10. A Discursive Monopoly: The Role of the Canadian Mainstream Media in the Social Dislocation of Aboriginal Peoples

Abstract

This poster investigates the Canadian mainstream media’s power and participation in discourses of subjugation surrounding contemporary Aboriginal issues in a manner that discriminates against the realities of Aboriginal cultures and peoples and the historical context of the inequitable Aboriginal social location in Canada. I examine the ways in which the Canadian media has engaged in “reality construction” whereby a particular ideological perspective is imposed on the public that constructs Aboriginal peoples through stereotypes, omission of historical fact, and appropriation of identity. This is demonstrated by an analysis of the portrayal of Aboriginal peoples as a monolithic “problem people” for the Canadian nation in four prevalent categories: 1) as a threat to Canada’s national interests; 2) as a risk to Canada’s social order; 3) as an economic liability; and, 4) as a problem for the criminal justice system (Fleras and Elliot 2003:327). This was evident in reporting on the Kaschewan Reserve water contamination in 2000, the Marshall Decision court ruling in 1999, and the Oka Crisis protests in 1990. The discourses analyzed here are derived from particular power relations that produce stereotypical reporting in support of the dominant interests, thus manufacturing public opinion that divides Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal citizens by reducing the complexities of Aboriginal concerns. This reporting serves to justify the biased prescriptions of the Canadian federal government that discriminate against the values and realities of Aboriginal peoples. Finally, I identify the potential for resistance to these discourses through evidence of expanding Aboriginal media control and expression.