Click on link to BC Studies (below) to read my book review of “Always on Call” – a non-fiction account of a nurse’s remarkable career in the Cariboo region of the province.
Book review – ‘Always on Call’
April 17, 2024Decolonizing Journalism
February 28, 2024A Guide to Reporting in Indigenous Communities by Duncan McCue, Oxford University Press, England, 2022
Book Review by Janet Nicol
Decolonizing Journalism, a guide for both settler and Indigenous student journalists,offers a wealth of information about Indigenous people, culture and communities along with practical strategies for creating an enlightened and inclusive news room. Readers outside the media will also find the 268 page paperback worthwhile, though costly—as academic texts can be—at $59.95.
The book is a long time in the making for author Duncan McCue, an Anishinaabe from the Chippewas of Georgina Island First Nation in southern Ontario and journalist for more than two decades at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). He is also an instructor at the University of British Columbia Graduate School of Journalism and Toronto Metropolitan University. Last autumn McCue posted on Twitter about the publication, originally an on-line guide:
“(the book).. updates my @riicnews guide, now over a decade old. Chapters about news stereotypes & terminology are revised. There’s new material on trauma-informed reporting, rethinking journalistic objectivity, how to use social media in Indigenous communities & reconciliation journalism.”
The first section is comprised of nineteen chapters divided in to three parts—At the Desk, In the Field and On the Air, each chapter formatted as a lesson with suggested student outcomes, a short lecture, exercises and discussion questions, additional readings/resources and endnotes.
A second section entitled “Teachings” contains the author’s wide-ranging interviews with nine First Nation, Metis and Inuit journalists, two residing in the United States. Challenges unique to Indigenous female journalists are part of a few conversations along with differences between Indigenous journalists working in Canada and the United States. Much of the advice given to aspiring journalists reinforces and expands on chapter lessons.
A case is point is the topic of context in news reporting. McCue writes:
“.…the lack of news context of Indigenous issues is one of the most recurring criticisms of our work—and it may actually be causing a great deal of harm.” He offers practical remedies such as inclusion of graphic presentations, a sidebar article and directing readers to website links with additional information.
McCue’s interview with Connie Walker, a journalist from the Oakanese First Nation in Saskatchewan and host of the CBC podcast series, Missing & Murdered, also deals with the importance of context. As Walker researched the story of Alberta Williams, a 24 year old Indigenous woman gone missing along BC’s ‘Highway of Tears,’ she asked herself: “…when did this story actually begin? It didn’t begin with her murder in 1989. It didn’t even necessarily begin with her birth. She was part of a bigger story about her family and the community and how that was connected to Canadian history in residential schools and to this relationship with the RCMP and Indigenous communities.”
Self care for journalists—especially Indigenous journalists—is another topic emphasized by Walker and discussed in a chapter on trauma-informed reporting. McCue offers valuable tools for mindful reporting and self-care. “Be part of a new generation of journalists,” he writes, “that promote resilience and healing by taking care of your interviewees and yourself.”
Humour also has a place in reporting as illustrated in the chapter “Breaking News: Indians are Funny!” McCue writes: “…any observant reporter visiting an Indigenous community will find themselves surrounded by Indian humour.” He encourages journalists to insert “a joke or chuckle to break up the dreariness of a serious story.” In a similar vein, the chapter on “positive versus negative stories” challenges journalists to look for a wide range of stories about Indigenous people and communities.
Readers are bound to question their assumptions. For instance, not all Indigenous people consider themselves Canadians, McCue states, recommending avoidance of the term “Indigenous Canadians.” He demonstrates proper usage (and a history lesson) in a sample sentence: “More than 4,000 Indigenous people served in Canadian uniform during the First World War.”
As for reconciliation in journalism, McCue writes: “Certainly, many individual journalists in Canada strive to provide news coverage that includes Indigenous Peoples’ perspectives. The fact that you’ve made it this far in this book suggests you are one of those individual journalists committed to personal action: you want to get to know Indigenous people and learn to speak with them respectfully, and you seek to be knowledgeable about the history of this country.” He recommends three strategies for journalists: initiate an action plan in the newsroom, support the hiring of more Indigenous staff and build on-going relations with Indigenous communities.
Recognition and respect of Indigenous ways are a recurring message made explicit in the chapter “Indigenous Customs and Protocols.” A chapter about social media provides tips on how to effectively gain the reader’s attention but also advises journalists to prepare for abusive on-line reader comments. Tasking a member of a digital team in the news room to weed out on-line hate speech and personal attacks is one strategic response, McCue writes.
Juanita Taylor, an Inuk originally from Nunavut and a CBC News Network journalist for the North, believes reporters need to seek out a wide range of voices in the community, not only leaders and experts. “Talk to the Elders in the community,” she says in her interview with McCue. “Talk to home-grown people that are in the community. Teachers as well, because they’re with the children every day. They know, the ones that have been there for a while.”
Hiring the right translator, if required, is also important. When Taylor visited her home community of Arviat following a COVID-19 outbreak and lengthy quarantine, she interviewed people in their language. “The language they speak the best is the language you should get your interviews in,” she observes. “Because that is going to be the strongest interview that you can ever get from somebody.”
A huge amount of information is concisely presented in this ground-breaking guide with very few gaps. However possible additions could include: an interview with an experienced settler journalist writing about Indigenous communities, a lesson on collaborative reporting by a team of Indigenous and settler journalists and inclusion of insightful feedback from student journalists about the lessons.
“What does decolonizing journalism mean to you?”
McCue directs this question to the final interviewee, Tristan Ahtone, a member of the Kiowa Tribe and editor in chief of the Texas Observer. Ahtone doesn’t disappoint with his thoughtful answer. Readers armed with the knowledge and tools offered by this guide, will be better equipped to respond with careful consideration to this essential question too.
Note: This review was originally assigned by Our Times. The long-standing Canadian labour magazine has recently announced it has ceased publication. Check out the website (and this blog) for past articles on a wide range of topics, advocating for working people and social justice.
Taking care
February 28, 2024A closer look at the ‘undervalued’ work of society’s caregivers
Book reviews by Janet Nicol
An under-researched topic, caregivers are the focus of an engaging study by British author Emily Kenway’s Who Cares: The Hidden Crisis of Caregiving and How We Solve It, (Seal Press, 2023). The author was motivated to take a closer look because of her experience as a primary caregiver for her terminally ill mother. She describes balancing time for her mother’s care with her own life as a single, career woman. Her account weaves a personal situation with a deeply researched examination of the British caregiving system, employing a global and feminist perspective.
Complementing Kenway’s findings is Canadian journalist Andre Picard’s Neglected No More: The Urgent Need to Improve the Lives of Canada’s Elders in the Wake of a Pandemic, (Random House Canada, 2021). A seasoned Health reporter and columnist for Toronto’s Globe and Mail, Picard offers a wealth of facts, figures and anecdotes, based on reportage during the Covid crisis. The author also delivers observations about the pandemic’s impact.
For the full review of these books and many more engaging stories, see the latest issue of Senior Line magazine, available in print, at no cost, in public spaces around Vancouver and Victoria, BC and on-line.
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Basic Inquiry Celebrates Forty Years
October 1, 2023Sixteen page booklet of text and art celebrates Vancouver’s Life Drawing Society.
Researched and written by Janet Nicol, Graphic Design – Grandy C.,
Cover art – Harvey Chan
Available on line at – https://lifedrawing.org/40th-anniversary-booklet/
“Breath” by James Nestor
August 21, 2023Reviewed by Janet Nicol
How we breathe matters. This is the key message offered by American journalist James Nestor in his best-selling book, Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art, (Riverhead Books, New York, 2020). “The missing pillar in health is breath,” he asserts. “It all starts there.”
See the full review in Senior Line magazine, pp 32-33 (Summer 2023) available on-line and in print at venues in Vancouver and Victoria. Link at –
A book review — A Room at the Inn
August 15, 2023
Vancouver Women’s Labour History Walking Tour
June 24, 2023I have assisted with the research and writing of the BC Labour Heritage Centre’s latest project—-a Vancouver women’s labour history walking tour. The tour starts at 411 Dunsmuir Street in the city’s downtown, moves over to Victory Square then heads along Pender Street to Strathcona and circles back. Stories of women in and outside the workforce, past and present and of diverse racial backgrounds are featured. Participants can take the self-guided tour “on line” or “on site” using an i-pad or i-phone.
To download the free BC Labour History Walking Tour App, access BC Labour Heritage Centre website link https://bclhc.stqry.app
Exploring Vancouver Naturehoods – a book review
June 21, 2023By Janet Nicol
The Blue Eyed Darner is a magical dragonfly with blue and white colouring but did you know this four-winged insect existed 70 million years before dinosaurs? The dragonfly is just one of more than 130 images captured by author-illustrator Vicky Earle in Exploring Vancouver Naturehoods: an Artist’s Sketchbook Journal. (Midtown Press, BC 2023) A visual feast of west coast wildlife and plants, Earle used graphite, ink and watercolours, annotating each sketch with informative, playful and sometimes quirky text. At sketchbook’s end, Earle offers helpful tips for those interested in keeping their own nature journal. She is the perfect guide, as a professional illustrator in the fields of natural science, medicine and botany.
Check out my full review in BC BookWorld (Summer, 2023) pp 20-21.
Also in this issue, I review Lily Chow’s latest historical account of Chinese Canadians in BC. (Posted recently on this blog.)
Janet Nicol's Blog 