Influencing Government Decision Makers Through Facilitative Communication via Community-Produced Videos: The Case of Remote Aboriginal Communities in Northwestern Ontario, Canada

Abstract

In Canada’s diverse, vast landscape approximately one fifth of the population lives in small rural/remote communities. The capacity of these communities to influence policy and program development that directly impacts them has historically been minimal because policy is often influenced by an urban bias and a lack of sensitivity to their needs and uniqueness. Drawing on the literature on development communications, with a special emphasis on the Fogo Process as a historical antecedent, this study examines how community-produced videos influenced decision makers with regard to information and communication technology policy and programs, and the impact they have had on Aboriginal communities in Northwestern Ontario. Semistructured interviews were conducted of 22 decision makers who had seen the videos. Decision makers reported that (1) communityproduced videos provide a highly valuable context for policy makers about communities; (2) videos can be used to inform and galvanize federal staff working in the service of these communities who might not otherwise have the opportunity to visit these communities or meet their inhabitants; (3) community-produced videos are a legitimate and effective way of providing qualitative data for policy-making processes; (4) videos can serve as an organizing structure or event around which senior bureaucrats and politicians can form policy directives and influence other policy makers; and (5) videos have the potential to influence policy makers, thereby shifting the direction of policy in response to community needs and aspirations. Key words: telecommunication, remote communities, Aboriginal communities, participatory video, policy communication