On October 15, the Growing Indigenous Storytellers Fellowship (GISF) – JHR’s newly launched program in partnership with the Indigenous Journalists Association (IJA) and APTN News, funded by the Google News Initiative – was featured on CBC North Radio 1.
On the morning show Qulliq with Teresa Qiatsuq, our partner Francine Compton (Associate Director at IJA) talked in detail about the offerings of the fellowship for aspiring and early-career Indigenous journalists and shared her incisive perspective on why this initiative is so urgently needed in the Canadian media landscape.
Some key takeaways from Francine Compton’s interview below:
What the fellowship entails
Indigenous people with an interest in storytelling and media are offered the opportunity to work at APTN News for six months and attend the IJA’s Indigenous Media Conference in 2025. Fellows will attend a series of workshops and lectures by Indigenous journalists, which will also be available to the broader journalism community to help expand the reach of the guest speakers’ insights.
Compton’s message to aspiring Indigenous journalists
“Your stories matter. Your voices matter. We need them. We would love to hear your stories in your languages. Nothing is stopping you from becoming a storyteller. It’s in our culture,” said Compton.
Why this fellowship is important
“We don’t want stories to harm people,” said Compton, citing the example of the 2019 New York Times article on Inuit art that received backlash for its reliance on stereotypes.
She said, “A part of our mission is to ensure that [Indigenous] stories are told not only by us and for us, but in the context that’s required. We’re missing that in a lot of stories that are out there in the mainstream.”
Listen to the full interview here [from 32:17].
