We’re proud to introduce our 2021 Local Journalism Fellows. The fellowship is a 10-week, paid opportunity for aspiring and emerging journalists from communities underrepresented in journalism. This year’s fellows will be working alongside us as we prepare our fall issue on precarious labour. We’re thrilled to welcome Reina Cowan, Zeahaa Rehman, Tahmeed Shafiq, and Mirusha Yogarajah to The Local!
Reina Cowan is a writer and radio host from Ontario. Her work has appeared in The Charlatan, Stories North, TRAD Magazine, and on CKCU-FM. She is interested in storytelling with a purpose to empower marginalized communities.
Zeahaa (pronounced Zaha) Rehman is a Pakistani-Canadian freelance journalist who likes deconstructing everything from pop culture to politics with an intersectional lens. Her work has been published in The Walrus, Chatelaine, Flare Canada, The RepresentAsian Project, and more.
Tahmeed Shafiq is a writer and journalist. He is interested in stories that are complicated, technical, and intrinsically human. He is an undergraduate at the University of Toronto. His journalism has appeared in The Varsity and The Pigeon, and his fiction has appeared in Lightspeed Magazine.
Mirusha is a filmmaker, writer, and artist who grew up in Texas and currently resides in Toronto, Canada. Their work aims to interrogate the multifaceted experiences of being a person on the margins and the delicate and intimate experiences they host alongside survival. They enjoy their friends, their dog Neptune, and Bananagrams.
More from this issue
When Environmentalism is Weaponized Against the Unhoused
From a proposed pollinator garden at St. Stephen-in-the-Fields to tree trimmings and ‘grass remediation’—how the city uses green rhetoric to displace the homeless.
Making Space for Queer Community, Between Banquet Tables and Dim Sum Carts
For many queer, racialized Torontonians, Church and Wellesley doesn’t feel welcoming. As they push for inclusion, they’re also building their own spaces far from the Village.
Excluded: The Legal Loophole Barring Hundreds of Ontario Students From School
A little-known provision gives school principals blanket authority to exclude “detrimental” students from class. Advocates say it’s being abused, and the province isn't paying enough attention.
Meet the 2024 Local Fellows
We’re excited to announce this year’s Local Journalism Fellows: Alice Boyle, Sam Rosati Martin, Matthew Molinaro, and Mzwandile Poncana.
The Local Wins at the Digital Publishing Awards and National Magazine Awards
Our coverage of the mayoral election and the Finch West LRT construction were recognized at a pair of awards ceremonies on Friday evening.
The Local Wins Two Canadian Association of Journalists Awards
Daysha Loppie received the Student Award of Excellence and Simon Lewsen won the prize in the Community Written category.
Don’t Save Local Journalism, Reinvent It
We launched The Local on this day in 2019. After five years, one global pandemic, multiple elections, and a constant drumbeat of bad news for the media, here’s why I’m more optimistic than ever about local, non-profit journalism.
Five National Magazine Award Nominations for The Local
It is the highest number of NMA nominations received by The Local in a single year, and includes one for Editorial Package.
A Mississauga Factory Is Using a Known Carcinogen. Residents Had No Idea
High levels of ethylene oxide were detected near a now-closed Scarborough plant owned by Sterigenics, which has agreed to pay over US$400 million to claimants alleging cancer in the U.S. The company has since moved to Mississauga.
The Local Is Nominated for Five Digital Publishing Awards
The nominations include the prestigious prize for “general excellence in digital publishing.”