TORONTO (June 28, 2023)—Three young Canadian reporters will embark on extended reporting trips to North Africa, Central Asia and northern Ontario through the Gordon Sinclair Roving Reporter Bursary.

This is the second time in 40 years that the Sinclair Foundation has elected to give out multiple bursaries in a single year. The foundation’s board opted to do so this week in recognition of the high calibre of applications and the fact that a Sinclair award had not been given out for two consecutive years as a result of the pandemic.

“We were thrilled by the enthusiasm for this award that was shown by a whole new crop of reporters looking to travel near and far in order to tell unique stories for a Canadian audience,” said Allan Thompson, president of the foundation. Thompson was himself the first young journalist to receive funding from the Gordon Sinclair Foundation in order to pursue research in another country back in 1986. “This year’s winners each proposed very important reporting projects and they are each uniquely qualified to receive the foundation’s support.”

Ania Bessonov, a multi-platform journalist at CBC news, will spend several weeks reporting in Central Asia on the exodus of the hundreds of thousands of Russians, many of which come from ethnic minorities, who fled the country following President Vladimir Putin’s announcement of a partial mobilization to continue the war in Ukraine; Isaac Phan Nay, a recent Carleton journalism graduate and freelance journalist, will journey to Ontario’s Ring of Fire region to produce a podcast series that will explore how local communities are reacting to provincial plans to heavily mine the region; Jade Prévost-Manuel, a freelance journalist and former Joan Donaldson Scholar, will travel to North Africa to investigate the local impact of Canadian recruitment of qualified nurses and health care workers from other countries like Morocco, Tunisia and Cameroon.

This year’s recipients are the latest in a long line of young journalists who have been awarded funding by the Gordon Sinclair Foundation to undertake reporting expeditions around the world. Previous recipients have produced stories for multiple outlets, including the CBC and Toronto Star, which were Gordon Sinclair’s longstanding employers.

The Roving Reporter Bursary was created in memory of Gordon Sinclair, who made his name reporting around the world for the Toronto Star in the 1930s. The bursary replaced a university scholarship for journalism students that was been given out annually since 1986 by the Gordon Sinclair Foundation, established by friends of the remarkable journalist, author, radio commentator and television personality who until his death in 1984, was one of Canada’s most enduring celebrities. He earned that celebrity during a career that included periods with the Toronto Star, CFRB radio and as a panelist on CBC’s long-running news quiz program Front Page Challenge.

At a time when most news organizations have cut back on travel, the Gordon Sinclair Roving Reporter Bursary is meant to support a major research and reporting trip by an early career Canadian journalist who has within the past five years graduated from one of Canada’s university-level journalism programs. The purpose of the $15,000 bursary is to encourage a young journalist to get off the beaten track and to spend a considerable period—traditionally a minimum of six weeks – away on a reporting assignment.

In 2020, Josie Fomé used the bursary to explore what happened to communities in Kampala when borders closed and what do locals say is needed to make development work ethical as the world slowly attempts to “reopen” after the pandemic. In 2019, Sarah Lawrynuik used the bursary to report on political changes and the erosion of various freedoms in Eastern Europe. Her field reporting in Ukraine earned her a nomination for a CAJ (Canadian Association of Journalists) award for human rights reporting.

Applicants to the Gordon Sinclair Roving Reporter Bursary were invited to submit a proposal to travel abroad or to a region of Canada that is not usually well covered by the media and to research and then prepare a substantial body of journalistic work on an important issue.

Here are more details about the winners and their reporting projects:

ANIA BESSONOV has worked in various roles at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in Toronto, including as a senior writer and a producer for several platforms. A graduate of Toronto Metropolitan University’s journalism program (2019) she speaks English, Russian and French as well as Hebrew and Ukrainian. She has an MA in Security and Diplomacy from Tel Aviv University where she completed a thesis analyzing how different Russian news outlets covered the Covid-19 pandemic and the lead up to the invasion of Ukraine. “I’ve been passionate about the Central Asian region for quite some time,” says Bessonov. “Not only is it rich in history and culture, but it’s become a pivotal place of refuge for many Russians, especially those from Siberia and ethnic minorities, who fled in large numbers following news of the partial mobilization. I am embarking on this journey to tell the stories from this region — a journey that would not be possible without the generous assistance from the Gordon Sinclair Roving Reporter Bursary.”

ISAAC PHAN NAY is a 2023 graduate of Carleton University’s journalism program. A former radio roomer at the Toronto Star, he has written for several publications including Canada’s National Observer and the Breach. Now, he works as an anchor and producer for CityNews in Vancouver. His reporting has earned recognition from the Emerge media awards and the Canadian University Press. By heading to northern Ontario’s Ring of Fire mining region, he hopes to help people in south Ontario hear the voices of people living in the province’s North. “I’m thankful for this rare opportunity. I hope I can do justice to the stewards of one of the earth’s most powerful carbon sinks.”

JADE PRÉVOST-MANUEL is an alumnus of both McGill University and Western University, where she obtained a masters of journalism in 2020. A former CBC News associate producer, Jade has worked in investigative journalism, science journalism, and local and national daily news. She speaks both English and French, and her bylines have appeared in nearly 20 publications around the world. Canadian-born but raised abroad, Jade is passionate about telling global stories that help Canadians think critically about their global impact and amplify the voices of people in underreported regions, particularly in the Caribbean. Her most recent stories examined a social movement to reclaim safe abortion access in Haiti and looked at how sex education can impact gender-based violence in Trinidad and Tobago. “Waiting hours in an emergency room, years for a medical procedure, days or months for a call back from a specialist… those are healthcare situations that anyone living in Canada can relate to,” says Prévost-Manuel. “Coming out of a pandemic, Canadians want to know how we can heal our healthcare system. I want to investigate the local impacts, at home and abroad, of one of the proposed solutions—foreign medical recruitment.”

TORONTO (June 27, 2023)—Montreal-based freelance journalist Josie Fomé has released her new documentary exploring the rise of local philanthropy within the international aid sector in response to the pandemic.

Fomé used the Gordon Sinclair Roving Reporter Bursary to explore what happened to communities in Kampala when borders closed and what do locals say is needed to make development work ethical as the world slowly attempts to “reopen” after the pandemic. 

“I was a bit shocked when I kept reading article after article about organizations shutting down because staff feared for their safety even though African countries at large were the least hit by the virus. I asked myself, what does that mean for the communities they were tasked to support,” says Fomé. The documentary, which can be found here, has also been screened in Kampala.

The Gordon Sinclair Foundation awarded the Roving Reporter Bursary to Fomé at the onset of the pandemic. As the global public health emergency set in, Fomé was forced to delay and refocus her project. She ultimately travelled to Uganda in 2022 to report, produce and edit the documentary, which looks at how local non-profits in Kampala responded at the height of the pandemic when international aid organizations shut down operations as a result of COVID-19. 

A graduate of Concordia University’s journalism program, Fomé has worked with Canadian Black Standard, CTV News and Sayaspora. She is also the host and producer of Filling the Void with Josie, a podcast that focuses on the experiences of recent university graduates in Canada.

As a Gordon Sinclair Roving Reporter, Fomé conducted about 22 weeks of field research in Uganda, where she  spoke to various staff members at a number of nonprofits in Kampala to gauge what the situation was like for them pre, during, and post pandemic; identified different organizations, sectors, and communities that were most affected; managed a small crew to assist with filming; and conducted interviews with experts within the international development industry amongst other tasks.

“The conversation around ‘dead aid’ may not be new, but I’m curious to see how the international development industry will shift as a result of local communities stepping in to fill the gap left behind by large international NGOs. This bursary allowed me to dig deeper into the stories I want to see more of and confirmed for me the type of stories I want to tell. So much is happening on the African continent, and it goes beyond the stereotypical narratives, and I want to be one of the people bringing more light to those stories,” Fomé says.

“I want to bring this story home to Canadians who are filled with good but misplaced intentions and to screen it in Uganda where the concept of philanthropy is not a novel one and continues to grow in traditional and nontraditional ways. Community has always been at the center in different ways, shapes, and sizes.”

The Roving Reporter Bursary was created in memory of Gordon Sinclair, who made his name reporting around the world for the Toronto Star in the 1930s. The bursary replaced a university scholarship for journalism students that was been given out annually since 1986 by the Gordon Sinclair Foundation, established by friends of the remarkable journalist, author, radio commentator and television personality who until his death in 1984, was one of Canada’s most enduring celebrities. He earned that celebrity during a career that included periods with the Toronto Star, CFRB radio and as a panelist on CBC’s long-running news quiz program Front Page Challenge.

At a time when most news organizations have cut back on travel, the Gordon Sinclair Roving Reporter Bursary is meant to support a major research and reporting trip by an early career Canadian journalist who has within the past five years graduated from one of Canada’s university-level journalism programs. The purpose of the $15,000 bursary is to encourage a young journalist to get off the beaten track and to spend a considerable period—a minimum of six weeks – away on a reporting assignment.

In recent years, bursary winners have used the award to document stories inside Canada and around the world.

In 2019, Sarah Lawrynuik used the Roving Reporter bursary to report on political changes and the erosion of various freedoms in Eastern Europe. Her field reporting in Ukraine earned her a nomination for a CAJ (Canadian Association of Journalists) award for human rights reporting.In 2018, Katrina Clarke used the to report on Indigenous education in Australia and Canada. The results of her reporting were published by the Toronto Star and theCBC and provided an international context to Canada’s efforts at truth and reconciliation.

In 2017, award-winning investigative reporter Annie Burns-Pieper travelled to Madagascar to report on US President Donald Trump’s reinstatement of the Global Gag Rule—which bans foreign aid to groups that perform or promote abortion—and how it has impacted global health programs, specifically family planning and women’s health services.

Applicants to the Gordon Sinclair Roving Reporter Bursary were invited to submit a proposal to travel abroad or to a region of Canada that is not usually well covered by the media and to research and then prepare a substantial body of journalistic work on an important issue.

For more information about Josie and her ongoing work, visit her website josephinefome.com or follow her on Instagram @heyitsjozee