Media Fellowships
Broadening access to hands-on learning and networking opportunities in Canadian media.
Fact-based journalism needs all our voices.
But nearly seven out of ten newsrooms in Canada have no Indigenous or racialized people in a top leadership role.
With mistrust, misconceptions, misinformation and disinformation on the rise across the country and beyond, it’s never been more important to ensure that Canada’s news media is accessible to communities across the country and tells all of our stories.
That’s why we’ve once again joined forces with Journalists for Human Rights (JHR) to address this gap and support more diverse voices within Canadian media. Our Media Fellowships have provided an opportunity for individuals from racialized communities and/or religious minorities to gain access to valuable learning and networking opportunities in Canada’s media landscape, ensuring that the next generation of journalists from racialized communities and/or religious minorities gets the best, hands-on training in fact-based journalism at respected, national media outlets, with an eye towards uncovering the social issues that matter to our collective future.
Program objectives
- Create opportunities for greater representation of racialized communities and religious minorities within media organizations.
- Support the hiring of Fellows who are journalists, reporters, columnists and storytellers who belong to racialized communities and religious minorities to advance equity in newsrooms.
- Increase the Canadian public’s understanding of racism by focusing on reporting issues related to race, racism, and equity.
- Create media projects that increase awareness by:
- Focusing on creators and storytelling from First Nations, Métis, and Inuit communities, Black, Asian, and other racialized communities and religious minority groups.
- Creating resources for the public that document or illustrate systemic racial discrimination in Canada.
2026 CRRF Media Fellowships awardees
Nouvelles d’Ici
- This project aims to recruit a journalism Fellow from a racialized community, Afro-descendant community, or community underrepresented in the media to join the Nouvelles d’Ici (NDI) team in order to increase the presence and influence of local news while allowing all NDI readers to NDI to explore the realities and issues experienced by racialized communities of various origins and religions. They will also be trained to support and encourage young students in public educational institutions in the boroughs covered by Nouvelles d’Ici to explore or discover a vocation in the world of local news media.
- Location: Quebec
- Amount funded: $45,000
Future of Good
- This fellowship will be dedicated to advancing journalism that tackles systemic inequities and highlights solutions in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) across Canada. Key Focus Areas include Racial & Ethnic Disparities, Newcomers & Refugees, Indigenous Rights, Gender Equity and Economic Inequities.
- Location: Ontario
- Amount funded: $60,000
Investigative Journalism Foundation of Canada (IJF)
- The IJF proposes to hire an Indigenous Media Fellow, who will receive hands-on training in the data-driven investigative methods in which the IJF specializes, and who in turn will contribute to the IJF’s reporting on how money and power in Canada affect Indigenous peoples.
- Location: Ontario
- Amount funded: $40,000
U Multicultural Inc.
- This 12-month Fellowship project will hire one early- or mid-career journalist from First Nations, Inuit, Métis, Black, or racialized communities/religious minority groups. The fellow will receive comprehensive editorial training, real newsroom experience, multimedia production exposure, and one-on-one mentorship from U Multicultural’s award-winning journalists. The fellow will produce multimedia stories centred on racial equity, community issues, cultural identity, Indigenous perspectives, immigrant experiences, and social challenges in Manitoba.
- Location: Manitoba
- Amount funded: $55,000
The Green Line
- This project will train and support an emerging Black, Indigenous or racialized journalist to produce Toronto’s Culture Through Community, a monthly social-first video series that examines how overlooked diasporic communities shape the city’s cultural identity. The series will focus on neighbourhoods with a high proportion of Black, Indigenous and racialized residents, documenting how these communities contribute to Toronto’s food culture, arts scene, local slang, traditions, community institutions and public spaces.
- Location: Ontario
- Amount funded: $50,000
The Narwhal (National)
- The Narwhal will hire a reporting fellow to dig into how environment and development policy affects racialized communities in southern Ontario. We will provide training and mentorship, while producing stories centering Greater Toronto Area communities that most need climate justice.
- Location: British Columbia
- Amount funded: $59,645
IndigiNews/Tapwewin Media
- IndigiNews is seeking support to expand its capacity for national Indigenous-led journalism by hiring one full-time reporting fellow based in or near Manitoba, with the ability to report across the central Prairies and, where appropriate, into western Ontario. This role is a strategic next step in strengthening equitable media representation and addressing long-standing gaps in how Indigenous communities are portrayed, underreported, or overlooked within mainstream journalism.
- Location: British Columbia
- Amount funded: $65,000
Past awardees
2024 CRRF Media Fellow Spotlight
Hover the cursor over the the image and click to learn more about the Fellows.
Nouvelles d’Ici
- The purpose of the project is to recruit two fellow journalists from racialized communities to join the Nouvelles d’Ici (NDI) team, to enhance local news coverage and promote understanding of the realities faced by racialized communities. The recruited fellows will cover local news events and assist citizen journalists in writing articles that accurately represent historically underrepresented communities.
- Location: Quebec
- Amount funded: $100,000
The Walrus
- The Walrus fellowship project will give the selected journalist a solid opportunity for progression within their career as a reporter. The fellow will be trained in the art and science of fact-checking, which will contribute to the future of trusted journalism in Canada. The fellow will have fact-checked at least five stories and participated in three Fellows Connect Workshops at The Walrus.
- Location: Ontario
- Amount funded: $50,000
The Independent
- The project aims to provide opportunities for fellows, regardless of their career stage, to work as general assignment reporters for The Independent, either in St. John’s or other locations within the province. The program will benefit BIPOC journalists or those from religious minority groups, offering them valuable experience and a platform to contribute to Newfoundland and Labrador media. The fellow will engage in various activities, including attending weekly virtual editorial meetings and pitching ideas for news stories, opinion pieces, investigative reports, and podcast episodes.
- Location: Newfoundland
- Amount funded: $80,000
Pivot
- As part of their project “our Différends : sur le terrain des luttes antiracistes” Coop de solidarité Pivot is looking to provide media space as well as the necessary professional and editorial resources to a Fellow from Indigenous or other racialized communities, dedicated to covering the current issues related to these communities. The fellow’s mandate will produce regular journalistic information on various topics related to systemic racism and race relations in Quebec and Canada.
- Location: Quebec
- Amount funded: $69,170
Parvasi Weekly Inc.
- The project aims to support emerging journalists and provide aspiring media professionals with a platform to cover various news topics, develop reporting skills, and produce high-quality content, including current affairs coverage, investigations, podcasts, blogs, and long-form features. It focuses on promoting diversity in media by making sure the stories told reflect the richness and complexity of Canada’s multicultural landscape and supporting Parvasi’s crucial role in encouraging a sense of community among South Asian Canadians and offering a platform that reflects the diversity, traditions, and perspectives of the South Asian community.
- Location: Ontario
- Amount funded: $46,000
Caribbean Vibrations TV
- This 4-part docu-series will challenge existing narratives about Black people in Canada while highlighting the resilience and triumph of Black entrepreneurs despite facing racism. Caribbean Vibrations TV will provide greater representation for Black individuals within our production company by hiring Black journalists and storytellers through this project. It will shed light on the intersection of racism and entrepreneurship through the stories of four prominent Black business figures, including Elijah McCoy, Thornton & Lucie Blackburn, Robert Sutherland, and Beverly Mascoll.
- Location: Ontario
- Amount funded: $87,000
Briarpatch Magazine
- The project intends to offer editorial experiences and mentorship for underrepresented individuals while ensuring that vital stories from the Prairie provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba are covered. It will provide an opportunity for journalists who are Black, Indigenous, and/or otherwise racialized, or members of a religious minority to gain experience in a variety of activities, including editing articles, producing original reporting, and participating in team meetings and skill-building sessions.
- Location: Saskatchewan
- Amount funded: $68,000
The Resolve
- The project aims to increase awareness of racism among Canadian communities by empowering Black, Indigenous, and racialized youth, as well as their parents and educators, to share their stories and experiences and to provide them with basic tools to do so. Phase 1 will focus on reporting on the state of racism in K-12 public education, followed by story-telling circles and workshops. Phase 2 will include new rounds of story-telling circles, workshops, and live journalism events. Phase 3 will gather learnings from the first two phases and conclude with a series of follow-up stories centred on analysis and solutions-focused journalism.
- Location: Ontario
- Amount funded: $90,000
Cabin Radio
- The project aims to amplify underrepresented northern voices by providing a platform for Indigenous and racialized communities to share their stories. The project will span 12 months, during which the fellow will receive training in audio broadcasting, video production, and written journalism and will work on three assignments designed to reach wide audiences. The project aims to increase representation in Cabin Radio’s studios and newsrooms, as well as in the content heard on air, seen on screens, and read in news reports.
- Location: Northwest Territories
- Amount funded: $90,000
Ricochet Media
- The Narrative Sovereignty Fellowship Program, initiated by Ricochet Media, IndigiNews, and Pivot, aims to diversify and enrich the Canadian media landscape by providing employment opportunities for individuals from marginalized communities, including First Nations, Métis, Inuit, Black, and other racialized communities, as well as religious minorities. The program’s activities include providing a Fellow with in-newsroom training on topics such as data handling, access to Information processes, and trauma-informed interviewing.
- Location: British Columbia
- Amount funded: $75,000
