JHR announces new Canadian program: Strengthening Media in Canada through a Rights-Based Solutions Approach

JHR recently launched a new Canadian program, Strengthening Media in Canada through a Rights-Based Solutions Approach, in partnership with the Solutions Journalism Network. Funded by the McConnell Foundation, this program provides in-depth solutions and human rights journalism training to Canadian journalists for the first time.

More than 250 journalists have participated in the online training and are now covering issues and events across the country with a solutions lens. At Timmins Today, Dariya Baiguzhiyeva explored how the residents of Moose Factory are preserving a unique Cree dialect. Matt Simmons wrote about an Indigenous Coast Guard program in B.C. for The Narwhal. The training urged us to “look at what other communities are doing to address issues and to draw comparisons,” said one journalist who participated. “Reporting on solutions should be just as rigorous as reporting on problems.”

 

Strengthening Media in Canada team members

Ziya Jones is a regional trainer in JHR’s Eastern region and the senior editor, health at Xtra Magazine. Their writing has appeared in Hazlitt, Reader’s Digest, TVO and Eater.

“I’ve spent most of my career covering health, social equity and LGBTQ+ rights. Solutions Journalism is a powerful tool for reporters and editors covering these topics and can be harnessed to tell nuanced stories about the work and resistance taking place in these communities.”

 

Kimberley Hartwig is a regional trainer in JHR’s Western region. She previously worked in JHR’s Indigenous Reporters Program as a community journalism trainer in Nibinamik First Nation.

“I first learned about solutions journalism when I was working for a media organization in the Czech Republic and was immediately drawn to the practice. With solutions journalism, journalists are able to cover the part of a story we often overlook— how people are responding to problems.”

 

Jordan MacInnis has a background in journalism and media production and is the regional programs manager at JHR.

“Solutions journalism helps to put solutions at the centre of any discussion about human rights. More, different and better coverage of the ways in which communities are working to preserve those rights can bring immeasurable returns to newsrooms and their audiences.”