Based in Winnipeg, the capital of Manitoba, the network has broadcast in English, French and 20 languages spoken by many of Canada’s 634 First Nations. Driven by the spotlight of a 24-hour channel and a majority aboriginal work force, the network has used its firsthand cultural understanding to broadcast and produce investigative reporting, comedies, dramas, educational shows and other programming with the authenticity its audience craves.

Viewers can watch shows like “Blackstone,” a gritty drama about politics and crime on a fictional aboriginal reserve; “Taken,” a documentary series focused on the unsolved cases of Canada’s missing and murdered indigenous women; and “Moosemeat & Marmalade,” a globe-trotting food series that pairs an aboriginal bush cook with a classically trained British chef. The hosts have hunted moose, foraged for wild greens and thanked the spirit of a buffalo they killed before grilling the meat.

The show “gives people a glimpse into a world they rarely see,” said Art Napoleon, 55, one of the hosts, who grew up on a First Nation reserve in British Columbia. “People often think of the past or in stereotypes, but we’re still here. We have our own worldview, and a lot of that is still in place.”

One of the network’s most popular series is “Mohawk Girls,” a comedy-drama that depicts the lives of four young indigenous women as they navigate modern love, cultural expectations, career ambitions and the effects of colonization on an aboriginal Mohawk reserve outside Montreal.

“Growing up, we never saw ourselves on TV,” said Tracey Deer, 38, the director, a Mohawk who was raised on the reserve where the series is set. The show’s lighthearted approach aims to reflect the joys of indigenous life, she said, while attempting to change stereotypes of aboriginal poverty and suffering. “We’re not just a tragedy.”

Still, the show tackles real-life issues some indigenous people would prefer be kept off screen, including recent expulsions of nonindigenous residents from the reserve along with their indigenous relatives, based on a 1981 rule designed to preserve Mohawk blood purity. The ban provides a backdrop for a character, the child of a Mohawk father and white mother, who moves to the reserve from New York City and faces hostility.