Making Canada's ethnic voices heard

Publisher Dan Iannuzzi creates a TV station that embodies multiculturalism

One more sacrifice by Canadians for bloody immigrants. The day I can't get an American station because of an immigrant one, I'll throw out my TV."
Visitors to the offices of Dan Iannuzzi, founder and publisher of Corriere Canadese and Tandem, can see this fine piece of prose, framed and hanging on the wall. It was an insult, scribbled by someone who felt outrage at MTV, Channel 47, Cable 4, the multilingual TV station founded by Mr. Iannuzzi in 1979. That piece of paper bears witness, with admirable efficacy, to the environment surrounding an unprecedented event in the world of Canadian media: a TV station broadcasting in 24 languages, over 168 hours of weekly programming. A little Babel that could be watched by pressing the fourth button of one's remote. This novelty bothered those who thought they had a monopoly on culture in this country.
"That station was the concrete embodiment of Trudeau's multiculturalism. Everything leads us back to the question of 'us' vs. 'them,' a misunderstanding frequently evoked by those people who like to argue who 'Canadians' are. If we want to understand fully what's been achieved in this country, we have to understand the starting context."
Can we assume Trudeau's introduction of multiculturalism in 1971 as our starting point?
"Not exactly. That piece of legislation was a synthesis, an attempt to bring harmony among the different souls of this country, e.g. between Anglophones and Francophones. But even within the Anglophone community, there were those who underscored the difference entailed by being Irish, or English, or Scottish. With his multicultural program, Trudeau sanctioned Canada's bilingualism, and managed to get everybody involved. He appealed to the affection all of us have for our 'mother,' i.e. our roots. Nobody insults one's own mother. Much in the same way, nobody attacked a policy that put one's roots in the limelight."
Are you implying that Trudeau's actions were motivated purely by pragmatism and consideration for electoral support?
"These considerations were present, yes. However, the ideal is not diminished by that. Multiculturalism is a 16-letter word that no one had ever pronounced before. At first, I found it paradoxical that a law could impose a spiritual feeling. Today I know that the law, passed by Parliament in November 1988, was a key passage because from then on all legislation, Provincial and Municipal alike, had to uphold that principle. Moreover, in addition to governments of all levels, multiculturalism was adopted by companies in their hiring policies, and so on. It wasn't a law dictating a feeling, after all, but rather one addressing institutions, a handbook stating a principle that had to be respected."
Don't you agree with the critics of multiculturalism?
"Clearly, objections can be raised about the application or the interpretation that some governments used. For instance, we could say that the handful of millions budgeted for the Ministry should not be used in the struggle against racism. Racism should be fought at all levels, tapping other entries of the government budget. This fight should be kept separated from funding multicultural initiatives, much like citizenship laws are separate from immigration laws. Multiculturalism is not a consequence of immigration. It requires an additional passage. Not all nations with a heavy immigration are, by that token alone, 'multicultural.' Our law has the merit of including everybody within the Canadian heritage, a word used in the singular. Nobody can afford to call someone else 'an ethnic.' "
Not even Anglo-Saxons?
"I recall a meeting with several media, where the editor-in-chief of the Globe and Mail kept referring to Corriere Canadese and other newspapers as 'ethnic media.' In my address, I called his paper and the Toronto Star 'the nation's largest ethnic media.' "
Are Natives the only Canadians, then?
"If we go back enough, not even them. Even the 'natives' came to America from elsewhere. I remember that, on the occasion of the 5th centenary of the discovery of America, I chaired the committee for the Columbus celebrations. In my stops across Canada, I entrusted many Natives with lecturing their communities. These First Nations chiefs, initially very critical of the idea of celebrating a 'discovery' (they thought the term ignored their presence on the land), came to the conclusion that what was worth celebrating was multiculturalism. In every meeting the usual 'us' and 'them' distinction resurfaced; and every time it was challenged by some immigrant who disliked the distinction. In short, the great merit of multiculturalism is that it manages to teach tolerance and to tear barriers down through everyday living experience".
But many people resisted the implementation of multiculturalism, as shown by the letter you framed.
"There was a campaign by the Toronto Sun, at the time a very sanctimonious newspaper born from the ashes of the Telegram, a 'God-save-the-Queen' kind of publication. From their point of view, having a U.S. station replaced by a station giving voice to immigrants was an insult. The Commission granted us a licence, but restricted it for broadcast only to Toronto. Therefore, our revenues and our share of advertising were limited, and so they remained for seven years. On the other hand, our viewers were enthusiastic, and flocked to watch our programs. Half our programming was in French or other languages, half in English, mostly U.S. programmes that brought in the lion's share of our advertising revenues. That way, we managed to fund the whole range of programmes."
What's the difference between multiculturalism and multilingualism?
"Our station was born as multilingual. We broadcast in languages of States that did not exist yet, e.g. Macedonian, or Estonian. But the foundations of multiculturalism were laid when we conceived and broadcast a programme in English where prominent members of a given community discussed current events related to their country of origin or to their local community itself. That way, Italians did not only talk to Italians, or Indians to Indians, but knowledge and issues of a group were shared and could be understood by all the others."
How did so many heterogeneous languages, cultures, and professional expertise coexist?
"That was a great success. About 140 people worked for our station, and some 150 volunteers also gave their contribution of ideas. It was a great workshop. Working together is always a challenge, but some who gave up were professionals coming from conventional TV. Some felt, for instance, that they couldn't adequately direct programmes that were spoken in a language they didn't speak. Our station became a breeding ground for Filipino or Arab directors, Portuguese or Italian technicians. Other stations were eager to hire our staff, because they knew that MTV bred creativity. For over a decade, I got no complaints from anyone about working side by side with people of a different ethnic group. I still regard this as a major success. A multicultural success, in the real meaning of the word".

Publication Date: 2001-12-23
Story Location: http://tandemnews.com/viewstory.php?storyid=775