I’m happy to inform people of any new support within the Black community in Vancouver and Canada. This is a great step forward to get more BIPOC in media and making our platforms like CBC more diverse. Hopefully other media corporations will follow suit.

Photo Credit- CBC

CBC/Radio-Canada and the Canadian Journalism Foundation (CJF) today announced two new fellowships for Black journalists:

• The CJF-CBC/Radio-Canada Black Journalism Fellowship (open to all genders), &
• The CJF-CBC/Radio-Canada Black Women’s Journalism Fellowship.

The fellowships will provide unique opportunities for early-career Black journalists (with one to 10 years’ experience) hosted by a CBC News or Radio-Canada Info newsroom.

Over six months, fellows will receive mentoring and training in video and audio editing, writing, research, and investigative reporting. Each fellow will receive a full-time stipend and write or produce an article/piece that will be considered for publication or broadcast. Applications for both new fellowships will open on January 18, 2021.

“We’re honored to be spearheading this initiative with the Canadian Journalism Foundation. Offering these fellowships for English- and French-speaking Black journalists across the Country is another way to ensure that Black Canadians see and hear themselves — their experiences and their perspectives — reflected in our content and our workforce. This is how we serve Canadians.” -Catherine Tait, President and CEO, CBC/Radio-Canada

We need to constantly do better to include every race, gender identity, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and expression. CBC is the most well-known media company in Canada, so this is an important step in making our Country a more inclusive place.

I can’t wait to see more diversity in CBC because our media can become a very white-dominating space when it should reflect who we are as a diverse country.

I hope to see more beautiful faces as  reporters and journalists at CBC, this fellowship program is a great way to pursue that goal for BIPOC.