Meeting: November 16, 2015
On November 16 Dr. John Kelly spoke to Media Club members and guests about Journalism in Aboriginal Communities. His main message was that we need to learn to understand one another.
The room fell silent as he quietly explained “Many reporters go to an Aboriginal community with preconceived ideas. They think they can just go there and report. But you can’t,” said Kelly, an adjunct professor at Carleton University and a Haida from Skidegate Village on Haida Gwaii.
“The problem is language,” he said and suggested that it will take reporters who speak the same language to accurately report about Aboriginal communitie – people who will take the time to learn what works and what doesn’t work: Cultural protocol has to be observed; the proper channels need to be followed, such as seeking out the community elders first and getting to know them to gain trust.
“It’s a commitment,” he said; reporters need to be willing to roll up their sleeves, help wash the dishes, take time to learn, and to discover storytelling.
Dr. Kelly noted that not many indigenous young people are choosing to study journalism. One of the many questions asked by a member of the engaged audience was that since that’s the case how can non-Aboriginal journalists tell the stories that need to be told when they are given so little time to research, write and file a story. There is, of course, no easy answer to that dilemma.
Dr. Kelly read his poem called Potlatch, spoke about his uncle, a cultural development First Nations co-ordinator on Haida Gwaii, about his culture’s 10,000 – 20,000 years of development, and about artist Bill Reid.
He mentioned two books – I Heard the Owl Call My Name, written by Margaret Craven, and The Curtain Within: Haida social and Mythical Discourses by Marianne Boelscher.
He noted the website (www.riic.com) , launched by Duncan McCue, a UBC adjunct professor and reporter for the CBC’s The National, to help journalists report about Aboriginal communities.
Margaret Graham Award Presented to Algonquin College
Student Amelia Buchanan
At the Media Club’s November meeting, Algonquin College journalism professor, Joe Banks, presented one of his students with the 2015 Margaret Graham award on behalf of our club. This year’s winning student, Amelia Buchanan, who already holds a B.A. in Biology from The University of Ottawa, is a second year journalism student at the college. She is also this year’s Algonquin Times editor, which Joe noted was nominated the top campus newspaper for 2014. After graduation Amelia hopes to find a job where she can combine her knowledge of journalism and biology.
The Margaret Graham Award winner from Carleton University, Rachel Lindgren, was unable to attend, and received her award at the Christmas Lunch event on December 12, 2015.