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
Results From The Local’s Annual Diversity Survey for 2025
Every year The Local conducts a diversity survey among staff and contributors. See how we did in 2025.
The Local Fellowship 2026
Our fellowship program provides training and mentorship to emerging journalists from communities underrepresented in Canadian media. Applications are now open.
Understanding the Eglinton Crosstown in Seven Illustrations
From Shohei Ohtani’s salary to the tunneling rate of a mole—an unorthodox guide to the numbers behind Toronto’s newest transit line.
Meet Gabrielle McMann, Our Yearlong Journalism Fellow
The emerging journalist is our first early-career fellow, in partnership with The Philanthropist Journal
Ontario’s Daycares Are Increasingly Staffed by Underqualified Hires
New data shows Ministry of Education approvals for non-ECEs working in ECE-designated roles jumped more than 1,000 percent over the last five years.
The Year in Pictures
The Local’s editors pick our favourite images of 2025
The Local’s Most-Read Stories of 2025
From features about health care and higher ed, to stories about tracking bunnies, scammers, and worms, these are our most popular stories of the year.
The Local’s 2025 Year in Review
At this reflective time of year, we gather around the flickering warmth of The Local Slack channel to discuss the year that was.
Can the Finch West LRT Keep Up With Its Promises?
After years of delay, Line 6 is now running across a historically isolated part of the city. At its launch, politicians posed, transit enthusiasts assembled, and some locals wondered if it was worth the wait.
On the TTC, With Nowhere to Go
With rising homelessness, decreased mental health support, and fewer public spaces than ever, the TTC and its workers are being asked to fill gaps in a dissolving social safety net.