For newspeople writing, broadcasting on Aboriginal affairs

(Canscene) — Recently the Radio and Television News Directors’ Association of Canada (RTNDA) introduced a “toolkit” for newsrooms across the nation.

Titled Everyone’s Story– Reflecting Canada’s Diversity, the kit consists of an illustrated brochure and a DVD. It points out that by 2017, the 150th anniversary of Confederation, people born in a different country will make up a larger percentage of the population than at any time since the great wave of immigration at the turn of the century. And 20 percent will be members of visible minority groups.

The toolkit also makes substantial reference to Canada’s Aboriginal peoples and culturally sensitive ways in which to refer to them. For instance, the term “First Nations” does not mean the same as Aboriginal people or First Peoples as it doesn’t include Inuit and Metis. First Nations is widely used as a substitute for “Indians, ” now considered inappropriate and inaccurate since many people in our South Asian community can legitimately be referred to as “Indian-Canadians.”

Inuit is a substitute for the former “Eskimo” and means “the people. ” The singular form is Inuk and the language spoken by Inuit is Inuktitut.

Métis are Aboriginal descendants of the Métis community of Western Canada, of racially mixed origin.

Aboriginal peoples prefer phrases such as Aboriginal peoples in Canada rather than Aboriginal Canadians or Canada’s Aboriginal people, according to the RTNDA.
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