Inclusive Journalism Microcredential - Cohort #2 - New Canadian Media

Inclusive Journalism Microcredential – Cohort #2

Completed: Oct. 5, 2023 – Nov. 30, 2023

The second cohort of the Inclusive Journalism Microcredential started on Oct. 5, 2023. The opening speaker for this cohort was John Ibbitson of The Globe and Mail, who provided excellent context for why diversity is important in Canadian journalism, citing extensively from his rookie days at the Ottawa Citizen.

Cohort #2 Participants: Mainstream journalists from The Globe and Mail, Saltwire Network, The Tyee, Discourse Community Publishing and two candidates sponsored by Village Media and 10 members of the NCM Collective. 

Other Cohorts:

  1. Inclusive Journalism Microcredential – Cohort #1 (March 16, 2023 – May 11, 2023) 
  2. Inclusive Journalism Microcredential – Cohort #3 (February 8, 2024 – March 28, 2024)

    For more details on the microcredential and future cohorts, visit this link: Inclusive Journalism Microcredential.

Below are the journalists who served as instructors in the second edition of this pioneering microcredential:  

John Ibbitson, is a veteran journalist with more than three decades of experience, including more than two decades at The Globe. His roles at the paper included serving as the Queen’s Park Bureau Chief, Washington Bureau Chief, and Ottawa Bureau Chief. In 2012, he assumed the role of Chief Political Writer, later becoming a Writer at Large in 2015. 
Ibbitson’s writing primarily revolves around Canadian and American politics, as well as global demographic trends. Notably, his investigative series on the historical persecution of homosexuals in the community and public service led to a formal apology from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the House of Commons in 2017. Additionally, he coined the term “Laurentian elite,” now a fixture in Canada’s political discourse. Apart from his journalism, he is the author of numerous books, including “The Landing,” which won the Governor General’s Award for children’s literature, “The Big Shift” (co-authored with Darrell Bricker), and “Stephen Harper,” which clinched the 2015 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for political writing. His work “Empty Planet: The Shock of Global Population Decline” (with Darrell Bricker) has gained global recognition, available in nine languages.
Haroon Siddiqui is a tireless advocate for fairness and equality of opportunity, a writer and editor who has challenged racism of all forms and helped pave the way for a new generation of journalists to follow in his footsteps. Siddiqui, originally from Hyderabad, India, has degrees in journalism and science, but was unable to find work in Canada as a reporter until he went to the Brandon Sun in 1968, eventually becoming that newspaper’s managing editor. Siddiqui returned to Toronto in 1978 to work at The Star as a copy editor, news editor, national editor, editorial page editor and then columnist. He is now the Star’s editorial page editor emeritus, writing columns to this day that are provocative and thoughtful. Sidiqqui’s long career includes winning an Order of Canada, a lifetime achievement award from the Canadian Journalism Foundation and numerous other professional honours. An author, Siddiqui has just published an auto-biography called My Name is Not Harry. He also contributed to Uneasy Partners, Multiculturalism and Rights in Canada, and in 2008 wrote Being Muslim, which examined some of the most complex issues of our times.
Eden Fineday is a powerful writer, a passionate speaker, and publisher of IndigiNews. IndigiNews.com journalists tell stories from across Indigenous homelands while practicing trauma-informed, culturally relevant and respectful journalism. Eden is a nehiyaw iskwew (Cree woman) from the Sweetgrass First Nation in Treaty 6 territory and the publisher of IndigiNews. She endeavours to be a good relation as an uninvited guest on the territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqeum),  Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and Sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Peoples.
Nazim Baksh has been producing news, feature reports and investigative documentaries for multiple CBC platforms from May 1990 to present. He has covered a range of subjects but has distinguished himself by cultivating a niche of his own in the national security space. Nazim has produced stories pertaining to violent religious extremism and right-wing ideologically motivated hate and racism, and more recently, the plight of international Indian students in Canada who were “Sold a Lie,” a Fifth Estate episode that aired on September 29, 2022. As an unofficial CBC resident “expert” on Islam, Muslims and the Middle East, Nazim has become adept at informing story selection and production so as to avoid bias, stereotypes and racism.
Christina Frangou is a journalist, writer, and editor based in Calgary, Alberta, with a track record of notable achievements. Her work has received national recognition, including a National Newspaper Award for a long feature that recounted her experiences as a young widow. Specializing in health, medicine, and social issues, Christina’s two decades in journalism have seen her cover a wide array of topics, from addiction, bereavement, and refugee health to firearm violence, safe consumption sites, and medical assistance in dying. Her portfolio also includes lighter subjects such as skiing, travel, and lifestyle pieces. Christina’s work has garnered attention from respected sources, including Sports Illustrated, which featured her stories on their annual list of the year’s best journalism. Her educational background includes a Bachelor of Journalism from Carleton University, with Combined Honours in History, and a Master’s of Arts in International History from the London School of Economics.
Paul Bucci is an award-winning journalist and editor who has worked in senior management positions in some of Canada’s largest media companies, including Postmedia, Black Press Media and Brunswick News. Accomplishments at Postmedia included establishing Tai Yang Bao, a Chinese-language online news publication and Vancouver Desi, a publication for South Asian audiences. A former legislature journalist with reporting stints in Somalia and Bosnia, Bucci has been an editor and strategist with New Canadian Media since 2022.
San Grewal is the founder of The Pointer and a journalist. He has won numerous awards for his investigative work over his 25-year career in journalism. Prior to founding The Pointer he worked for the Toronto Star, where much of his journalism was focused on Peel Region and other parts of the Greater Toronto Area. Prior to that, he launched a national magazine, Diverge, which also received numerous awards during its publication run in the mid-to-late ’90s.
George Achi is the director of journalistic standards and public trust for CBC News. Before CBC, he was Senior Producer at the Toronto Star. Achi is a Lebanese Canadian journalist who has worked across the world, including Lebanon, France and Venezuela.

Teisha Gaylard is the Senior Policy Director at the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council, a self-regulatory agency that administers codes of standards for Canadian private radio and television stations.  She has 22 years experience at the CBSC where she is directly involved in the organization’s complaints resolution process.  She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communication from Carleton University and a Master’s of Arts in Communication & Culture from York University.

Donovan Vincent is the Star’s Public Editor. Formerly a reporter on the housing beat, Donovan has extensive experience covering municipal politics, having worked for several years out of the Toronto Star’s city hall bureau during then-mayor David Miller’s time in office. Donovan has also covered crime and justice issues for the paper as well as health and education and has written numerous long form features on a variety of topics. He studied journalism at Ryerson University earning a degree in the school’s graduate journalism program. 

Linked below are stories produced by participants in line with concepts taught in this microcredential:

  1. Across the divide: Serving falafel together – Hamid Jafari
  2. ‘There is nowhere to go’; Walking the fine line between housed and unhoused in Cape Breton – Nicole Sullivan
  3. Paper trail purgatory: 2021 Startup Visa applicants left waiting amid backlog crisis – Shilpashree Jagannathan and Gautam Viswanathan
  4. Quebec asylum seekers navigate legal battle for child care benefits, while other provinces forge ahead – Gautam Viswanathan and Clément Lechat
  5. Privés de garderies subventionnées, des demandeurs d’asile se mobilisent en cour – Clément Lechat et Gautam Viswanathan
  6. ‘Prefer vegetarians only’: Rental advertisements can use discriminatory or restrictive wording to decline housing. Is this legal? – Shaistha Khan
  7. Overcoming obstacles: immigrant women navigate challenges in Canada’s trucking industry – Amrita Roy Chowdhury Majumdar and Shilpashree Jagannathan
  8. Advocates: Inviting tradespeople to migrate to Canada is good, but more needs to be done to make sure they succeed – Gautam Viswanathan and Amrita Roy Chowdhury Majumdar
  9. Fighting Workplace Abuse by Building Community – Michelle Gamage

For more details on the microcredential and future cohorts, visit this link: Inclusive Journalism Microcredential

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New Canadian Media, Inc., was dissolved as of Nov. 20, 2024, and has ceased operations.

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