Honourable senators, I rise today to mark the thirtieth anniversary of Chéticamp’s community radio station, CKJM. In the gallery today, we have its founder, Angus LeFort, and his wife, Carmel Lavigne, whose vision and determination made this dream a reality.

CKJM is the voice of our community, a tie that has bound us for three decades. It broadcasts our language, our music and our culture to homes around the region and well beyond, with rebroadcast transmitters in Pomquet and Sydney, and on the internet.

Before CKJM came on the air, most people tuned in to English radio stations. Our artists didn’t know other Acadian, Quebec or francophone artists from elsewhere. Thanks to this radio station, francophone and Acadian songwriters have made countless connections, and our singers have played to the packed arena in the Magdalen Islands many times. That had never happened before CKJM.

For the Acadian region of Chéticamp, community radio is crucial to battling the disappearance of our culture and language. Over that 30-year period, the number of people speaking French at home declined by 43% in our region. Only 1,700 Acadians still speak French at home. I can’t imagine what would have happened had CKJM not gone on the air.

Mr. LeFort always believed that our community deserved its own radio station. CKJM gave a platform to our home-grown artists. Many of them have left us, but their music lives on at CKJM.

He also coordinated the production of two CDs featuring local artists, entitled Un suète musicale en Acadie. I should explain that a “suète” is a southeast wind.

CKJM is a member of the great Alliance des radios communautaires du Canada family, which now includes 28 radio stations broadcasting in seven provinces and two territories.

On October 6, 1995, Daniel Aucoin was the first host to take the microphone with Nicole Deveau and Ginette Chiasson.

Congratulations to you and to the other radio hosts who have made and continue to make CKJM a station people love to listen to, and thank you to its founders, volunteers, musicians and loyal listeners.

Long may the airwaves of Chéticamp continue to ring with warm, proud voices from our corner of Acadia.

Thank you. Meegwetch.