference in New York City.
Contact with Bruce Girard, who has been involved with community radio for a number of years and who is currently an AMARC staff member, prompted discussion of the Ontario funding situation. Girard told me that he had met with MCC staff sometime during the past few months, and that while provincial funding was likely, it was not certain. He suggested that the association's current efforts to draft a project proposal be shifted to specific program proposal for the Ontario government. He also indicated that the MCC was taking their time with the program, partially because they wanted to "do it right", but primarily because the federal government had dropped the need for a policy review in their laps by agreeing to fund minority official language radios in Ontario and other provinces. When the study had arrived at the NCRA/ANREC office in Montréal around the same time, it became clear that there were few actual recommendations concerning a support program for campus radio, and that the association would have to begin an active lobbying effort.
In early-April I asked Monique Lanoix, association secretary and station manager at CFRU-FM in Guelph, to contact the MCC concerning the current status of the Ontario policy. Much of what Girard had told me was confirmed by the MCC through Lanoix. Work was proceeding slowly on the policy, and the MCC would like a brief of some sort from the NCRA/ANREC, indicating our recommendations for a funding program. Jean McNulty (senior adviser, broadcasting office) of the MCC told Lanoix that a brief should be submitted by the end of April.
A brief to the MCC, entitled "A Proposal for the Development of Community Radio in Ontario", was completed on 24 April, authored by myself, Monique Lanoix and Martha Marie Kleinhans. The brief drew upon a number of sources for its recommendations, including but not limited to a Girard-Mohr study for the federal Department of Communications (DOC) titled "Options for the Development of Community Radio Outside Quebec", other DOC literature, documents concerning the existing Québec government program in support of community radio, and program information from the federal Department of the Secretary of State and the Canada Council. The brief recommended a three component program, with on-going subsidization, project funding, and organizational funding all included. Keeping in mind that the Wilkinson study recommended approximately $500 000 for a campus radio support program, we suggested that $700 000 be set aside for such a program. Each component of the proposed program had a separate process of development, and although the section on organizational funding was the last written, it drew upon largest amount of source material, as documentation of l'ARCQ funding and recommendations of NCRA/ANREC funding were fairly numerous and accessible. Lanoix distributed an outline of the proposal to NCRA/ANREC members in Ontario in late-April, and the brief arrived at the MCC on 28 April.
The MCC contacted Lanoix in mid-May, indicated that they were fairly impressed by the brief, and said that they would work toward setting up a meeting between representatives from the association and the Minister of Culture and Communications, Lily Munro. During the week of 14 May, Keilly Wilkinson contacted Lanoix and myself to discuss the brief. She said that she thought the brief was quite effective, but that the level of organizational funding which we had suggested was unlikely. Wilkinson also told me that the MCC was concerned that the association was not seeking funding for its members and for itself from other sources. On 18 May I wrote a letter to the Minister detailing the NCRA/ANREC efforts to gather funds from a variety of other sources, both public and private. We had also by this time officially invited the Minister to the National Campus and Community Radio Conference in August.
Shortly afterward, the NCRA/ANREC began lobbying efforts on behalf of the funding proposal. A letter was sent to David Silcox, MCC Deputy Minister, on 1 June, followed by correspondence to provincial cabinet ministers who's departments touched upon community radio: Gerry Phillips (Citizenship), Lyn Mcleod (Colleges and Universities), Christopher Ward (Education), Bernard Grandmaître (Francophone Affairs), and John Sweeney (Community and Social Services). As well, David Peterson (Premier), and Bob Rae (Leader of the Opposition) were contacted.
However, it was our belief that the success of the proposal would depend on the involvement of member stations in then lobbying effort. However, efforts to organize an NCRA/ANREC regional meeting met with little success. A number of stations were contacted, but little interest in hosting the meeting was shown. Regional meetings had taken place on both the west coast and east coast on 20 May. However, CHRY-FM at York University agreed to organize and host the meeting on 24 June. The NCRA/ANREC objective for the meeting was simple: to inform members of the current situation vis-a-vis funding, and to encourage them to lobby.
However, the actual meeting did not focus entirely on these issues. CHRY-FM station manager Dani Zuretsky had been in contact with Keilly Wilkinson just prior to the meeting, and she had indicated to him that funding was unlikely, even impossible, without an organization of Ontario community radio stations for the MCC to deal with. At the meeting on the 24th, she further stated that an announcement concerning the funding program would soon be made , and that the MCC was looking forward to working with community broadcasters over the next few months to refine the program. Wilkinson also indicated that funding would be available for subsequent Ontario regional meetings. Discussion at the meeting concentrated on the establishment of an Ontario regional organization, and a second meeting has been scheduled for 3 August.
During the following week, Zuretsky contacted the MCC to enquire about funding for the next Ontario-wide meeting, and was told that no such support would be forthcoming. I wrote a letter to the Minister during that same week requesting that the MCC organize and fund a similar meeting. The MCC's reply, dated 17 July, indicated that such a meeting would be "premature", and that "when a provincial policy on community radio has been put in place, then there is a much greater likelihood of this Ministry being able and willing to fund an Ontario-wide meeting…". However, the Minister did express interest in the formation of an Ontario organization, indicating that "one or two of my officials will be attending the meeting to ensure that we are fully aware of developments". Also, a request for funding to assist stations in attending NCRC 89 was also rejected. Note that letters signed by the Minister concerning community radio are usually written by either Martha Fletcher (manager, broadcasting office) or (most likely) McNulty, the provincial bureaucrats who are working on the program.
Also during the week following the regional meeting, Lanoix and I contacted Claude Couillard (station manager at Radio Huronie) and Kenina Kakekayash (Wawatay). Wilkinson had been in contact with Wawatay concerning more regional cooperation among the community radio sectors, but the francophone stations had heard nothing from the government since a letter in January, and were simply waiting for some sort of announcement. Couillard also told Lanoix that his main interest, and that of Huronie's sister stations, was the creation of a national association of francophone radio stations outside of Québec.
The information provided at the regional meeting prompted me to meet with Fletcher and McNulty on 12 July. Attending the meeting with me was Punam Khosla, station manager of CKLN-FM in Toronto. We began the meeting by asking about the current status of provincial community radio policy. Fletcher indicated that the current policy review had been initiated to accomplish two things: first, "to bring order to the fund-seeking process" for community stations looking for provincial funding, and second, to find a way to help community radio, because community radio "deserved some support in the province." McNulty indicated that a policy document exists which contains a number of specific recommendations for provincial support, from some simple type of recognition and assistance, to what they described as "megabucks".
The MCC staffers indicated that for at least two months the policy document will circulate among various appropriate provincial ministries for comment, additions and the like - to "have the rough edges smoothed off". Once this process is complete (sometime in October or November) the policy will go to the appropriate cabinet committee for study. Then, early in 1990, the policy will find it's way to the provincial cabinet for consideration. If all goes well, a program will come into existence in April of 1990 - a bit less than a year from now.
Though we were not told explicitly what sort of program was being considered, it was indicated to us that the program will have separate components for each of the areas of Ontario community radio, tailored to the needs of that sector. The campus radio component seems to follow more-or-less what we recommended in our April brief: a program subsidy, and funding for training and special projects.
I asked McNulty and Fletcher what role community broadcasters should now play; whether or not we could expect to be actively involved in the policy-making process from now on. They indicated to me that, as a possible "client group", we would have to be consulted. However, the policy was now "out of your [community radio's] hands", and while there would be opportunities for input into the process later, at this point they would simply keep us informed of developments.
The 20 July, Monique Lanoix and I took part in a meeting with the Hon. Lily Munro, Minister of Culture and Communications. The Minister showed a great deal of interest in campus radio, but the content of the thirty minute meeting was secondary to the fact that it took place at all.
On 21 July, I met with Jeff Whipple, station manager at CHSR-FM in Fredericton, in Ottawa. Whipple told me that there had been some regional press concerning the funding of two French-language community radio stations in his province, but that the funding had not encouraged a policy review within the New Brunswick government. New Brunswick, like all but two provinces (Ontario and Québec), does not have a department responsible for communications.
That's the current state of the policy and the associations's lobbying effort at this point. If you have any questions, please contact me at CFRU-FM Radio, telephone 519/824 4120, ext. 8341. As well, members should feel free to contact Jean McNulty, Senior Adviser, Broadcasting Office, Communications Division, at 416/235 4656 for more information on the policy.
Members are also strongly encouraged to contact their Member of the Provincial Parliament to express their support for a provincial policy in support of community and student radio.