Meet the Listuguj man bringing Mi'kmaw language to the radio
CBC
In his tightly packed backyard studio, Floyd Metallic greets his listeners in Mi'kmaw as his Friday morning show goes live on air.
He's at ease behind the microphone, cracking jokes with his two guests as they talk about everything from hockey to childhood stories.
The We Speak Mi'gmaq show draws a loyal audience of more than 1,000 regular listeners, tuning in on the radio and online from across Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. It's one of the few places speakers and those learning the language can hear it on the radio.
"The Mi'kmaw language is a passion for me," Metallic said.
"It's good to be able to just go on the air and talk to people and feel like they're listening to you."
The station for CJRZ "The Rez" 93.5 FM is a cozy converted shed, tucked behind Metallic's home in Listuguj First Nation in Quebec.
It's connected to a transmission tower, which looms over the neighbourhood, broadcasting about a 19-kilometre radius across the Restigouche Rriver and into Campbellton, N.B.
Metallic, 65, spent most of his career as an iron worker but dreamed about working in radio. He learned the basics of operating a sound board while working at CHRQ 106.9 FM, a primarily music and English-language station also located in Listuguj.
About seven years ago, his son Sky suggested they open up their own radio station. They ordered equipment online and set it up in the basement as an unlicensed "pirate" radio station.
Then in 2017, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission helped him apply to get licensed.
The station moved from the basement to the backyard, into a studio Metallic built and decked out himself. It's complete with branded graphics with the station's slogan: "Rockin the First Nations."
Metallic grew up in a home where only Mi'kmaw was spoken. He wanted to bring other speakers together to hear their stories on the radio.
"Ever since we started here, my passion was to get some people in here and start speaking Mi'kmaw," he said.
"Here in Listuguj, we're losing it," he said. "We're trying to save it, and if we put it on the air over here, we might be able to help bring it back."
The new owner of Ontario steelmaker Stelco says his company "will not disappoint the people of Hamilton and Nanticoke," where the business's major facilities are based.
A Winnipegger is warning others about an intricate scam she says she almost fell for.
Fort William First Nation is opposing a planned redevelopment of the Ontario Power Generation's (OPG) 117 year old Kakabeka Falls Generating Station, which is located in their traditional territory.
A building that sits at the corner of Sussex Street and Brunswick Avenue has had many lives over the last century — being a church, a school and offices. Now it's set to become housing, at a time when the city sorely needs it.
A Waterloo, Ont., elementary school principal will be sentenced in the new year after pleading guilty to child sexual exploitation charges following a joint investigation that involved the London, Toronto and Waterloo police services.
Students at UPEI have let their student union know what they want from the province this fiscal year, and those priorities are reflected in a 2024-2025 advocacy document brought to the legislature on Wednesday.
Larger communities in the N.W.T. will soon see a boost in their territorial funding to maintain infrastructure and deliver services — like water and waste management — but the increase still falls short of what communities need.
The toxic drug crisis has taken more than 47,000 lives in Canada since 2016 and the synthetic opioid fentanyl has become a household name. But now, what's believed to be an even more potent class of synthetic drugs is showing up in drug busts across the country: nitazenes.
The Liberal government and the NDP have agreed to introduce a two-month GST vacation on certain items before the holiday season, Radio-Canada has learned.
Veterinarians are warning Londoners to make sure their dogs are vaccinated and keeping clean after a deadly virus outbreak was declared in London this week.
Registered nurses rallied in St. John's Wednesday as part of a week-long convention, again calling on the Newfoundland and Labrador government to create permanent solutions to staff shortages and workplace violence.