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Add your voice. Send a letter supporting our proposal to protect and secure the future of independently produced ethnic community television in Canada.
IT'S URGENT. EMAIL THE GOVERNMENT NOW!Your email calling on the Government to provide funding will be sent to the Department of Finance, Canadian Heritage, and your local MP.
We are calling on the federal government to establish a dedicated program — the Independently Produced Ethnic Community Television Empowerment and Digital Transition Program — to address the critical policy gap affecting third-language media, protect local news sovereignty, and counter the spread of disinformation by foreign agents.
Not one of these programs can access the federal funding available to every other Canadian media sector.
$0 in dedicated federal media support reaches independently produced ethnic community television. Not underfunded. Excluded.
Shut out of every one of these
Because these producers are not corporate broadcasters, they fall outside the Canada Media Fund. Because they are not structured as print newsrooms, they fall outside the Periodical Fund and the labour tax credit. They sit in the gap between the two.
This proposal is not a rescue package for a legacy television platform. It is a targeted infrastructure investment to stabilize and preserve Canada's existing network of trusted multilingual media professionals, protect local news sovereignty, and counter foreign disinformation.
The Government of Canada shall support the production and broadcasting of content in a variety of languages, reflecting the ethnocultural diversity of Canadian society.
Canada's multilingual communities deserve trusted local news.
Independent ethnic community television producers have served Canada's multilingual communities for decades — reporting local news, explaining Canadian institutions, and covering elections, healthcare, immigration, education and community life in the languages Canadians speak at home.
Yet independently produced ethnic community television remains one of the only established parts of Canada's media ecosystem without a practical pathway to federal media support.
At the same time, the economic model that sustained this sector is collapsing. Since 2021, advertising revenue for a typical independent 30-minute prime-time ethnic television program has fallen by approximately 88%, while retransmission royalties have declined by 67%.
We believe Canada can fix this.
The Canadian Ethnic Media Association (CEMA), through the Empower Canadian Ethnic Media Campaign, has submitted a proposal to the Government of Canada to establish the Independently Produced Ethnic Community Television Empowerment and Digital Transition Program.
We are asking the federal government to establish a dedicated funding stream administered through the Canada Media Fund (CMF) and invest $22.44 million annually for a two-year transition period from 2026 to 2028.
The program could stabilize and modernize up to 135 independent third-language community television and video production operations across Canada.
The goal is straightforward: preserve Canada's existing multilingual journalism capacity while helping independent producers transition from traditional television to sustainable digital, multi-platform and AI-ready operations.
Our proposal is not about preserving television for television's sake.
It is about preserving something much harder to rebuild once it disappears: Canada's existing network of experienced multilingual journalists, producers and editors.
These producers know their communities. They have trusted audiences. They understand Canadian institutions. Every week, they translate complex Canadian political, economic and social issues into journalism people can understand in their own languages.
If these organizations disappear, their audiences do not disappear with them. They increasingly turn to foreign state-controlled media, unverified social media sources and algorithm-driven content that may have little connection to Canadian civic life.
Supporting independent ethnic community television is therefore not simply cultural policy.
It is an investment in Canadian news sovereignty, democratic participation and resilience against foreign disinformation.
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