Although these radios are no longer used as much as before to communicate and send messages between members of their community, their role is no less important today.
To Uashat-mak Mani-utenam
Uashat mak Mani-utenam radio is a privileged witness to the preservation and promotion of Innu culture and language. Located near Sept-Îles, CKAU has existed for around forty years. From his vast windowed studio located on the upper floor of a brand new building, Michel Vollant confirms this.
“The radio is still there, still alive,” the Innu journalist and host tells us between two live interventions. People tell us that they recognize themselves.”
According to the one who hosts in his language in a proportion of 80%, the station is not really affected by the crisis currently raging in the media panorama. “Our audience has not declined,” he says. Rather surprisingly, young people aged 18 to 34 make up 50% of its audience, says Mr. Vollant. He conducts approximately 25% of his interviews in his language. With non-natives, interviews take place in French. “But we translate them into Innu afterwards,” he explains.
Michel Vollant, host and journalist at CKAU, the community radio of Uashat mak Mani-utenam, uses Innu-aimun in a proportion of 80%. (Johanne Fournier, special collaboration)
At Nutashkuan
In Nutashkuan, community radio CFNQ broadcasts exclusively in Innu-aimun, “except when we have messages to pass that come from white people, such as nurses,” specifies the director of the station located near Natashquan, Florence Malec.
According to one of the station’s two hosts, 50% of the programming is devoted to indigenous music. The other half of the programming is made up of English-speaking country, Quebecois and retro music, disco from the 1980s and 1990s as well as current music, according to Marie-France Wapistan.
At Pessamit
At the community radio station in Pessamit, near Baie-Comeau, Innu-aimun takes up an average of 60% of the airtime, according to the only full-time host. “It depends on what [sic] I speak, explains Zacharie Picard. When I talk about things that happen here or when they are local subjects, I speak 80% of the time in Innu. When I do interviews with French speakers, I speak in French, but I translate a little into Innu.”
For the dynamic 37-year-old host who has 18 years of experience behind the microphone of the Ntetemuk station, radio contributes to the survival of the language. “The name of the radio, Ntetemuk, means “to listen”, explains the man nicknamed Zack.
By evoking the name of the radio, he cannot help but recall the memory of Pierre Hervieux, who founded the radio 40 years ago. This broadcasting pioneer from Pessamit had died five days before our visit.
Anyone who sings and plays the guitar on their own time broadcasts at least two hours of Innu music a day. “There are so many choices,” says Zacharie Picard. The rest of the time I play a lot of rock from the 60s, 70s and 80s, country, disco and music from today.”
At Essipit
The use of Innu-aimun has disappeared in the community of Essipit, located near Escoumins. “At a certain time, young people were learning Innu,” says the president of the board of directors of community radio CHME, Dominique Roussel. I became Innu through marriage in 1982 and the language was already lost. But we still use certain Innu words.”
According to the radio’s general and sales director, Fernand-Bienvenue Ackay, Radio Essipit Haute-Côte-Nord still devotes around 20% of its programming to the broadcast of indigenous music. “There are two hours of indigenous music a day,” continues Ms. Roussel.
On some occasions the station plays more. For example, on the most recent National Indigenous Peoples Day, June 21, the station broadcast Indigenous music all day.
“We also went to seek out regional dignitaries such as mayors, the prefect, the deputy and the band leader to record messages which were broadcast all day,” describes Mr. Ackay. People really appreciated it. It was a first. It’s certain that we’re going to do it again!”
Even though Innu-aimun is no longer spoken in Pessamit, CHME community radio contributes, through certain actions, to promoting Innu culture and language. (Johanne Fournier, special collaboration)
Although the approximately 4,000 members of the Essipit community no longer speak Innu-aimun, this does not prevent community radio from producing capsules where it is possible to hear words in Innu-aimun which are then translated in French.
“We also collaborate with other Innu radio stations,” specifies the general director. “It’s a way to help promote Innu culture,” adds the president of the board of directors.
In Mashteuiatsh
The community radio station in Mashteuiatsh, near Roberval, has developed a collaboration agreement with the non-native community radio station CKAJ in Jonquière. “It’s the only radio station that offers us a showcase,” argues the general director of Innu radio CHUK, Édouard Robertson. We have a show that is broadcast on CKAJ and on our airwaves once a week for an hour to reach the members of Tshitassinu, our territory which is Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean.
“It’s in French, but there is a local version which is approximately 25% Innu. The music is 100% indigenous.”
The toponymy of Tshitassinu is among the themes. The host pronounces the name of the place in Shashish-aimun, the Innu of the territory, and then gives its meaning in French. From the archives of the Ilnu Museum in Mashteuiatsh, CHUK also produces a program on the tales and legends of the Innu community.
If the animation is done in French, Mashteuiatch radio nevertheless relies on the services of a translator. “It’s very rare,” says Mr. Robertson. It depends on the subject and the request, but some chronicles are in Innu-aimun and are then translated into French.
The interventions of local CHUK hosts are interspersed with music that is 80% indigenous. “Our main facilitator, Kessy Blacksmith, has a very good knowledge of Aboriginal music because he is a musician,” explains the general director. We even have full nights and weekends where the music is only that of the First Nations.”
For Mr. Robertson, it goes without saying that CHUK participates in the promotion of Innu language and culture. “It’s part of its mission,” he emphasizes.
Storyteller Patrick Courtois is positive about the path his community’s station is currently taking. “Radio is developing,” observes the man who is a member of the Mashteuiatsh Band Council. Édouard and Kessy do a good job.”
SOCAM
In addition to the Essipit radio station, the five other Innu community radio stations visited by Les Coops de l’information connect for an hour and a half per day to the network of the Société de communication atikamekw-montagnais (SOCAM), which has two radio studios. production located in Wendake, near Quebec.
Founded in 1983 by the current chief of the Assembly of First Nations of Quebec and Labrador, Ghislain Picard, SOCAM brings together the three Atikamekw communities and the eleven Innu communities within the same broadcasting network.
With his colleague Murielle Rock, Bernard Hervieux speaks exclusively in Innu-Aimun from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. every morning live on most Innu radio stations.
“I have very good comments from listeners, both on the content and on the indigenous music that we broadcast. It’s mostly talk radio. I am proud to speak Innu. When I go to the North Shore, people tell me that I speak the language well.”
— Bernard Hervieux, journalist and presenter
In the opinion of the man who has been behind the same microphone for more than 40 years, his show is a development tool for Innu communities. “I think we have a lot of influence,” says the Innu from Pessamit.
At Ekuanitshit
Due to lack of manpower, the community radio station in Ekuanitshit, near Mingan, broadcasts the SOCAM program from Monday to Friday. The only other time CKKE is on the air is for bingo, which is usually held twice a week. The station manager, Nikol Belfleur, is a volunteer. It has only one paid employee.
To compensate for the lack of production in its studios, CKKE connects to the community radio of Uashat mak Mani-utenam. Thus, even if the programming of her community’s radio is not optimal, the one who is also a member of the board of directors of SOCAM believes that Ekuanitshit radio still contributes to the development of culture and language innu.
“Radio is important to people in the community. It creates a feeling of belonging,” says Ms. Belfleur.
This report was made possible thanks to an excellence grant from the Association of Independent Journalists of Quebec.
In recent years, Innu communities have made great efforts to promote their language, culture and identity. This series of reports addresses the subject of the survival of Innu-aimun in Innu community radio stations, as well as the financing and succession of these stations. It also discusses the broadcasting of indigenous music on commercial radio stations as well as the impact of social networks on the way Innu communicate with each other. Our collaborator Johanne Fournier went to meet six Innu communities from the North Shore and Lac-Saint-Jean.
