The more intense the world got, the more readers The Conversation Canada attracted. You came to us for analysis, facts, context, history and a measured look at the events and issues unfolding around us.
As the COVID-19 pandemic and then later, anti-racist uprisings, rippled throughout North America, interest in stories about racism spiked. Some of our most important stories this year helped explain the significance and innovative tactics of the unfolding Black Lives Matter marches including the connections to history. What impact might the protests have on education and what does “defund the police'' really mean?
Some authors pointed out oppressive patterns in health systems for Indigenous Peoples, working people and Black Canadians. In the first week of April, we
published an article that raised the alarm when it came to COVID-19’s impact on racialized and poor communities.
We published some great analyses about the U.S. election: how the U.S. might move past some of the damaging rhetoric and policies of its current leader and how Trump made us nostalgic for a past that never existed.
At the same time, Indigenous land defenders continue to fight. We published stories about these ongoing resistance struggles.
As I reflect back, I see the news year was tough and the information was fast and furious. Even in this, authors managed to honour creativity, strength and beauty. Indigenous Fashion Week Toronto took the fashion world by storm and scholars wrote about how designers translate Indigenous worldviews into apparel. We published a story about how everyday people took their creativity to the next level to create and share “cheerful” coronavirus parodies and how Wuhan, China residents shouted “Wuhan jiāyóu” (“stay strong”) out of their windows to send encouragement to their neighbours, doctors and frontline workers.
All in all, more than 150 scholars wrote insightful and thought-provoking articles for the Culture desk: their stories attracted four million readers around the world.
As the critical race editor in the meeting, I am regularly embroiled in the hot soup of newsroom discussions, fighting for equity, representation and a different way to do journalism. This battle dominates many of my days. This year, we received a grant to launch a Journalism Innovation Project to tackle some of these issues. So far, that means I’ve invited new editors and interns to the critical race beat, including: Nehal El-Hadi, Vicky Mochama, Ibrahim Daair, Anowa Quarcoo, Reza Dahya and Saniya Rashid. Many of them have had a hand in editing these articles. We’re also set to launch a podcast and a newsletter in the new year.
I welcome your ideas: what stories do you want to hear more about and who do you want telling them?
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