JHR’s newest media trainers have their boots on the ground – snow boots, in this case! The Indigenous Reporters Program, JHR’s program to increase Indigenous voices in Canadian media, is sending journalism trainers to work in four remote Indigenous communities in northern Ontario. Over the next eight months, the JHR trainers, in partnership with Wawatay Native Communications Society, will establish regular news programming at community radio stations, provide media literacy training to community members and train select community members to report on, and from, their communities for Wawatay’s radio network and print publications, as well as other Canadian media. The trainers landed in the communities last week and a fourth trainer will arrive in Fort Albany First Nation in mid-May. Read more about them below!
Stephanie Cram is working with the community of Sachigo Lake First Nation. Through community radio Stephanie got a taste for journalism, and over the years she has volunteered at several community radio stations. While in school at Concordia she was part of the CKUT News Collective, producing content for the program Off the Hour, and she also helped spearhead The Link Radio program on CJLO. Since graduating from Concordia University with a diploma in journalism, she’s worked in television documentary production. Before going into journalism, she received a Masters degree of Arts in Sociology from the University of Victoria.
Ophira Horwitz is a Community Journalism Trainer in Sandy Lake First Nation. She has volunteered and worked at CHUO 89.1 FM and CKCU 93.1 FM in Ottawa and currently coordinates the National Campus and Community Radio Association‘s national news show GroundWire. Community radio plays a crucial role in sharing knowledge and skills and is important in empowering communities to speak about and for themselves. Ophira believes that this program is the perfect place to develop and nurture a more diverse media by working with often marginalized individuals to create a more representative landscape.
Brandon MacLeod will be living in and working with Weenusk First Nation. Brandon previously worked as a reporter and Editor for the Bonnyville Nouvelle online and print editions. More recently, he worked as a freelance writer and photographer in Victoria, BC, as well as a tutor with the Victoria Native Friendship Centre. Brandon earned a Diploma in Business Administration from the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in History at Concordia University College of Alberta, where he wrote for the student newspaper, The Blue and White.
Jack Locke is the new Community Journalism Trainer for the Fort Albany First Nation, on the west coast of James Bay. A poet, baker, editor, and journalist with more than two decades of freelance writing experience, Jack has written for various daily and weekly newspapers and a number of national magazines. In addition, Jack paid his dues as a radio host and script writer at Montreal’s CKUT. Originally from Calgary, Jack has been residing in Quebec for the past decade. It’s where he was editor of the anthology, Leonard Cohen You’re Our Man. In the 1990s, Jack was a columnist and editor at Calgary Native News.
