The Canadian Association of Journalists’ online learning sessions provide members with easy-to-access learning opportunities from fellow journalists. The interview-style series will provide insight to participants about how a journalist broke a particular story of impact. The sessions will be interactive, with time allowed for asking questions to hone skills.
Sessions will be recorded and will be available for viewing as part of the CAJ membership perks through our members-only learning portal.
To register for an event, simply choose from one of the events listed below. Registration ability will be limited to current CAJ members.
Not a member? We can fix that!
Upcoming Sessions
Mass shootings. War. Assault. Part of journalists’ work is to record the stories of those who have experienced unimaginable horror and to witness difficult realities. Sometimes this can weigh on journalists, leading to psychological distress, numbness, and depression.
On March 31, join CAJ peer supporter Laura Beeston for the Inside Scoop on navigating the impacts of covering traumatic stories.
Throughout her 15+ years of reporting, Beeston covered a variety of traumatic breaking news events — the Lac-Mégantic train explosion, the Quebec City Islamic Cultural Centre shooting, and, since 2023, daily conflict coverage.
In this discussion, she will share what she’s learned from her experience, including practical tips for staying professionally and personally grounded, and strategies to cultivate support, self-compassion, and resilience.
Interviewee: Laura Beeston, Canadian News Industry Peer Supporter
Interviewer: Emelia Fournier, CAJ program coordinator
Previous Sessions
To view any of the following recorded sessions, please head to our members-only learning resources page. Not a member? We can fix that!
In Nov. 2022, The Narwhal and the Toronto Star jointly broke the first story that would eventually set the Ontario Greenbelt scandal in motion. In an interview led by Karyn Pugliese, Emma McIntosh from The Narwhal unpacked how she kept up the heat on the story in the months since the original investigation, and found new angles to press on — both in partnership with the Star and on her own. The session covered setting the stage for maximum impact before an investigation is published, using targeted FOIs to catch governments being dishonest, and choosing where and how to dig to keep a story in the headlines.
Interviewee: Emma McIntosh, Reporter with The Narwhal
Interviewer: Karyn Pugliese, CAJ past president and Editor-in-chief, Canadaland
Organ donations by living donors are rare. In 2019, there were just 302 such donations in Ontario; one of them was health reporter Wency Leung’s left kidney. In the Globe and Mail feature that she wrote about her experience, Leung describes the donor organ shortage and its deadly effects. She also explores the experiences that led her to make such an unusual, even radical, choice. When does it make sense for a reporter to center their own perspective? How do you balance personal writing and reporting? This Zoom interview and Q&A with Leung explored how to pull off a first-person feature.
Wency Leung recently joined The Local magazine as a staff reporter. Previously, she worked as a health reporter for The Globe and Mail, and has reported for The Vancouver Sun, The Prague Post, The Cambodia Daily and Reuters. She’d be happy to never write another COVID story again, but still wears an N95 on public transit.
Interviewee: Wency Leung, reporter for The Local magazine
Interviewer: Eva Holland, freelance journalist and CAJ Northern Canada Regional Director
When the Globe and Mail revealed Hockey Canada was quietly using millions of dollars of player registration fees to settle sexual assault allegations without the public knowing, Canadians were incensed. These secret funds helped keep sexual assault cases out of the courts and away from public scrutiny. At federal hearings, Hockey Canada executives repeatedly sidestepped questions about how such matters were handled, keeping hidden what was going on inside the organization. This Zoom interview and Q&A with Grant Robertson explored how he uncovered the funds, how to investigate highly opaque organizations, and how to conduct an investigation on the fly.
Grant Robertson is an investigative reporter with the Globe and Mail, with a background covering business, government, crime, and public policy. His work has exposed the regulatory flaws that led to the deadly Lac-Mégantic rail explosion; Canada’s unacknowledged role in the Boeing 737 Max disasters; the shutdown of the federal government’s internationally renowned pandemic early warning system less than a year before COVID-19 hit; and the hidden use of player registration fees in sexual assault settlements at Hockey Canada. Robertson was the 2022 recipient of CAJ awards in both the Written News category as well as the Don McGillivray award.
Interviewee: Grant Robertson, investigative journalist for The Globe and Mail
Interviewer: Jason Markusoff, journalist/editor for CBC and CAJ Alberta Regional Director
Covering a budget is a grand annual tradition for legislative and parliamentary reporters, but also for the untold legions of general assignment, beat and web reporters who get thrown into the mix. It can be a daunting task to sift through hundreds of pages of numbers and charts, ensure stories have relevant context and background, and write them in an accessible way. This Zoom interview and Q & A with Allison Jones will attempt to demystify the process, discussing how to find stories, key numbers to look for, and why budget coverage doesn’t end on budget day.
Allison Jones is a legislative correspondent for The Canadian Press. She has been a reporter for the wire since 2006 and has covered Queen’s Park since 2014. Her coverage areas of interest include education, housing, energy and health. She has covered about a dozen Ontario budgets and has mixed feelings about the end of in-person lock-ups.
Interviewee: Allison Jones, correspondent at The Canadian Press
Interviewer: Jason Markusoff, journalist/editor for CBC and CAJ Alberta Regional Director
The term ‘pretendian’ is a pejorative colloquialism used to call out a person who has falsely claimed Indigenous identity. Thanks to the work of several intrepid investigative journalists, including Danielle Paradis, pretendian investigations bring these false claims of identity into light and are putting focus on these acts of cultural appropriation. What are the red flags one must watch for? How does one pull on the threads of identity necessary for these investigations? This Zoom interview with Paradis provided a history of pretendians, discussed Indigenous identity, and provided tools for and explored the ethics of conducting these investigations.
Danielle Paradis is an award-winning Indigenous (Métis) magazine writer, journalist, editor, educator, podcaster and mentor who lives in Treaty 6 (Edmonton, Alberta). She has written for both local and international audiences. You can read (or hear) her work at Aboriginal Peoples Television (APTN), Canadaland, Chatelaine, The Walrus, Alberta Views, Toronto Star (Edmonton), Canadian True Crime Podcast, and The Sprawl. Danielle covers politics, arts and culture, and Indigenous Issues. Danielle loves a good FOIP story and studied investigative journalism, story-based inquiry method, at the Centre for Investigative Journalism out of the UK. She has taught journalism, focusing on advanced reporting and reporting on diverse communities at MacEwan University and Humber College. She has also worked for a non-profit, Indigenous Friends Association, that focuses on connecting traditional knowledge and digital technology for Indigenous youth.
Interviewee: Danielle Paradis, journalist for APTN
Interviewer: Eva Holland, Northern Canada regional director for CAJ
Over the course of her years working at APTN News, Canada’s Indigenous broadcaster, Kathleen Martens has covered sensitive stories involving vulnerable populations – with care. She has reported on MMIWG, homelessness, child welfare and residential school survivors. Martens discussed how to do non-extractive journalism – that is, reporting on marginalized communities with compassion and accuracy to avoid harming the communities served.
Cracks are showing in our hospital systems around the country. Aaron Derfel, the Montreal Gazette’s health reporter, exposed how problems at one Montreal hospital led to multiple preventable deaths, leading to staff suspensions and a provincial investigation.
His investigation won the 2023 Don McGillivray Award, which recognizes the CAJ awards program’s best investigative journalism.
In conversation with CAJ Quebec regional director Patti Sonntag, Derfel will explore how he got the story and how you can bring your region’s healthcare pressures into vivid detail.
Interviewee: Aaron Derfel, health reporter for the Montreal Gazette
Interviewer: Patti Sonntag, Quebec regional director for the CAJ
Whether it be due to personal choice, layoffs, or a combination of both, more and more journalists are turning to freelancing. Being a freelance journalist can be powerful and rewarding. But it’s also not without its challenges.
Brandi Morin is an acclaimed Cree/Iroquois/French freelance journalist from Treaty 6 territory. She has been telling impactful stories that have amplified Indigenous voices from across Turtle Island for a decade. Morin has bylines in National Geographic, BBC, Al Jazeera English, and The Guardian – and many more.
How has she built a successful career? And what lessons has she learned along the way? In this Zoom interview and Q&A, Morin will share how an impactful career as a freelance journalist is not only possible, but a path worth pursuing.
Interviewee: Brandi Morin, freelance journalist and part-time staff writer at Ricochet Media
Interviewer: Emelia Fournier, CAJ program coordinator
How do you make your story stand out? How do you convince an editor or producer to sign off on your project? It’s all in “the pitch.”
Katie O’Connor and Nat Basen of TVO, Ontario’s public broadcaster, will share their knowledge to help journalists create the perfect pitch. Together, they’ll discuss what makes them choose one project over another, how to advocate for your pitch, and how to reach producers and editors across mediums.
Katie O’Connor is an award-winning podcast producer and executive. She is the managing editor of podcasts and digital video at TVO, where she oversees teams working to create thoughtful, smart, and relevant content. She was previously a producer on The Agenda with Steve Paikin, and a senior writer for CTV National News and CBC News.
Nat Basen is the senior editor for TVO Today and web editor at TVO.org, overseeing all text content from in-house and freelance journalists. He has spent the past decade working for well-known Canadian magazines and digital publications, like The Walrus, Space and Toronto Life.
Interviewees: Katie O’Connor, manager of digital video and podcasts at TVO and Nat Basen, web editor at TVO.org
Interviewer: Emelia Fournier, CAJ program coordinator
Paul Wells, one of Canada’s most prominent political journalists, will give the inside scoop on how to interview a prime minister – if they let you! Drawing on 25 years of political reporting, Wells will discuss how journalism on the Hill has changed, how to ask the right questions, and tips for navigating the post-election flurry.
Interviewee: Paul Wells, political journalist
Interviewer: Emelia Fournier, CAJ program coordinator
Want to cover women’s sports? Are you a woman journalist, but not sure how to make headway in sports journalism?
Shireen Ahmed has spent her career covering sports from an anti-oppressive lens and advocating for women athletes. She’s an expert in Muslim women in sports, the co-creator and co-host of the “Burn It All Down” podcast and a seasoned investigative reporter.
During this session, Ahmed will delve into the importance of community building, reporting while doing advocacy work, and how to surmount the challenges in sports journalism today.
Interviewee: Shireen Ahmed, sports journalist and sports activist
Interviewer: Emelia Fournier, CAJ program coordinator
New models of media organization are all around, breaking the mould of how a newsroom or outlet operates.
One such example is CHEK News, which has been on Vancouver Island’s airwaves for almost 70 years. Originally a privately-owned TV station, CHEK News became employee-owned in 2009 after teetering on the brink of closure. Now, the outlet is home to a variety of digital and televised content, including live broadcasts, podcasts, web stories and lifestyle programming.
Find out how CHEK News has found success in challenging times, how employees took ownership of the outlet, and how they remain a community fixture across Vancouver Island.
Three CHEK News team members will take us through the lessons from their newsroom: Tchadas Leo, multimedia journalist and recipient of the 2024 CAJ emerging Indigenous journalist award; Joe Perkins, news director; and Stacy Ross, anchor of CHEK News at 5.
Interviewees:
- Stacy Ross, CHEK News anchor
- Tchadas Leo, CHEK Multimedia journalist/Podcast host and producer
- Joe Perkins, CHEK News director
Interviewer: Emelia Fournier, CAJ program coordinator
After working at the Montreal Gazette for years, Chris Curtis ditched the mainstream to strike out on his own. Now, The Rover is an award-winning Montreal staple with a substantial social media presence.
Savannah Stewart, managing editor, helped take The Rover from a one-man newsletter to an independent news outlet showcasing some of Montreal’s emerging journalists.
The Rover’s flagship story spotlit illegal dumping in the Mohawk community of Kanehsatà:ke. Now, their coverage extends to a variety of community issues: from student encampments, to Montreal’s nightlife policy, to migrant labourers, to housing and homelessness. Chris credits these stories to relationships The Rover’s journalists have built in the communities they cover.
Find out how Chris managed to leverage his experience and connections to bring hyper-local stories to a broader audience, how Savannah has harnessed her editorial and managerial skills to manage a team of freelancers, and how they’ve built trust in the communities they cover.
Interviewees:
- Chris Curtis, Founder of The Rover
- Savannah Stewart, Managing Editor of The Rover
Interviewer: Emelia Fournier, CAJ program coordinator (and freelancer for The Rover)
Jeff Hamilton and Katrina Clarke of the Winnipeg Free Press won the 2024 Don McGillivray Award for their investigation into the state of child care in Manitoba. Entitled “Building blocks, crumbling foundations,” their six-part series shines a light on the state of Manitoba’s chronically understaffed and overstretched daycare centres.
Central to their piece: parents seeking accountability from a daycare centre where their child experienced horrific trauma. Hamilton and Clarke were able to tell the story of a small child’s assault through the eyes of their anonymous parents, exposing the systematic failures of Manitoban childcare along the way.
In this Inside Scoop session, Hamilton and Clarke will discuss how to cover sensitive stories involving children, including: interviewing with care, building relationships and gaining the trust of important sources, and finding information from institutions that serve minors.
Interviewees:
- Jeff Hamilton, Winnipeg Free Press
- Katrina Clarke, Winnipeg Free Press
Interviewer: Emelia Fournier, CAJ program coordinator
Want to expand your audience from readers to listeners?
Join Wendy Gillis, Toronto Star‘s award-winning crime and police reporter, for a session on how to transform your written investigation into a podcast series.
In her 2024 podcast series 40 Years Cold, Gillis teamed up with court reporter Betsy Powell to breathe new life into the cold case murders of Susan Tice and Erin Gilmour.
Learn about what stories make for a good podcast, which materials you need for an engaging audio experience, how to approach writing a podcast script, and more through Gillis’s Inside Scoop session.
Interviewee: Wendy Gillis, Toronto Star
Interviewer: Emelia Fournier, CAJ program coordinator
Navigating the court system can be daunting as a journalist. Limited access to documentation, confusing bureaucratic processes, and even outright hostility from governments and the courts can make it difficult to cover legal issues. Luckily, some people working within the court system – judges, lawyers, government employees – are collaborating with journalists to help them access court documents, navigate bureaucracy, and advocate for more transparency within the justice system.
Some provinces have media liaison committees, forums for media and the Judiciary to discuss issues of mutual concern and consider possible solutions. Some organizations, like the Canadian Media Lawyers Association (CMLA), are on a mission to promote improved laws and policies for free expression and openness of courts. The CAJ is working to establish a national group of journalists who cover courts so they can share their knowledge and work together to reduce barriers to their work.
Danielle Stone, senior legal counsel at CBC and past CMLA president, and Blair Rhodes, producer at CBC News, go over how journalists can collaborate with those working in the court system. Both are members of media liaison committees and have spent years navigating Canadian legal systems – Rhodes, covering the courts, and Stone, defending those who do so.
In this Zoom Q&A, Stone and Rhodes discuss how journalists can form relationships with people working in the courthouse, how to obtain court documents, the role of media liaison committees, and combating ongoing court access issues.
