The Aboriginal Media Program at First Nations Technical Institute includes a core group of facilitators who do detailed curriculum planning and scheduling. Other media professionals bring day-to-day industry experience to their regular work as guest facilitators with learners.
Brant Bardy: Brant is the program's coordinator. A Photojournalism graduate of Loyalist College of Applied Arts and Technology in Belleville, Ont., he has worked in Eastern Ontario newspapers and as land claims researcher for the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte. He and his family live in Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory.
Sean Story: Sean is a broadcaster with the weekly Aboriginal Voices show on Queen's University radio, and has a variety of freelance experience. He is also a graduate of the program and of Loyalist College and has lived in Tyendinaga for most of his adult life.
Susan White: Susan is a former reporter, editor and publisher, and has been a journalism professor in Ontario's community college system for 18 years. She teaches reporting, interviewing and ethical and legal issues, and in 1997 helped design the Aboriginal Media Program. She lives in Belleville.
Guest Facilitators
Janice Brant: Janice is a Tyendinaga Mohawk who is linking Prior
Learning Assessment with literacy. A graduate of both Trent and Queen’s
Universities, Janice continues her studies on a part-time basis with St.
Francis Xavier University as Master of Adult Education student. She is
a facilitator in FNTI’s Balchelor of Social Work division, and has
worked with the Canadian Association for Prior Learning Assessment in
South Africa.
Tantoo Cardinal: Tantoo is one of Canada's preeminent actors. Winner of a Gemini, and many other awards, including a National Aboriginal Achievement Award, she has been an actor in film and television for more than 25 years. She's a Metis from Anzac, Alberta and now lives in Calgary.
Bert Crowfoot: Bert is publisher of Windspeaker, Canada's national Aboriginal magazine, based in Edmonton, and general manager and CEO of AMMSA, the Aboriginal Multi-Media Society. AMMSA also owns several provincial newspapers and radio stations in Alberta.
Kenneth Deer: Kenneth is editor, publisher and founder of The Eastern Door, an internationally award winning newspaper from Kahnawake Mohawk Territory. For more than 15 years, he's also been a delegate to the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Populations.
Don Gray: Don recently retired after a long and varied career in television and film, the last 23 years as the Coordinator of the Broadcasting Program at Centennial College in Toronto.
Diane Hill: Diane is a Mohawk from Six Nations, a healer and adult educator who works internationally. Currently a PhD candidate at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto, Diane is a member of the team of facilitators in FNTI's Human Services program.
Alan Lawrence: Al is one of Canada's foremost cinematographers. He works freelance for many clients including the CBC, BBC, and the National Film Board. Based in Toronto, he's an Ojibway who has trained many broadcast production professionals.
Suzanne Methot: Suzanne is a freelance writer and editor who has been widely published in Aboriginal and mainstream Canadian media. Her first novel will be published in 2004. Suzanne, a Cree, is a graduate of St. Mary's University in Halifax.
Clarence Michon: Clarence is a broadcast journalist with a background in the production and administrative aspects of television, film, radio and related industry maketing stategies. He has worked with CBC, the NFB, TimeWarner Television and the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network.
Laura Milliken: Laura, a Chippewa from Kettle and Stony Point First Nation in Southern Ontario, is a writer, producer and entrepreneur. She's a partner in Toronto-based Big Soul Productions and graduated in journalism from Centennial College.
David Moses: Executive director of CKRZ 100.3 FM in Six Nations, David is also an active freelance television and radio reporter for networks such as APTN and CBC.
Jennifer Podemski: Jennifer (Saulteaux/Israeli) is Laura Milliken's partner in Big Soul Productions and is an actor and producer. She hosts Big Soul's award winning Aboriginal youth series, The Seventh Generation.
Alanis Obomsawin: Alanis, best known as an award winning maker of documentary films that explore the political struggles of Aboriginal people, has recently launched her newest NFB film, Is the Crown at War With US? Nominated for a best documentary genie award, the film chronicles the battle of Mi'qmaq fishermen from Burnt Church, New Brunswick.
Trish Rae: With an academic background in socio-cultural anthropology and a special interest in conflict management, Trish has over 15 years experience in ethno-historical research, the research and development of land claims. and community history research and development. She works primarily with the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte Research Department on a variety of projects and has an Honours B.A. and an M.A.
Carla Robinson: News anchor for CBC television's Newsworld, Carla is a member of the Haisla and Heiltsuk First Nations. She has an M.A. in Journalism from the University of Western Ontario and has also worked as a local reporter and a magazine writer.
Debora Steel: Debora is the managing editor of the 5 publications of the Aboriginal Multi-Media Society, including Windspeaker, Canada's National Aboriginal News Source. In March 2003, Windspeaker is 20 years old, and Debora is its longest serving editor. Before her 9 years with AMMSA, she worked in mainstream newspapers and magazines as a reporter and editor.
Ken Williams: Kenneth began his journalism career writing book reviews for a small Aboriginal newspaper in Alberta. He worked with Windspeaker and Saskatchewan Sage before moving to Toronto as a freelance writer. He is a video journalist, currently the Ottawa correspondent, with the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network. He has a B.A. in playwriting from the University of Alberta.
Partnerships
The Aboriginal Media Program has training partnerships with many organizations including APTN, Big Soul Productions, CKRZ, Humber College Studios, Seven Seeds Productions and Windspeaker.