Annual report on the journalism
program's commitments to EDI

2023-2024 Annual Report

Plain text

2022-23 Annual Report

Introduction

The Journalism and Media Production and Design programs at Carleton University’s School of Journalism and Communication established a Permanent Working Group in 2020 in the wake of a Call to Action made by concerned Carleton journalism students and graduates seeking to address systemic racism within the journalism program. The PWG was charged with the task of helping create a welcoming, stimulating, professional and creative environment for the school’s increasingly diverse student body. The PWG is marking its third year of existence. The members of the 2023 Permanent Working Group Committee include: Nana aba Duncan; Sarah Everts; Susan Harada; Adrian Harewood; Vicky McArthur; Stéfy McKnight; Matthew Pearson; Brett Popplewell.

The PWG is committed to eliminating racism against racialized and Indigenous people as well as inequities or other barriers based on ethnicity, nationality, religion, gender expression, sexual orientation, or ability. Its members are committed to employing anti-racist and anti-oppressive practices to ensure Carleton’s Journalism and Media Production and Design programs are inclusive and safe for students and faculty.

Students and alumni have played an important role in making Carleton’s journalism program pause and critically examine how its practices needed to shift towards meaningful changes to pedagogy and policy to foster an environment of inclusivity, as well as communicating those updated values to the university community and the wider public. Since its launch the PWG has tried to listen to the voices of students and respond to their concerns about the curriculum and the faculty in an empathetic, principled, and forthright manner.

Gender Neutral Washroom Issue

In March 2023, The Carleton University Trans* Advocacy Group (CTAG), began hosting a campus wide consultation process as a response to the CTAG calls to actions sent to administrators and senior leaders of Carleton University in February 2019 (https://carleton.ca/trans/ctag/action/). CTAG continues to use these consultations to advocate for these calls to action, one of which is to include gender inclusive washrooms across campus. While there are some gender neutral washrooms on campus (see https://carleton.ca/trans/resources/washrooms/), some buildings such as Richcraft Hall and the Nicol Building still do not have gender neutral washrooms for 2SLGBTQIA+ students, faculty, and staff. As such, the PWG has written a letter of support for the creation and preservation of gender neutral washrooms in our buildings as part of the consultation.

Professor Allan Thompson, the Associate Director of the School of Journalism and Communication and Journalism Program Head, continues to reach out to other units/occupants in Richcraft Hall to form a committee that would, among other things, appeal to the Dean of the Faculty of Public Affairs to support the PWG’s request for these washrooms. At its meeting of journalism faculty and staff on June 2, the journalism program also passed a motion calling upon the Dean of the Faculty of Public Affairs to support the creation of gender-neutral washrooms in Richcraft Hall and across campus.

Professor Stéfy McKnight, a PWG member, has continued their work with the Carleton Trans Advocacy Group Operations Team on this question.

Review of the Bachelor of Media Production and Design’s (BMPD) activities

BMPD faculty and instructors remain committed to implementing all aspects of the checklist that are relevant to BMPD pedagogy, especially highlighting digital media stories and installations created by marginalized practitioners and highlighting marginalized voices. BMPD instructors have been incorporating Indigenous learning bundles into course modules. Additionally, last year, the BMPD added a 0.5 credit Indigenous Studies requirement to the program, including a list of 11 possible courses such as Decolonizing Gender, Sex, and Sexuality, Indigenous Drama, and Introduction to Indigenous-Settler encounters. The addition of these courses was especially important to BMPD as many of the stories being told in Canada often exclude or erase Indigenous peoples and their history. The addition of the course aligns with the messaging in BMPD pedagogy where students are encouraged to think critically about who is and is not involved in the digital storytelling of Canada and to advocate for the inclusion of those who are absent from the process.

We’ve also celebrated diversity by buying mugs from Indigenous artist Danielle Morrison’s company Clan Mother as gifts for the organisations and community members who supported our MPAD 4000 Capstone Projects student works. More information about how MPAD 4000 integrated equity and diversity can be found below in the “course” section of this report.

Despite two unsuccessful previous bids, the BMPD will continue to press the university for the creation of a tenure-track position in racialized perspectives on digital storytelling. This position would aim to attract BIPOC creators with an established practice of research-creation or interactive digital storytelling; it would give them a home in which to grow their practice and develop courses around their expertise.

Training and Professional Development

At a year-end meeting in June 2022, journalism faculty and staff participated in a workshop on implementing inclusive, antiracist and decolonial pedagogies to curriculum with Dr. Krista Craven, the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Learning Specialist at Carleton University’s Department of Equity and Inclusive Communities (EIC).

The PWG held a successful daylong trans/non- binary inclusion workshop for faculty and staff in February 2023 led by Dr. Craven, and Keegan Prempeh, the Trans and Non-Binary Inclusion Coordinator, from Carleton University’s Department of Equity and Inclusive Communities (EIC). The workshop was attended by the majority of faculty. Contract instructors were invited to attend the workshop and at least one CI did so.

There’s a recognition that the journalism program needs to do more to fully engage Contract Instructors (CIs) and our full-time faculty with our EDI initiatives. In recognition of the often-precarious employment of CIs, the department is seeking funds to compensate these instructors to participate in these professional development sessions.

A Review of Activities within the school

The 2022 Kesterton Lecture was delivered by Omayra Issa, most recently a senior national CBC reporter based in Saskatchewan and the 2022/2023 Radio-Canada Southam fellow. Her talk “Black on the Prairies: A Journalistic Voyage” was moderated by Professor Nana aba Duncan. Issa has been a leading voice on matters of equity within Canadian journalism and a tireless advocate for change in the Canadian journalism industry.

In November 2022, Professors Nana aba Duncan and Stéfy McKnight co-created a healing space for queer students, faculty and staff as a response to the potential distress caused by the 2SLGBTQIA+ nightclub shootings in Colorado Springs. They offered games, refreshments, and care.

On February 3, 2023, Professor Nana aba Duncan spearheaded a student-centred discussion with Journalists For Human Rights (JHR) entitled “Navigating Newsrooms As BIPOC Journalists: An Interactive Workshop.” Facilitators included: Tobin Ng (Walrus Magazine), Raisa Patel (Toronto Star), Nana aba Duncan (Carleton – Carty Chair), Hoda Ossoble (JHR), Anita Li (JHR) and Adrian Harewood (Carleton). The closed-door event provided students with an opportunity to freely discuss their specific concerns, get advice from veteran journalists and connect with each other.

In February 2023, the journalism school announced that the award-winning journalist and long-time CBC broadcaster Duncan McCue was hired as an associate professor, specializing in Indigenous Journalism and (Story)telling, and that he would begin his new tenure track position in July 2023. https://carleton.ca/sjc/2023/duncan-mccue-joins-carletons-journalism-program-full-time-to-create-more-indigenous-storytelling/

Also in February 2023, during Black History Month, former USA Today Features Editors Nichelle Smith delivered a public lecture to the Carleton University community entitled “10 Days in Angola: My search for identity through historical investigative journalism.” During her stay Smith was featured on both CBC Radio and Television. (February 2023) https://events.carleton.ca/10-days-in-angola-my-search-for-identity-through-historicalinvestigative-journalism/

Professor Adrian Harewood also led a series of school visits to three Ottawa area high schools (Hillcrest H.S., Gloucester H.S., & Lisgar C.I.) during Black History Month in which he delivered presentations on Black history and journalism. Harewood was accompanied by the award-winning former USA Today journalist Nichelle Smith, and representatives from the Carleton University Recruitment Office.

Professor Harewood served as a moderator for Norman Paterson School of International Affairs’ (NPSIA) Black History Month Panel (February 14, 2023)

https://carleton.ca/npsia/2023/black-history-month-panel-video-available-on-youtube/

Professor Adrian Harewood was awarded the inaugural 2023 Faculty of Public Affairs Equity & Inclusion Award.

Courses

 JOUR 3401: Journalism and Belonging, a course led by Professor Nana aba Duncan, on how diversity, inclusion, and belonging affect journalism, journalism practice and society in Canada was taught for the second time.

During the academic year, Carleton Journalism Professor Matthew Pearson, one of Canada’s leading experts on trauma informed reporting, created an interview simulation exercise using professional actors, to prepare journalism students for interviews with trauma survivors. The exercise taught the students how to report on trauma in an ethical and sensitive manner. https://carleton.ca/sjc/2023/new-simulation-exercise-prepares-carleton-students-for-interviews-with-trauma-survivors/ 

During the Fall 2022 semester Professor Harewood launched a new course on the History of Black Canadian Journalism (JOUR 3401A). It introduced students to an integral part of Canada’s journalistic heritage that has long been neglected. The course is understood to be the first of its kind to be offered at any university in Canada and has been well received at Carleton and across the country https://rabble.ca/education/studying-the-history-of-black-journalism-in-canada/

Meanwhile, Journalism Race and Diversity (JOUR 5508), the first course specifically focusing on race in the Carleton School of Journalism’s history, was offered for the third time.

Bachelor of Media Production students in MPAD 4000: Capstone Projects worked in collaboration with two Indigenous organizations in Thunder Bay: The Multicultural Youth Council, and the Keewaytinook Okimakanak Tribal Council. Led by Profs. Stéfy McKnight (BMPD), Kim Matheson (NEUR), Sean Landsman (BIOLOGY) and Rick J. Colbourne (BUSINESS), this project works alongside the course, NEUR 4906: Indigenous Community Wellness, housed in Neurosciences, and is an interdisciplinary fourth year capstone thesis course. Fourth year students are invited to work with Indigenous Youth in communities to create multimedia projects, through a two-eyed seeing approach, to help the Indigenous youth share their stories. McKnight and students from the BMPD travelled to Thunder Bay during the fall reading break to meet with the youth and build relationships. Two BMPD students are travelling to Thunder Bay again this spring, to celebrate their projects and share the final projects with the communities. McKnight is working with the program to create a course code that allows BMPD students to take NEUR 4906: Indigenous Community Wellness as a future capstone option, rather than take MPAD 4000 and participate in NEUR 4906 programming, as the latter option can require BMPD capstone students to do more training and labour. This course code will streamline the capstone process for students interested in engaging with the Indigenous youth as part of their final projects.

The Globe and Mail’s Mentorship Program for BIPOC students in partnership with Carleton’s journalism program continues. It offers an opportunity for students to work in one of the most dynamic and respected newsrooms in Canada. This year’s students are Catriona Koenig and Reanna Julien. More information on that program can be found here: https://carleton.ca/sjc/2022/globe-and-mail-continues-mentorship-program-for-indigenous-and-racialized-journalism-students-at-carleton/

Addressing unpaid internships for Carleton journalism students

As of August 2022, Carleton’s journalism program took steps to end unpaid internships and apprenticeships for its students by lobbying employers to provide some kind of payment for interns and making endowment funds available to provide payment to interns where necessary. Though the School recognizes students have benefited from work experiences provided by our partners, we believe student labour is labour, and must be properly compensated. Carleton’s journalism program acknowledges that when positions are unpaid some students are unable to benefit from these career-defining opportunities due to their own challenging financial circumstances. Carleton’s journalism program maintains that it is unacceptable for a journalism student to be denied the opportunity to pursue a work placement due to financial strain. A $100 honorarium will now be granted to all students who undertake internships. Students who request additional financial assistance can be offered up to $400/week, so that there is no barrier to participating in internship programs.These funds will draw upon school endowments as well as varying amounts of compensation offered by employers.

Ongoing support for the student-led Association for Equity and Inclusion in Journalism (AEIJ)

The AEIJ is being revitalized and, with the active support of Professor Susan Harada and Professor Nana aba Duncan, is in the process of establishing new leadership. The primary leadership at its inception consisted of senior students who have now graduated. Carleton’s journalism program is committed to working with any students who wish to continue the work of the organisation. Professors Harada and Duncan are planning to  hold an AEIJ-sponsored panel discussion in the Fall 2023 semester that would focus on the experiences of trans & non-binary journalists and the challenges of reporting on trans issues.

TVO journalist and Carleton graduate Sarah Trick along with TVO colleague Alanna King facilitated a workshop on June 2, 2023, for journalism staff and faculty members on the question of reporting on disability. Trick and King are taking up journalist in residence positions with Carleton for 18 months as they pursue their project to research and produce a style guide for reporting on disability as well as curriculum modules. This project is supported by the Michener-Richard O’Hagan Fellowship for Journalism Education.

https://carleton.ca/sjc/2023/michener-ohagan-journalism-education-fellowship-will-help-create-journalism-style-guide-on-disabilities/

Develop an official policy for honoraria to guest speakers

The journalism program has yet to resolve how best to standardize the payment of honoraria to guest speakers.

External Advisory Council

Led by Professor Nana aba Duncan and Professor Susan Harada, the PWG continues to pursue a process of establishing an external advisory council, composed of industry professionals, which will provide advice, guidance, and support to the committee. The committee will bring ideas about equity and inclusion issues they’re seeing in their work with journalism graduates, other professional colleagues, journalism products and the journalism industry. It will advise our program on what’s missing among young journalists they encounter, share how recent graduates are faring, and identify challenges they’re facing. The goal is to find out what’s working and what’s not, and to discover the gap between what instructors are teaching in the classroom and what’s happening in newsrooms and communities. The journalism program intends to have an advisory council in place during the 2023/24 academic year. Each advisory council member will be compensated with an honorarium of $500/annum for a half days work.

2021-22 Annual Report

Introduction

The Journalism program at Carleton University School of Journalism and Communication established a Permanent Working Group in 2020 in the wake of a Call to Action made by concerned Carleton journalism students and graduates seeking to address systemic racism within the journalism program. The PWG was charged with the task of helping create a welcoming, stimulating, professional and creative environment for the school’s increasingly diverse student body.

The PWG  is committed to eliminating racism against racialized and Indigenous people, as well as inequities or other barriers based on ethnicity, nationality, religion, gender expression, sexual orientation, or ability. It employs anti- racism and anti-oppression practices which it believes benefits all students and faculty. The PWG’s raison d’être is to ensure that Carleton’s Journalism program is making structural changes that honour its pledge to make the school an inclusive and safe place for students and faculty.

The PWG committee has become, arguably, one of the most outward facing committees in the in the journalism program, and thus plays a critical role in communicating the values of the J-School to the university community and wider public.

Since the PWG’s launch, two of the primary lessons committee members have learned are to listen to the voices of students and respond to their concerns about structural issues within the J-School in an empathetic, gracious, principled, honest, measured, and forthright manner. Such learnings continue to inform how the committee conducts its work.

The PWG has helped Carleton’s journalism program respond to calls for change to its curriculum and the composition of faculty. The committee will continue to monitor the progress of the school, ensure it is living up to its commitment to represent the diversity of Canadians and push the department to become more representative of the diversity of the country.

The PWG committee is committed to gaining a better understanding of the journalism program’s student body. It seeks to answer some key questions: How and why did the J-School’s students come to Carleton? What does the school need to do to have the most diverse student body in the country?

Carleton’s journalism program must establish specific recruiting goals. If the J-School is not attracting and retaining students from a range of backgrounds, the committee must discover why that is.

Carleton’s journalism program must be on the cutting edge of change. It must continue to lead and take bold steps to address the systemic issues that have long plagued Canadian journalistic institutions.

Race-Based Statistics

One of the Calls to Action stated that Carleton must commit to collecting race-based student data through a student wide survey. The survey would discover the number of BIPOC students admitted to the school; the number of BIPOC students who graduate from the school and secure stable employment in the industry; the number of BIPOC students receiving awards and scholarships and internships; determining whether BIPOC students face challenges to completing unpaid apprenticeships and what the barriers are.

Gender Neutral Washroom Issue 

The washroom signage issue became particularly challenging in the Spring of 2022. The signs were all changed with little notice which caught some colleagues off-guard, and they complained. The signs were subsequently switched back.Professor Allan Thompson, director of the School of Journalism, has reached out to other units/occupants in the Richcraft Building to form something like a “condo board” to appeal to the Dean of theFaculty of Public Affairs and to support the PWG’s request for these washrooms.  

Review of the Bachelor of Media Production and Design’s (BMPD) activities 

BMPD continues to follow the equity checklist when preparing its syllabi. Reading lists and class examples have included works (stories, videos, VR, artwork, etc.) from and about BIPOC storytellers and content creators. BMPD has incorporated parts of the Indigenous course packs into classroom activities and lectures and has included land acknowledgements in our course materials.

BMPD has restructured its syllabi, assignments, and course delivery models to be as inclusive as possible. This includes the creation of a policy that invites students to keep their cameras off during classes and awarding equal points to a variety of participation activities (e.g., asking questions on camera, typing questions into the zoom chat, or posting to forums or course discord channels) BMPD is committed to creating a safe and welcoming space for students of all identities in our courses.

A Review of Activities within the school.  

In the past year we have seen a troubling increase in the number of online hateful attacks on Canadian journalists particularly women and racialized media. On Oct. 21, 2021, in response to this online hate and harassment, the Carleton J-School in conjunction with the Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ) held a four-hour panel discussion to address the topic. The event featured four sessions with 21 speakers.

During the week of February 7, 2022, Duncan McCue the decorated CBC Indigenous journalist and former host of Cross-Country Checkup joined the Carleton’s Journalism School for a week of class lectures, meetings, and presentations meetings. In total McCue spoke to hundreds of students in seven classes and delivered a public talk entitled “Rethinking Reporting of Indigenous Trauma” moderated by Professor Nana aba Duncan.

Also, in February 2022 during Black History Month, former New York Times award winning foreign correspondent Howard French delivered a virtual public lecture to the Carleton University community based on his best-selling book Born in Blackness: Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World. His talk was followed by a virtual interview. CBC IDEAS later rebroadcast the lecture and aired excerpts of the conversation that followed.

Another Black History Month event in February 2022 hosted by the journalism program featured CBC’s Washington correspondent Makda Ghebreselassie who gave a presentation based on the theme Eyes on the Prize in which she spoke about her career journey.

The 2022 Kesterton Lecture – one of the most prestigious lectures on the Canadian journalism calendar – was delivered by Omayra Issa. Omayra is a senior national CBC reporter based in Saskatchewan is the 2022/2023 Radio-Canada Southam fellow. Her talk was entitled “Black on the Prairies: A Journalistic Voyage”- the event was hosted by Professor Nana aba Duncan. Omayra has been a leading voice on matters of equity within Canadian journalism and a tireless advocate for change in the Canadian Journalism industry.

A new course on the History of Black Canadian Journalism (JOUR 3401A) led by Professor Adrian Harewood, was launched in the Fall 2022 semester. It is introducing students to a history that has long been neglected but is an integral part of the country’s journalistic fabric. The course is understood to be the first of its kind offered at any university in Canada.

Training and Professional Development 

At a year-end meeting in June 2022, faculty participated in a workshop on implementing inclusive, antiracist and decolonial pedagogies to curriculum with Krista Craven, the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Learning Specialist at Carleton University’s Department of Equity and Inclusive Communities (EIC). 

The PWG is now working Krista Craven and Keegan Prempeh from EIC to develop a trans/non- binary inclusion workshop for faculty and staff.

Students and Faculty 

The journalism program held an information session and Q&A for students and faculty with Carleton’s Department of Equity and Inclusive Communities on how to handle equity issues in and out of class. From that session, a module was created guiding students on steps to take when issues come up. The module is available in the shared resources Brightspace page for faculty to add to their course pages.

Innovative/Redeveloped Courses & Workshops  

The last year saw the creation of JOUR 3401: Journalism and Belonging, a course led by Professor Nana aba Duncan, on how diversity, inclusion, and belonging affect journalism, journalism practice and society in Canada.  

We also saw the redevelopment of JOUR 2201: Fundamentals of Reportingto embed concepts of equity, diversity, and inclusion within the course to better reflect the urgent calls for an anti-racist focus in the program and the journalism community in general. Professors Matthew Pearson, Patricia Longo, Allan Thompson, and Nana aba Duncan all served as instructors.

Professor Matthew Pearson led trauma-informed workshops in JOUR 2201, as well as the grad-level Intro to Reporting course. The need for trauma-informed journalism of course was mentioned in the initial 2020 Call to Action from students and graduates. The call specified that instruction should include coverage of marginalized communities, which it does, and should be led by BIPOC instructors, which it is not.

Journalism Race and Diversity Course (JOUR 5508) the first course on race in the Carleton School of Journalism’s history was offered for the second time to a large cohort.

A further point in the journalism program’s open letter to students refers to our responsibilities as a journalism program as outlined by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s (TRC) Call to Action #86. All students in the mandatory, second-year reporting course JOUR 2201 had two dedicated workshops on reporting in Indigenous communities, one led by Martha Troian,and one led by Duncan McCue.

JOUR 2201 students also had a workshop on navigating fear in journalism led by Professor Nana aba Duncan.

The Globe and Mail’s mentorship program for BIPOC students in the School of Journalism and Communication continues. This is a prime opportunity for students to work in one of the most vibrant and esteemed newsrooms in Canada.

Anti-Ableism Brainstorming Session 

An initial brainstorming session took place to assess ways to support journalism students with disabilities. The session was led by two MJ students, Shelley Page,and Rukhsar Ali. The recommendations were shared with the Journalism Program Head, Allan Thompson.

Following Through on the Call-to-Action 

This second annual report on the implementation of the Journalism program’s commitments on equity, diversity and inclusion has focused on the journalism program’s efforts to respond to the original  Call-to-Action document through the plan of action published June 11, 2020. While the push towards addressing systemic barriers to inclusion may no longer have the momentum it had in the heady days, weeks and months following the brutal murder of George Floyd, the PWG committee remains steadfast in its commitment to achieving the myriad goals set for Carleton’s journalism program over three years ago.

Addressing Unpaid Internships for Carleton Journalism Students

On August 31, 2022, Carleton’s School of Journalism decided to formally move toward ending its support for unpaid internships or apprenticeships involving its students. The J-School will now offer a minimum $100 honorarium to all students who undertake these internships and up to $400 per week for students who request additional financial assistance so that there is no barrier to participating in internships. These funds will be drawn upon school endowments as well as varying amounts of compensation offered by employers.

While the School recognizes that students benefit from work experiences provided by our partners, it believes student labour must be compensated. Carleton’s journalism program recognizes that when positions are unpaid some students are unable to take advantage of these career-defining opportunities due to their own challenging financial circumstances. We know unpaid positions can cause roadblocks that disproportionately affect BIPOC and economically marginalized students. A lack of newsroom experience can be a barrier to entering the industry particularly for BIPOC and economically marginalized journalists, and it exacerbates the lack of diversity in Canada’s media landscape.

Carleton’s journalism program is participating in the J-Schools Canada/Écoles-J Canada initiative to tackle the issue of unpaid internships for journalism students. The J-School believes it’s unacceptable for a journalism student to be denied the opportunity to pursue a work placement due to financial strain, and it is redoubling its efforts to find a solution to ensure that this will not happen in the future.

Ongoing Support for the Student-led Association for Equity and Inclusion in Journalism (AEIJ) 

From its inception, the primary leadership of the AEIJ consisted of senior students. Those students who founded the organization have since graduated. As a result, the organization is in the processing of establishing new leadership. The journalism program is committed to working with any students who wish to revive the organization.   

Ongoing Support for the Canadian Association of Black Journalists (CABJ) 

Carleton’s journalism program has pledged support for the CABJ’s J-School Noire program which focuses on high school students. It will also facilitate the CABJ’s Campus Initiative by offering access to space on campus. 

Develop an official policy for honoraria to guest speakers 

The PWG continues to debate how best to create a consistent policy that would standardize the payment of honoraria to guest speakers.

Survey journalism students about effectiveness of Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) 

The PWG Committee is continuing its efforts to survey journalism students about the effectiveness of EDI initiatives. Professor Brett Popplewell hosted a session on April 1 with students, faculty, and staff to clarify what to do if there’s an EDI issue that needs addressing.

Race-Based Data/Survey 

Carleton’s journalism program will continue to work with the university to find ways to gather race-based data in a manner that ensures student safety. Carleton University’s administration states in its Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, Action Plan that it is in the midst of preparing implementation plans for the collection of disaggregated demographic data for students and employees “relating to Gender Identity, Racialized Persons, Indigenous Persons, Persons with Disabilities and Sexual Orientation on a disaggregated, intersectional basis. The plans shall consider current and proposed changes to disaggregated data collection by Statistics Canada and higher education sector best practices while also respecting privacy considerations.”

External Advisory Council  

The PWG has embarked upon a process of establishing an external advisory council which will provide advice, guidance, and support to the committee. Advisory Council members will be compensated with honoraria.

2020-21 Annual Report

The leaders of Carleton’s journalism program posted an open letter to students on June 11, 2020 acknowledging the role the journalism program has played in the perpetuation of systemic racism in the education of young journalists, and setting out an action plan to begin to address the very real concerns about the lack of diversity and inclusion in our program. An important aspect of our action plan is a commitment to release an annual report of our progress – where we achieved positive change, what we still need to do. What follows is the first such annual report, which revisits the original action plan commitments and reports chronologically on the efforts to fulfill those pledges and other steps taken. 

This report concludes by looking at the way forward, with a focus on new commitments for the year ahead. We are ever mindful of the fact that the task of shifting the perspective that Carleton’s journalism program has been rooted in for decades will take time. We are committed to grounding the overall philosophy of our school in EDI principles. We will fundamentally change the system that has existed. Our new Carty Chair in Journalism, Diversity and Inclusion Studies, Prof. Nana aba Duncan, has a personal mission that we support as a program: “to foster an environment in Canadian media in which racialized journalists feel psychologically safe, where their perspectives and communities are just as worthy of coverage as those of white people.”

We recognize that it is crucial that we set a new path forward. This was best expressed by one of our new faculty members, Prof. Adrian Harewood, in the summer of 2020 before the launch of his critically needed course for our program on the intersection of race and journalism. 

“Understanding race is fundamental to understanding our world,” Prof. Harewood said. “If you are going to tell the stories of your community, you don’t only need to understand race, you also need to understand class, gender, sexuality and disability. All of these are part of the reality of your community. You need to understand them to provide your audience with sustenance, critical analysis and insight.”

 

Annual report for the 2020-21 academic year 

On June 11, 2020, faculty members in Carleton University’s journalism program met to review details of the journalism program’s equity, diversity and inclusion action plan. At this meeting, the then-program head, Prof. Susan Harada, told colleagues that “sometimes there is a confluence of events that serves as a very powerful force for change. Now is one of those times.” Faculty members voted overwhelmingly in support of the package of changes that were laid out.

The changes were outlined in an open letter to students, posted online on the evening of June 11.

“Carleton University’s journalism program is the oldest in the country. As such we have a responsibility to acknowledge the role we have played in the perpetuation of systemic racism in the education of young journalists,” the letter began. “Equally important, we have a responsibility to be clear about the actions we are undertaking as we try to address the very real concerns about the lack of diversity and inclusion in our program.”

The letter went on: “We have not done enough to ensure that our racialized students feel welcome and heard in our classrooms. Nor have we done enough to ensure that all of you acquire the capabilities you need to report on the full diversity of communities and individuals who make up Canadian society and the world.” 

The letter linked directly to the Call to Action, a powerful document compiled by current and former Carleton journalism students that included student testimonials speaking to institutional racism in the program. It also featured a detailed list of more than 30 recommendations – action items that led directly to change in our program. We thank the students and alumni who drafted the call to action for their labour and commitment to making our program better. We also thank members of the student-led Association for Equity and Inclusion in Journalism for their labour and dedication to bringing about meaningful and lasting change.

It is our hope that addressing systemic racism in our own program will ultimately improve the journalism profession writ large. 

Below are the commitments made by the journalism program in the June 11, 2020 action plan, followed by a description of the steps taken in the year since. (This chronology has also been published, as it has unfolded, in an accountability section on the journalism program’s website). The current report also lists other changes to program governance, training programs and public events that took place during the past year in support of the program’s efforts.

 

Plan as published on June 11, 2021

June 11 action plan:
We will start recruiting for our newly mandated academic post – the Carty Chair in Journalism, Diversity and Inclusion Studies. Our goal is to hire a new faculty member for this endowed chair by July 2021. The successful applicant will create new course offerings, establish a program of research and bring a focus to the Journalism program’s efforts to foster an environment that cultivates diverse journalists and fully recognizes and engages with all members of Canadian society. We won’t stop there – we commit to more diversity in the people we hire to teach you and work with you.

Our three newest tenure-track hires, including our new Carty Chair, reflect this first commitment, adding women and Black faculty members to our complement. This raises the percentage of Black (full-time) faculty from 0% to 11%, racialized (full-time) faculty from roughly 6% to 16%, and the percentage of women faculty from roughly 42% to 53%. The journalism program has also hired 13 stellar journalists with a wealth of experience to offer our students as new contract instructors for the 2021/2022 academic school year. Of these new hires, 69% are racialized and 77% are women. We acknowledge that our tenure and tenure-track faculty remains 84% white.

• On March 25, Nana aba Duncan was appointed to be the journalism program’s new Carty Chair in Journalism, Diversity and Inclusion Studies, to take up her appointment on July 1, 2021, at the level of Associate Professor. The award-winning journalist, podcaster, entrepreneur and long-time CBC Radio host will teach a new course on journalism and diversity for third-year students, will contribute to important curriculum reform and will conduct research, continuing the work she started in fall 2020 as a Southam Fellow at Massey College in Toronto.
• On May 6, Carleton announced the appointment of CBC Ottawa anchor Adrian Harewood as a Journalism faculty member. Harewood took up his new teaching and research position at the level of Associate Professor on July 1. He will continue to teach a graduate level course called Journalism, Race and Diversity as well as the capstone Journalism Now and Next course for all fourth-year students. Harewood has plans to launch his research program with a project to foster an interest in journalism among BIPOC high school students.
• The program was able to add more diversity to its corps of contract instructors and adjunct professors in the 2020-21 academic year and again for the upcoming 2021-22 academic year, but we acknowledge that this is just a beginning. Please consult the Our Team pages on the School of Journalism website for further details.
• On June 22, Carleton announced that journalist, researcher and educator Trish Audette-Longo would join Carleton University’s School of Journalism and Communication as a full-time assistant professor in the journalism program on July 1. This is a new position for Audette-Longo, who has been teaching digital journalism, reporting and graduate seminars as a course instructor and term instructor in the program since 2018. Her research plans include launching a new lab geared toward exploring journalism across platforms, contributing to journalism education, and developing digital, research and storytelling skills among our students. She has also launched a soft skills undergraduate workshop that addresses notions of “professionalism” through an EDI lens, investigating whether some professionalism norms are rooted in white supremacy.

June 11 action plan:
We will redesign our first-year introductory undergraduate courses and ensure they have a strong central focus on diversity and inclusion. For example, the winter term course will be renamed “Foundations: Practising Journalism in a Diverse Society” and will be anchored firmly in the belief that real change starts with a clear understanding of how to cover communities that have long been marginalized. It will provide our first-year students with the means to approach and practice journalism from varying perspectives. We will make the same curricular changes in courses in other years of the program. At the graduate level, we ensure our foundational courses reflect the same focus. We will launch our new Master’s course on journalism, race and diversity in September.

• As a then-contract instructor, Adrian Harewood designed and delivered a new graduate course for Master of Journalism students in the fall of 2020. The course, JOUR 5508 – Journalism, Race and Diversity, connected our graduate students with prominent journalists working on a variety of media platforms, including web, television, podcasts and print publishing. Now a full-time member of faculty, Harewood will teach a revised version of the course in the autumn of 2021 and pending university approval, this course will become mandatory.
• We made significant changes to both of our first-year journalism foundations courses. JOUR 1001, a history of journalism through the lens of new technology, was taught by Prof. Sarah Everts in the fall term. Everts used a lesson on the dawn of photography to focus much of the content on how images can be used to promote cliches and harmful stereotypes of racialized people. She also interspersed examples of diverse journalists or EDI topics throughout other lessons, including a discussion of how Canada’s first newspaper, The Halifax Gazette, helped slave owners find Black slaves that had escaped to Canada. Another lesson included a profile of The Provincial Freeman, the first Black-owned newspaper in Canada, covering issues important to the Black community, founded and edited by Mary Ann Shadd, the first woman to publish a newspaper in Canada, and the first Black woman to do so in North America. The lecture on investigative journalism included a profile of Ida B. Wells Barnett, a pioneering Black investigative journalist who wrote about lynchings in 1893 and Simeon Booker, the first full time Black Washington Post reporter who covered the civil rights movement. Other lectures touched on the trolling faced by a Latinx  LGBTQ2S+ journalist and how Google’s algorithms have reinforced racism. Source material during the term also included APTN National News, Walking Eagle News, Connie Walker’s Missing and Murdered podcast series (optional given trigger), the Stursberg lecture with Larry Madowo and Sara Mojtehedzadeh’s undercover work at the Toronto Star.
• In JOUR 1002, taught in the winter term, Prof. Brett Popplewell dedicated a class podcast episode to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the media and introduced students to the three TRC recommendations that deal directly with journalism. Two other podcast episodes focused specifically on Indigenous affairs reporting. One episode featured a recorded interview with Kyle Edwards (managing-editor of Native News Online). The other was a “live segment” with Tanya Talaga who appeared in class to field questions directly from students. The class had recurring discussions through the course on equity in journalism by looking at such issues as objectivity and sourcing.
• We are building on changes introduced to the first-year undergraduate courses in journalism foundations with a concerted effort to integrate an EDI approach in the introductory reporting skills courses offered to second-year undergraduates and students who are just beginning the two-year Master of Journalism program. A working group led by Prof. Matthew Pearson, course coordinator for JOUR 2201 Fundamentals of Reporting, and the incoming Carty Chair, Prof. Nana aba Duncan, has taken on this task. In her capacity as the Carty Chair Prof. Duncan will oversee a fundamental shift in the way we teach introductory reporting skills. She will work closely with the instructors delivering those courses to help shift perspectives, and develop lesson plans, modules, exercises and assignments meant to foster a greater understanding of EDI in reporting. She will also deliver a number of lectures to the JOUR 2201 Fundamentals of Reporting and JOUR 5200 Graduate Newsroom courses.
• MPAD 3002 and 3003 Civic Engagement and Public Institutions (offered as part of the Bachelor of Media Production and Design program), centres marginalized perspectives and activism in Canada, seeking to uplift the voices of those who are often removed from conversations of civic and community engagement. MPAD 3002 Civic Engagement and Public Institutions examines the political, cultural, and social events and systems that govern Canada. Through an analysis of core themes and theories such as government, policy, health, labour, economics, and community, this course intersects events of systemic racism, queerphobia, whiteness, and colonization, to understand how we as a nation have gotten to where we are today. We explored media events and platforms that influence our ways of thinking and engaging with these systems, while also reimagining and being critical of the future of Canada as a nation. We as a class discussed:  The history and origins of political, social, and cultural events in 21st century Canada; The present and historic structures of systemic racism, whiteness, settler-colonialism, and queerphobia that influence public policy; The importance of community-based research, art, activism, and civic engagement in the creation and implementation of public policy, law, and institutional decision making.

June 11 action plan:
We will give clear guidance to instructors to be mindful of diversity and inclusion issues in course design and delivery and in interactions with you. To ensure we have real change in course content throughout our program, including the selection of topics, readings, assignments, examples and guest speakers, we will continually assess our curriculum and provide a Diversity and Inclusion checklist to assist instructors as they build their courses. And to support the use of that checklist – to ensure you and your story ideas are truly heard, understood and welcomed – we will ask everyone who teaches you to participate in unconscious bias training in preparation for this coming fall and beyond.

• Shortly after publishing its plan of action on June 11, 2020, the journalism program implemented changes to program governance to better coordinate equity and diversity efforts. The Permanent Working Group on Anti-Racism and Inclusion (PWG) was created on June 26, 2020 to oversee EDI efforts. Its chair, Prof. Brett Popplewell, is one of the faculty liaisons attached to the student-led Association for Equity and Inclusion in Journalism, which was established in 2019. Prof. Popplewell also represents the Working Group on the journalism program’s Program Committee. The PWG, in consultation with the student-led AEIJ, crafted the Equity Checklist described below.
• As part of our plan to ensure lasting change in course content throughout our program, including the selection of topics, readings, assignments, examples and guest speakers, we created a checklist to assist instructors as they build their courses. This is a living document that will be updated as necessary. The current version of the Equity Checklist for Journalism Courses is available online. All faculty members and contract instructors were provided a copy of the checklist in the summer of 2020 and all reported back to the program head on how they used the checklist in preparing to teach for the fall and winter terms.
• We have made a commitment to ongoing training and professional development with faculty, staff and contract instructors. This past year, all full-time Journalism faculty members as well as staff and contract instructors were asked to join unconscious bias training sessions facilitated by consultant Lisa Khoo. These discussion-based sessions looked at how implicit bias is formed and how it can affect our work and workplace. Attendees were also given tools and training on how to counter such biases. In order to accommodate all faculty, contract instructors and staff, two six-hour sessions were held on Aug. 27 and 28, 2020 with a follow-up session on Dec. 9 meant for contract instructors teaching in the winter term as well as full-time faculty who were on leave in the summer or unable to attend the August sessions.
• On May 18, 2021, more than a dozen faculty members participated in a workshop organized by J-Schools Canada/Écoles-J Canada: Moving the dial: How journalism schools can be more equitable and inclusive. 

June 11 action plan:
We will make it mandatory for all of our students to complete a course in Indigenous history in order to meet our responsibilities more fully as a journalism program under the Truth and Reconciliation’s Call to Action 86. Several years ago, we created one course that probes the historical and present-day relationship between journalists and Indigenous peoples in Canada and another that took students to Indigenous communities in Canada’s North. We made a calendar change to add an option from Indigenous Studies to our required history credit. But we know there’s more to it than optional offerings. That is why we will commit to this more fundamental change.

• A formal change to the undergraduate journalism curriculum comes into force for the upcoming 2021-22 academic year, making it mandatory for all Bachelor of Journalism students to complete a course in Indigenous history. With thanks to our colleagues in Carleton’s School of Indigenous and Canadian Studies, our students will select from the following course options: Introduction to Indigenous Peoplehood Studies, Introduction to Indigenous-Settler Encounters and Contemporary Indigenous Studies. 

June 11 action plan:
We will continue to support the work of the Journalism program’s student-led Association for Equity and Inclusion in Journalism as well as its efforts to engage with all of you. In 2019, after discussions with current and former students, we hired an expert journalist with lived experience to conduct a consultation with our faculty and staff on issues of diversity. This expert then organized a “story circle” for students to share their experiences in our program and suggest changes. Out of that process emerged the student-led group, which includes faculty members as liaisons (the group adopted the name Association for Equity and Inclusion in Journalism in August 2020). The group gathered and presented student concerns to us, along with specific recommendations for how we could make progress. It began examining how students could comfortably raise their complaints and have them addressed. It offered to provide feedback to us as we worked to improve the scope of our teaching practices and materials. With financial support from the journalism program and the Faculty of Public Affairs (FPA), the Committee scheduled a second story circle – this one to bring students and instructors face-to-face so that we could listen to the hard truths and then together explore ways of making our program better. This initiative was cut short by COVID-19, as was the committee’s planned public event that would have brought in journalists of colour and from other marginalized groups to discuss challenges in modern newsrooms.

• The journalism program has followed through on its commitment to provide financial support for the activities of the student-led Association for Equity and Inclusion in Journalism. The association has been very active, convening more than a dozen meetings (with detailed minutes posted online) to deliberate on various issues and also organizing a number of events and initiatives, detailed below.  Three journalism professors, Brett Popplewell, Susan Harada and Matthew Pearson, serve as faculty liaisons for the AEIJ.

• On August 24, 2020, the AEIJ held a story circle facilitated by Anita Li. The story circle brought journalism students and faculty members together to share their experiences and talk about how the program and university can improve anti-racism efforts in journalism education.

• On Feb. 22, 2021, a new one-on-one mentorship program was launched. In partnership with the university’s Alumni Mentors program, the Journalism program joined forces with the student-led Association for Equity and Inclusion in Journalism to develop and launch a project that pairs BIPOC students with BIPOC mentors working in journalism. This new mentorship program, currently in its pilot phase, is being administered by Alumni Relations.

• On Feb. 25, the panel discussion racialized in the Newsroom was held. Organized and hosted by the student-led Association for Equity and Inclusion in Journalism, with support from the Faculty of Public Affairs and the journalism program, this event brought Pacinthe Mattar and Kyle Edwards to the school for a panel discussion on the experiences of BIPOC journalists. It was open to journalism students from all years of the program.

Other journalism program events and initiatives:

Over and above its role in delivering courses for journalism students in the Bachelor of Journalism and Master of Journalism programs, Carleton’s journalism school routinely hosts numerous public-facing events and projects. We recognize that these events and initiatives need to better reflect our students and the community we serve and that a greater effort must be made to be mindful of reflecting diversity, equity and inclusion when inviting keynote speakers and panelists. 

• The first major event of the academic year for the journalism program was an international symposium called Journalism in the Time of Crisis, hosted online Oct. 22-23, 2020. The event engaged a global network of experts to examine the nexus between journalism and the COVID-19 pandemic to find lessons for journalism practice and study in the future. Over two days, the event featured several keynotes and more than 20 panel discussions. In organizing the event, a particular effort was made to ensure gender equity among speakers and to make sure that racialized voices were featured in every panel. Keynotes included journalist Ed Yong of the Atlantic and Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer, Dr. Theresa Tam. One panel discussion of note was titled Missing the Story: Underreporting of the racialized Impact of COVID-19.
• On Dec. 2, Larry Madowo, a Kenyan journalist and the then BBC North America Correspondent, relayed his experience covering the 2020 US presidential election during the annual Peter Stursberg Foreign Correspondents lecture, redefining the annual event’s traditional focus on conflict reporting. Madowo took the virtual stage from his home in Washington, DC. He discussed his experience covering disputed presidential elections both in his native Kenya and the US and noted the similarities.
• On Feb. 1, 2021 a new research project was launched on the relationship between news media and BIPOC communities. Students and faculty have begun working together on a research project to examine issues related to the relationship between news media and BIPOC communities. Working as paid researchers, two students are collaborating with prof. Aneurin Bosley to look at the perceptions that local BIPOC communities have towards journalism and the role that local alternative media might play in supporting these communities. The goal of this research is to help inform journalism teaching practice.
• The Journalism program launched a partnership with the Globe and Mail to provide two paid mentorship opportunities in the Globe’s Ottawa bureau for Indigenous and racialized journalism students. The intention of the program is for mentees to interact with Globe reporters and editors, participate in daily news meetings, and cover such events as Question Period, committees and news conferences. They receive guidance on how to use the access to information system, the lobbyist registry, spending reports and the courts as well as other resources. Students also have the opportunity to assist Globe reporters with reporting assignments and to write stories of their own that could be considered for publication. Two Carleton students, undergrad Leila El-Shennawy and MJ Erika Ibrahim, were the first students selected to take up the mentorship.
• Journalism student Meral Jamal was the first to take up a new paid internship program for Carleton students with CBC North, part of a program inspired by long-time journalism professor Mary McGuire. Carleton’s journalism program partnered with CBC North to create the new, paid internships for Carleton students in CBC newsrooms in such communities as Iqaluit, Yellowknife and Whitehorse. McGuire approached the CBC with the original proposal to create the internships and a commitment to establish a special fund at Carleton to help cover the high cost of travel and accommodation for students selected for these internships at CBC North. The new Mary McGuire Journalism Internship Travel Fund also provides financial support for other Carleton journalism students taking up paid internships in Canada’s North or in Indigenous communities. This summer, Carleton students Catriona Koenig and Ben Andrews were able to access funds to offset travel costs related to their paid internships at Cabin Radio, in Yellowknife.
• Through its new Journalism and Democracy initiative, the journalism program is partnering with Prof. Erin Tolley, Canada Research Chair in Gender, Race and Inclusive politics on a new project: “Tracking Diversity in Canadian Elections.” The initiative will be co-chaired by Tolley and journalism professor Aneurin Bosley to create an institutionalized source of district-level data on candidate diversity in Canada that will be used for an innovative data journalism project during the coming federal election. Journalism students will be hired as research assistants to help gather data and gain paid, hands-on experience undertaking public-facing data journalism. Preference will be given to students with racialized, Indigenous, and/or historically under-represented backgrounds.
• The journalism program, with the generous support of the Journalism Chapter of the Carleton University Alumni Association, has created the new Journalism Award for Indigenous, Black and Racialized Students, valued at $1,000. It will be awarded annually on the recommendation of the Director or Associate Director of the School of Journalism and Communication to outstanding Indigenous, Black and racialized undergraduate students who are enrolled in the fourth year of a Journalism program. Preference will be given to students who demonstrate an understanding of and commitment to the importance of diverse cultural backgrounds and experiences in newsrooms.
• The journalism program was able to establish the Brooke Forbes Award for Internships in the Field of Audio Production, thanks to the decision by the Brooke Forbes Committee to transfer its entire fund in support of our Black, Indigenous or racialized students who have a shared passion for radio, audio or podcasts. This award will continue Brooke Forbes’ legacy, aiming to address issues of systemic racism through the creation of accessible opportunities for racialized individuals in Carleton’s School of Journalism to pursue an internship in audio production. Funds will provide students with financial assistance to cover the costs of rent, food, travel and other living expenses while completing an approved internship.
• The journalism program, with the generous support of an external funder, established the Emerging Reporter Fund on Resettlement in Canada. This $5,000 fund is available to an upper year or graduating journalism student who will work with an academic lead on a project that is focused on an area of interest to new Canadians and/or refugees and immigrants to Canada. The successful applicant will produce informed journalism on topics that impact immigrants, newcomers including first generation Canadians and/or refugees and topics of relevance to those communities, and with the support of the Future of Journalism Initiative and the Carty Chair in Journalism, Diversity and Inclusion Studies, to advance a project for public dissemination through publication or other channels better suited to the successful applicant’s research project.
• Dr. Stéfy McKnight is developing a research-creation project titled “Aqtion Arqhive” that will archive the work and labour of 2SLGBTQIA+ in Katarowki-Kingston. Aqtion Arqhive: Tracing 2SLGBTQIA+ labour activism in the Katarokwi/Kingston Region (Aqtion Arqhive) is a multimedia mapping project that celebrates and centres the labour of Two-Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual,  Trans*, Queer, Intersex, Asexual, Agender and other gender-variant folx (2SLGBTQIA+). “Aqtion Arqhive” is a digital archive of 2SLGBTQIA+ labour and activist related artwork and texts, that tells the stories and histories of Queer labour activism in the Katarowki/Kingston region. We need to celebrate the work 2SLGBTQIA+ activists have contributed to ongoing labour actions to change the future of labour laws and policies. If funded, this project will historicize these events while also archiving the important work produced in the fight for 2SLGBTQIA+ workplace equity. This project works in partnership with the PSAC Kingston Regional Office, giving us access to union campaigns and documentation as well as experts in union organizing and mobilizing. “Aqtion Arqhive” is important to Queer workers and our partner because it not only celebrates their work but invites workplace change attuned to 2SLGBTQIA+ inclusivity.
• Our public-facing, multimedia publication for student-produced journalism — Capital Current — has a special mandate to cover issues emerging from underrepresented and underserved communities in Canada’s capital and beyond, amplifying the voices of a wide range of marginalized groups and individuals. This has included the in-class hosting of community panels featuring representatives of the Ottawa-area Muslim, Indigenous and Black communities. Students in senior classes that are directly connected to Capital Current are specifically encouraged to pursue stories in keeping with the “Covering Ottawa Communities” motto and spirit of the publication. As a result, the CapCurrent news site is carving out an important niche — and producing a significant amount of content — as a portal for local journalism that’s especially mindful of equity, diversity and inclusion. 

 

The Way Forward

This first annual report on the implementation of the Journalism program’s commitments on equity, diversity and inclusion has focused on our efforts to respond to the Call to Action document through the plan of action published June 11, 2020. It is important for us to continue to respond to the original Call to Action recommendations and also to take on new challenges.

• Addressing unpaid internships by Carleton journalism students
  As an institution, we commit to working with other journalism schools and with our partners in the journalism industry to bring an end to the practise of unpaid internships or apprenticeships. We recognize the value and benefit to students that come from the work experience provided by our partners but we also recognize that the labour of our students has value and should be compensated. We understand that there are unequal barriers that stand in the way of students when those positions are unpaid. In particular, unpaid positions can pose a financial barrier that disproportionately impacts BIPOC students. We recognize, as the call to action noted, that a lack of newsroom experience often prevents aspiring BIPOC journalists from entering the industry, which ultimately contributes to the lack of diversity in the Canadian media landscape. Carleton’s journalism program is participating in the J-Schools Canada/Écoles-J Canada initiative to tackle the issue of unpaid internships for journalism students.
  
  No journalism student who wishes to undertake one of the work placements arranged by the school should be prevented from doing so because of the financial burden. For its part, Carleton’s journalism program commits that as soon as possible, participants in work placements that are part of the journalism curriculum (two- to three-week placements arranged by Carleton that take place during fall and winter terms) will be eligible for some form of financial support to alleviate barriers to participation.
• Continuing with training and professional development
  An in-person retreat for all journalism faculty and staff scheduled for Sept. 1-2 will include a Theatre of the Oppressed workshop on the dynamics of power conducted by Toronto-based consultant Sheliza Jamal. Jamal is an educator, speaker, and Equity and Inclusion Coach.  She is a graduate of the Harvard Graduate School of Education where she studied the impact of arts in education, leadership in social change organizations, education entrepreneurship and innovation, and educational policy through the lens of systemic inequities. This workshop uses Theatre of the Oppressed (TO) conventions to think critically about power structures in our society. In this workshop, participants will engage in theatre exercises and activities to investigate issues of power, privilege and justice. Individuals will gain tools to critically analyze power dynamics in the workplace and develop a deeper understanding of disrupting oppressive structures in a low risk/high impact learning environment to address issues of inequity.
• Continued focus on diversity across the curriculum
  At the Sept. 1-2 retreat, Prof. Nana aba Duncan, the Carty Chair in Journalism, Diversity and Inclusion Studies, will lead a session based on material she gathered during a five-week Poynter Institute course on diversity across the curriculum. In this session, faculty members will also follow up on how best to make use of the J-Schools Canada/Écoles-J Canada Online Equity and Inclusion Resources shared in a May 18 workshop.
• Ongoing support for the student-led Association for Equity and Inclusion in Journalism
  Carleton’s journalism program pledges continued financial support for the activities of the AEIJ along with access to school venues and social media channels for AEIJ events and activities.
• Support for the Canadian Association of Black Journalists (CABJ)
  Carleton’s journalism program will renew its support for the CABJ’s J-School Noire program aimed at high school students. We will also facilitate the CABJ’s Campus Initiative by offering access to space on campus.
• Develop an official policy for honoraria for guest speakers
  Over the past few years an informal practise of paying honoraria to guest speakers has evolved in the journalism program, which is a departure from past practise. We undertake to develop a more formal and consistent policy that would standardize the criteria for the payment of honoraria.
• Continue efforts to survey journalism students about the effectiveness of EDI efforts
  This year the AEIJ and the faculty liaisons developed a survey tool to gauge the effectiveness of the equity checklist for journalism course content. Unfortunately, despite the time and effort devoted to the project, the university survey committee did not give us permission to proceed with the survey and informed us that they did not feel this approach was appropriate for collecting student feedback on this topic. The journalism program will continue to work with the university to find ways to measure how students view our progress, cognizant that it must be done in ways that ensure student safety.
• Establish an external advisory council to consult on the program’s progress
  Over the past year, members of the program’s Permanent Working Group on Anti-Racism and Inclusion have held meetings with the authors of the Call to Action in order to discuss the journalism program’s progress on its EDI efforts. The program is committed to formally establishing an external advisory council to continue to consult with members of the Permanent Working Group. The work of the advisory council members will be recognized with honoraria. It is our hope that this body will help the program to track a positive direction into the future, executing fundamental and long-lasting changes to Canadian journalism and journalism education.