CJF Announces Indigenous Journalism Fellow
Says CJF President and CEO Natalie Turvey: "This year, the CJF has strategically reimagined its Indigenous Fellowship program, transitioning from a one-month experience to an immersive four-month placement for a single fellow. This enhanced format reflects the CJF's commitment to providing deeper, more meaningful professional development opportunities that allow Indigenous journalists to fully integrate into newsroom operations and develop richer, more impactful stories.
"By extending the fellowship period, the program now offers recipients the time needed to build lasting professional relationships, undertake complex journalistic projects and gain comprehensive experience that will have a more significant impact on their careers and the Canadian media landscape."
SpearChief-Morris is an Indigenous Black Canadian journalist and former athlete from Lethbridge, Alta., who specializes in print news and long-form features. "I'm excited about the opportunity to be working with the CBC Indigenous team in Ottawa," she says, "and I'm looking forward to expanding coverage of Indigenous healthcare issues."
The story or series resulting from the fellowship experience will be considered for publication or broadcast by CBC News.
"This year, Joy SpearChief-Morris will become part of the CBC Indigenous team and have the chance to really integrate into the CBC," says Selection Committee member Meagan Fiddler, a senior producer with CBC Indigenous. "I look forward to working with Joy to really hone her already considerable skills and develop her exciting pitch."
SpearChief-Morris will be recognized at the CJF Awards ceremony on June 12 at the Royal York Hotel. For tickets, tables and sponsorship opportunities, see contact information below or visit the CJF Awards page.
The CJF-CBC Indigenous Journalism Fellowships jury members are:
Duncan McCue (chair), former host of CBC's Cross Country Check Up, now associate professor at Carleton University's School of Journalism and Communication;
Meagan Fiddler, senior producer, CBC Indigenous;
Eden Fineday, publisher, IndigiNews;
Lenard Monkman, reporter with CBC Indigenous and recipient of a 2017 CJF-CBC Indigenous Journalism Fellowship;
Tanya Talaga, author, journalist and president and CEO of Makwa Creative; and
Maggie Wente, Indigenous rights lawyer at Olthuis Kleer Townshend LLP in Toronto.
These fellowship opportunities are made possible thanks to the generous support of Sobeys Inc.
CIBC is the presenting sponsor of the 2025 CJF Awards.
The 2025 CJF Awards are also supported by Google News Initiative, Labatt Breweries of Canada, McCain Foods, Intact, TD Bank Group, CBC/Radio-Canada, Aritzia, BMO Financial Group, Canada Life, Sobeys, Scotiabank, RBC, FGS Longview Communications, KPMG, Canadian Bankers Association, Canadian Medical Association, Accenture, Aga Khan Development Network, Apple Canada News, Bennett Jones LLP, Blakes, Canadian Women's Foundation, CPP Investments, Loblaw Companies Ltd., Maple Leaf Foods, OLG, Rishi Nolan Strategies, TD Securities, Uber, WSP. In-kind sponsorship is provided by Beehive Design, The Canadian Press, Bespoke Audio Visual, MLSE and Porter Airlines.
About The Canadian Journalism Foundation
Founded in 1990, The Canadian Journalism Foundation promotes, celebrates and facilitates excellence in journalism. The foundation runs a prestigious awards and fellowships program featuring an industry gala where news leaders, journalists and corporate Canada gather to celebrate outstanding journalistic achievement and the value of professional journalism. Through monthly J-Talks, a public speakers' series, the CJF facilitates dialogue among journalists, business people, academics and students about the role of the media in Canadian society and the ongoing challenges for media in the digital era. The foundation also fosters opportunities for journalism education, training and research.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Vancouver Sun
12 hours ago
- Vancouver Sun
Renowned B.C. artist Roy Henry Vickers is more interested in the future than the past
This year is the 50th anniversary of Roy Henry Vickers' career as an artist. The marker is shared with another major milestone: his 79th birthday, which the renowned Tsimshian artist celebrated in early June. Despite these commemorations, the Order of Canada and Order of B.C. recipient isn't spending much time reflecting on his legacy. 'I don't go there,' said Vickers . 'It continues to be an inspirational ride, and inspiration is divine. I am in my 80th year, it's like, I don't have a lot of time left, so I've got to get busier as an artist.' To help with that productivity, Vickers says, he just set up 'a studio of my dreams.' Get top headlines and gossip from the world of celebrity and entertainment. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sun Spots will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. Those who know him can confirm Vickers isn't one to look back. 'He's always moving on to the next project, the next thing. I don't think he spends too much time stewing on that kind of thing,' said author Lucky Budd , who has collaborated with Vickers on 15 books. Daniela Petosa, director at the Roy Vickers Gallery in Tofino, agrees. 'He doesn't seem to second guess,' said Petosa, herself an accomplished artist. 'I think that's why he's been so prolific in his life … when he's ready to put out a work, he releases it. And then he doesn't look back, which is really cool.' With his clean lines and vivid colours, Vickers merges traditional Indigenous art with a contemporary style to create works inspired by the B.C. landscape. Vickers's paintings, prints and carvings can be found in private and public collections and galleries worldwide, including the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Ottawa, the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Kleinburg, Ont., and the National Museum of Ethnology in Osaka, Japan. Closer to home, Vickers's work is in UBC's Museum of Anthropology, the home for his first solo show in 1977, titled Beginnings: Roy Vickers' Works. That show was also the MOA's first solo show of a contemporary Northwest Coast artist. 'Roy Henry Vickers has demonstrated how an artist can realize a career that spans ceremonial and commercial creation for both community effect and public appreciation,' said Jennifer Kramer, curator, Pacific Northwest, for UBC's MOA. Anyone who has visited Tofino will likely have spent time in the Roy Vickers Gallery. The stunning traditional Northwest Coast longhouse, with its carved and painted cedar exterior, is a Tofino landmark. 'People have tears in their eyes. There's a feeling in this place. It is such a unique building,' said Petosa. Built 40 years ago by Vickers and family members, along with master carver Henry Nolla, the gallery at 350 Campbell St., is for sale for just under $4 million. 'I'm a long way from Tofino, so it's time to just let it go and move on with life and do more artwork for the rest of my life. And I'm very excited about it,' said Vickers, an early leader in the contemporary Indigenous art world. Well known primarily as a visual artist, printmaker and carver, Vickers is also a sought-after speaker who continues the rich storytelling heritage of the Northwest Coastal people as well as speaking on trauma, substance abuse and recovery. 'That's about healing,' said Vickers, who began his own recovery in 1992. 'For me, it's three generations of trauma. When you look at a lot of my postings on social media, there are three orange hearts, and that signifies three generations from the first residential school person to me … there still is no healing. And so the pain and the trauma continues. And the best thing we can do is realize what it's all about and then help people heal.' Vickers has also turned his creativity to books, with titles including The Storyteller (2014), Voices from the Skeena: An Illustrated History (2019) and Ben the Sea Lion (2022). He is the illustrator and co-author of the popular children's First West Coast Book series and Northwest Coast Legends series. He also recently created Inspired: A Roy Henry Vickers Colouring Book. Vickers was reached for this story at his longtime home in Hazelton. 'I'm beside the Skeena River, watching the water go by and enjoying swallows flying and playing,' said Vickers, who is the father of six children ranging in age from 57 to 21. Vickers was born in Laxgalts'ap (formerly known as Greenville) but raised in Kitkatla, Hazelton, and Victoria. Kitkatla, also known as Lax Klan and located on Dolphin Island, approximately 60 kilometres south of Prince Rupert, has been inhabited for over 5,000 years. 'I was born (in 1946) on the banks of the Nass River where mom was teaching school,' said Vickers. 'She was upset because she couldn't get to the hospital in Prince Rupert because the tide was out, and the boats were all dried up on the beach, and so she had the head of the midwives whitewash the school (to make it clean), and that's where I was born.' Vickers's father, Arthur Vickers, was a fisherman who was matrilineally Tsimshian with Haida and Heiltsuk ancestry. His mom Grace Freeman was a school teacher of Yorkshire ancestry. Vickers also reports French and German lineage. 'After I was born, my dad was just taking care of mom and helping her rest. And he started laughing,' said Vickers. 'Mom said, well, what is it, Art? And he said, look at the box. They had me in a cardboard box that was my cradle, and on the side of the box was printed Heinz 57.' With all those influences to choose from, Vickers says he leaned most toward his paternal grandfather. 'My grandfather, Henry Vickers, he never went to school. He escaped residential school. His mom hid him. He grew up in the old ways, and storytelling was our education, and that's what he taught me. So much of what guides me today comes from Henry Vickers,' he says. After working for the Saanich Fire Department for seven years, Vickers turned his focus to art and spent two years studying traditional First Nations art and design at the Gitanmaax School of Northwest Coast Indian Art in the historical village of Ksan at Hazelton. There, he learned and honed a style that fuses contemporary with traditional forms. Vickers left the school in 1974 and began to sell his art. But he soured on the commercial art world and decided to step away. 'By 1979, I was really uncomfortable with the commerciality of my art and of traditional Indian art, and I quit. And I bought my uncle's fishing boat, and I went back to Kitkatla,' said Vickers. 'I spent two years on the ocean, and I wound up in Tofino. And I just I realized I had to get back to my art. And so I did.' His return was marked by a shift in his approach. 'The first years of my art, all of my studying was traditional Northwest Coast Indian art. Colours are black and red, and the form lines are very important,' said Vickers. 'When I came back to Tofino, what struck me was, well, I'm not living in those ancient times. I'm living today, and I want to find a way to move my art into a different style. I just did whatever I felt like doing, and gradually colour came into it. And I was afraid of colour, because I'm partly colour blind to all colours.' It was during this time that he visited a former art teacher, Oak Bay High School's Bill West, who noted the colour blindness made sense when you looked at Vickers' attraction to such bold hues. 'The other thing Mr. West said was, if you come to understand who you are and where you come from, then you create from that place. There is nobody like us in the world. Each one of us is an individual,' said Vickers. 'If you can create from that place, you will be creating work that no one else can do, because they're not you.' And Vickers has. His landscapes have, over the years, offered people a way to describe dramatic sunrises and sunsets. 'It was like Roy Vickers' painting. I've heard that thousands of times,' said Vickers, who sold his first paintings when he was 27. While Vickers — who sat on the board of directors as the artistic adviser for the Vancouver International Airport's new terminal, where his large carved panel King Salmon Housefront can be seen — was able to sell pieces to Victoria galleries, his career really began to blossom when he opened the Tofino gallery and saw one of his paintings land in the spotlight. In 1987, Vickers's painting titled Meeting of the Chiefs was presented to Queen Elizabeth at the Commonwealth summit in Vancouver. Others at the summit received limited edition prints of the painting. 'That was massive, and it really made people stop and pay attention to young artists,' said Vickers. 'It changed my career completely.' In 2018, Vickers received a Grammy nomination for his design work on the box set of CD recordings by The Grateful Dead called Pacific Northwest '73–'74: The Complete Recordings. Last year, Vickers was appointed the inaugural Elder in Residence for the B.C. Arts Council. 'I don't pigeonhole myself,' said Vickers when asked about how he sees himself. 'When I say I'm an artist, and they say what kind of artwork do you do? I say, I do Roy Henry Vickers artwork. When they say what's your style? I don't know my style. You'll have to look at it or ask somebody else what it is. Because my style is my style, and that's it.' Whatever his style, it transfers across his various projects, from carving and painting, to graphic design and children's books. Vickers is moving forward with a book about Northwest Coast food and he is working with the village of Kitkatla as a master carver — a title he notes he's 'not comfortable with at all' — on its big house. Next summer, Summer Brings Berries, the 15th book in the children's book series First West Coast Book, will be released. The long-running book project began after author Lucky Budd saw Vickers speak and convinced him that his oral stories would work well as books for young children. With a successful partnership and even more successful friendship between them, Budd has thoughts on what Vickers' legacy. 'It's a humongous question,' said Budd. 'He has done a tremendous amount of work in teaching the world about the people, places, animals and beauty of the people and places of the Northwest Coast. He's a teacher.' Dgee@
Cision Canada
12 hours ago
- Cision Canada
RTA Intelligence Inc. Demonstrates How AI Can Democratize Film Production in Canada Français
Can Canada Become the Global Leader in AI-Assisted Cinema? Comprehensive study reveals artificial intelligence could reduce film production costs by up to 40% and revolutionize the Canadian industry TROIS-RIVIÈRES, QC, Aug. 21, 2025 /CNW/ - A comprehensive study conducted by RTA Intelligence Inc. on the impact of artificial intelligence in film production demonstrates that this technology could radically transform Canada's film industry by significantly reducing costs and democratizing access to creation. Study Methodology and Results The RTA Intelligence team conducted a detailed empirical analysis of "Maria Chapdelaine" (2021) by Sébastien Pilote, manually counting every shot in the feature film. This rigorous methodology established a precise cost of $8,000 per cinematic shot, revealing for the first time the true economic barriers facing Canadian production. The study demonstrates that emerging AI technologies could reduce this cost by up to 40% through automated pre-visualization, AI-generated backgrounds and environments, streamlined post-production workflows, and reduced crew requirements for certain production phases. This transformation shifts filmmaking from heavy physical logistics to computational creativity. Study availability: Complete analysis and methodological data available upon request for media and industry professionals. Concrete Demonstration: The Project RTA Intelligence illustrates AI's revolutionary potential with a unique transmedia project created entirely by a single Canadian creator using artificial intelligence. This groundbreaking project encompasses a 25-song musical catalog, an autobiography exploring consciousness and creativity, an immersive web series, live performances with an all-female band, plus a feature film and rock opera in development. demonstrates how an individual creator can now develop a complete artistic universe that rivals traditional productions requiring large teams and substantial budgets. The project represents a paradigm shift in how Canadian stories can be told and distributed globally without traditional industry gatekeepers. What makes this project unique: showcases the practical application of AI-assisted creation, proving that Canadian creators can now build immersive, internationally competitive content with significantly reduced resources while maintaining artistic integrity and emotional authenticity. Impact on the Canadian Industry This technological transformation would open film creation to Indigenous storytellers, francophone artists, underrepresented communities, and young filmmakers from remote regions across Canada. It would enable a significant multiplication of Canadian productions without increasing current public investments, potentially transforming Canada from a modest film producer to a global content powerhouse. The technology particularly benefits creators who have been historically marginalized by traditional funding mechanisms, offering new pathways for diverse voices to reach global audiences. Strategic National Imperative "Canada can become a pioneer of this creative revolution or remain a spectator. Other jurisdictions are already investing heavily in this direction. We are at a pivotal moment where today's decisions will determine our position in tomorrow's global film industry," states Pierre Côté, founder of RTA Intelligence Inc. The study emphasizes the urgency for Canada to seize this technological opportunity to reposition its cultural industry on the international stage and give voice to a new generation of Canadian creators. How This Discovery Could Revolutionize Canadian Film Production The 40% cost reduction enables smaller budgets to achieve studio-level production values, democratizes high-quality filmmaking tools, reduces geographic barriers for creators in remote areas, accelerates production timelines from years to months, and allows for greater creative risk-taking without prohibitive financial consequences. This represents a fundamental shift from capital-intensive to creativity-intensive production models, where storytelling vision becomes more important than access to traditional funding sources. Study Demonstration: Web: About RTA Intelligence Inc. Digital pioneer since 1995, RTA Intelligence Inc. specializes in creative artificial intelligence solutions and cultural innovation, serving brands, governments, and organizations through advanced communication strategies and innovative technology platforms.
CBC
15 hours ago
- CBC
Why Tremploy clients say the P.E.I. agency's new multi-sensory gear is creating a whole new world
A Charlottetown-based non-profit that supports people with intellectual disabilities recently added some cool gadgets using lights, sounds, or touch to help people communicate, learn, and regulate emotions. CBC's Sheehan Desjardins stopped by Tremploy to see how the clients like the new additions.
