National Aboriginal
Achievement Awards
COVER:
Thomas
Prince
Canada's
Forgotten Aboriginal War Hero
NATIONAL ABORIGINAL
ACHIEVMENT AWARDS:
Dr. Freda Ahenakew
Mariano Aupilardjuk
Roman
Bittman
Dr Harold Cardinal
Dr. Lindsay Crowshoe
Tomson Highway
Fred House
Zacharias Kunuk
Richard Nerysoo
Lance Relland
Nicholas Sibbeston
Mary Thomas
Dolly Watts
BUSINESS:
Bankers Call Shots
A bank is calling the
financial shots on one of Manitoba's largest First Nations
CULTURE:
Debate
Rages Over Native Alcoholism
Gwishalaayt
The Spirit
Wraps Around You
EDUCATION:
Agreement Solidifies Ties Between Valley Schools and First Nations
Education Critical to Moving Forward
Education is Failing Aboriginal Students
MODERN TREATIES:
Atlantic
Chiefs Demand Action on Template Agreements
...the
Atlantic Policy Congress of First Nation Chiefs are demanding a meeting
with DFO minister Herb Dhaliwa...
Cash-strapped Tribal Police Winding Down Operations
First Nations communities
in Cape Breton will no longer be policed by their own...
HUMOUR:
Support Your Local Native
OBITUARY:
Chief Simon Baker
POLITICS:
One
Dead Indian
Referendum
Circus Coming Soon to Your Town
20,000 Survivors of Residential Schools to Seek Compensation
Roman Bittman
Media and Communications
It
isn't hard to gauge the impact Roman Bittman has had on life in Canada.
Just turn on your television. You'll see shows written, directed, produced
and shot in Canada; Hollywood productions that now employ and challenge
Canadians from coast-to-coast-to coast; and finally, a television network
that Aboriginal Canadians can truly call their own.
That's the legacy of Roman Bittman, a trapper's son who was born just
south of the Northwest Territories/Alberta border.
At high school in Hay River, NWT, Bittman was in the thick of amateur
efforts that ensured sub-Arctic listeners had a welcome break from the
only radio their dial then offered - Radio Moscow. Winning a scholarship,
Bittman headed south to Toronto and studies at Ryerson, graduating in
the mid-1960s.
He worked at CBC news and was soon producer of The Nature of Things, CBC's
flagship natural history and science series. Behind the camera and in
the studio, he has been responsible for upwards of 100 films. More than
30 of them have attracted top 10 audience share.
Bittman also became President of the Nova Scotia Film Development Corporation
and designed and implemented the Film Industry Labour Tax Credit - a first
for English Canada. It has now been emulated across the country and is
considered the main financial instrument fueling the explosive growth
in the Canadian film industry.
Now an executive with Visual Bible International, Bittman was an advisor
in the early days of the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network.