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Inuktitut service evaporates under CBC lockout

"The majority of the unilingual Inuktitut speakers totally rely on us"

JIM BELL

Locked out: Rosie Simonfalvi, Jasen Kelly, Stefanie Arduini, Joanna Awa and Peter Evans, all members of the Canadian Media Guild who work at CBC's Iqaluit studios, had to re-label their "on strike" signs after CBC executives locked out the broadcaster's unionized workers at 12:01 am this past Monday. (PHOTO BY JIM BELL)

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Eastern Arctic radio listeners and television viewers will get virtually no news or current information in Inuktitut during a CBC lockout of its unionized workers, which CBC management imposed this past Monday at 12:01 a.m.

About 35 unionized CBC employees in Nunavut and Nunavik were unable to go to work this week, and locally-produced Inuktitut and English broadcasts from CBC outlets in Iqaluit, Kuujjuaq, Rankin Inlet and Cambridge Bay disappeared from the airwaves.

"Our elders totally rely on us. We are a window to the world for our elders," said Joanna Awa, vice-president of the Canadian Media Guild's Iqaluit local.

Except for some brief announcements and weather reports in English and Inuktitut, CBC regional programming for Nunavut and Nunavik has vanished, replaced by English-only streams of pop music and canned features broadcast from CBC headquarters in Toronto.

Locked-out CBC employees Stefanie Ardunini and Jasen Kelly with Jasen's dog, who joined the Canadia Media Guild's picket line across the street from Iqaluit's CBC building this past Wednesday. (PHOTO BY JIM BELL)

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CBC North's mid-evening television news shows, North Beat and Igalaaq, have been replaced by repeat broadcasts of BBC World's half-hour news roundup.

The only Inuktitut voice anywhere on CBC North this week was that of the corporation's Rankin Inlet station manager, Elizabeth Kusugak, who did interviews with a Repulse Bay bowhead whale hunter, and read community weather reports from the corporation's Iqaluit studio.

Her voice also appears on a taped message that apologizes to listeners for programming disruptions caused by the dispute.

"The majority of the unilingual Inuktitut-speakers rely on us... To have that work done by one of the CBC managers is insulting," Awa said.

In Nunavik, radio listeners will still get Inuktitut services from Taqramiut Nipingat Inc., a regional broadcasting society that is not connected to the CBC.

In Iqaluit, station manager Pat Nagle, along with Kusugak, is the only Iqaluit employee allowed inside the CBC building. Early on Monday morning, a CBC manager from Yellowknife, Jeff Gardiner, flew in to help change pass-codes at the building's entrance doors, block employee email access, install security guards, and help keep a signal on the air.

Meanwhile, Guild members in Iqaluit set up a picketline across the street from the CBC building by the side of the Astro Hill access road. They posted cardboard signs urging people to "save the CBC," and to contact Nunavut MP Nancy Karetak-Lindell to complain about the interruption in service.

The CBC's five unionized employees in Rankin are also picketing the CBC station there.

Locked-out CBC employees in Iqaluit say many residents have provided moral support, and donated coffee and donuts to the picketers. The Nunavut Employees Union has given them use of their boardroom.

"We've been getting a tremendous amount of support," said Fiona Christensen, president of the guild's Iqaluit local, adding that many residents have told her that their mornings "just aren't the same" without CBC's local service.

Until the work-stoppage ends, unionized CBC workers will get about $200 a week in strike pay for the first three weeks. After the fourth week, they'll get $300 US a week, converted to Canadian currency.

"We're going to do our best to stay out here... but people are not going to be able to pay their rent or mortgages," Christensen said.

About five Media Guild members in Iqaluit live in privately owned or rented housing, and are likely to be hit hard by an extended lockout.

The Canadian Media Guild, which represents about 5,500 CBC employees across Canada, has been trying to negotiate a new collective agreement with the corporation for about 15 months.

The two sides are deadlocked over the issue of contracted and temporary workers. The corporation says it needs more flexible control over its labour force to deal with shrinking budgets, but the union fears that CBC will reduce its number of full-time employees.

Union members were already prepared for a strike, but CBC's management preempted them by declaring a lockout.

"We're feeling betrayed by management now that we're standing out here," Christensen said.

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