Indigenous News Coverage in Canada is Misrepresentative

Why we never hear about the good, but always hear about the bad

This September, CBC Aboriginal officially changed their name to CBC Indigenous in order to better represent the unit’s most covered demographic.

CBC Indigenous is highly sensitive and dedicated to following the stories of indigenous community members and events within Canada, and it is one of very few mass media sources to do so. Indigenous news coverage has long been the source of criticism, controversy, and neglect in this country.

Only relatively recently has Eurocentric media focused their eye and camera lens on indigenous history, opinions, and culture, and even then, they have botched the job time and time again. Using incorrect terminology, biased or ignorant language, and complete misrepresentation is not unheard of in this industry. Regularly, journalists have been called out for mistakes. Occasionally, they apologize.

Even then, the most popular stories on indigenous life seem to be consistently negative. As always, we as consumers should ask the question of whether or not that portrayal is accurate or selective. It’s a fact that many indigenous groups across the country are oppressed by countless, interworking, unjust systems, and it shows in the news.

Right now, Regina police are searching for one of the indigenous women murdered by Clayton Eichler two years ago. Yet again, tribes are coming together to protest against pipelines. To this day, there is a deeply harmful and insultingly low cap on First Nations funding that the federal government refuses to lift. That’s something to be mad about.

In the span of one week, a Métis writer debuted her novel about indigenous women, The University of Winnipeg made it mandatory for students to learn about indigenous studies, and a new cancer screening program was designed particularly for First Nations women. That’s something to celebrate.

So why do we only seem to hear the worst from Canada’s indigenous news? Very seldom is the other side of the story given equal attention. The answer may lie in our still pervasive colonialist roots.

By only covering conflicts around indigenous news, the impression given is that indigenous people are conflict-driven. While privileged, white Canadians can easily claim to empathize with their plight—and many important and enlightening stories have been broken on the injustices done to indigenous people with overwhelming response—they can also easily separate and dehumanize them. The between-the-lines narrative is that indigenous news is synonymous with problems rather than success, not to mention the oft-avoided burden of white guilt.

The reason for the popularity of these stories is that Canadians with colonialist roots can temporarily alleviate themselves of that guilt while claiming to support and stay updated on indigenous issues. At the same time, they likely ignore their accomplishments, vibrant culture, and general excellence—whether it’s consciously or otherwise.

Because most readers can’t get that ego boost from an article profiling a talented Indigenous artist, interesting cultural event, or positive steps towards societal equity, most only click on the stories they can rant over. Thus, news outlets only cover those ones, and the image of indigenous reporting suffers.

As journalists, we’ve been failing that community for years. We continue to do so today. As a white woman working in media, I would love to see the tides turn, and it’s about time we take a harder look at how we cover indigenous news.