The following nominations were received for Media Co-op Board of Director positions. Nominations will be voted on by eligible members at the 2016 Annual General Meeting (AGM) this Saturday, October 22nd, at 3:30 pm EST. Click here for more info about the AGM.

Nous avons reçu les candidatures suivantes pour le conseil d'administration Media Co-op. Les candidatures seront votées par les membres à l'assemblée générale annuelle 2016 cette samedi le 22 Octobre, à 15h30 HNE. Plus d'infos ici.

NOMINATIONS

Montreal Representative (1 position)

Jon Milton 

I’ve been involved in various social struggles for a few years now, with a focus on climate justice and student movement organizing—especially the former. Through my participation in these movements, I discovered my aptitude for journalism, and saw that field as a way to contribute to social movements. I have written for rabble.ca and the Media Co-op, both of which related to my work in the environmental movement (notably the campaign against Energy East and fracking in Quebec’s Gaspesie region).

I am currently the editor of the Opinions section at The Link, a student newspaper run out of Concordia University. Our paper aspires to be a platform for marginalized voices, and I have attempted to run my section accordingly. I have also focused on building bonds between The Link and Concordia’s various social movement actors, and turning my section into a forum for reflection about our movements.

I hope to do the same at the Media Co-op. As someone who participates in both social struggles and radical journalism, and has built connections in both those fields over the last years, I believe I am well-suited to representing Montreal at the Media Co-op.

Toronto Representative (1 position)

Marsha Louise McCleod 

Marsha Louise McLeod (b.1993) is a white queer writer, media-maker, and anti-violence activist working and living in Toronto, with a settler family that hails from Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis, Scotland. Since 2012, Marsha has worked for a variety of independent media and artistic organizations, including as a programming intern at Vtape (Canada’s largest video art archive); as a writer and Web Editor for the University of Toronto’s independent newspaper (irritatingly titled the newspaper); and as the Co-Founder and Co-Editor-in-Chief of HERE, a feminist letter writing journal that ran writing workshops from September 2014 to May 2015 culminating in a published anthology featuring 18 writers.

Marsha is currently the Co-Producer & Co-Host of the Built Environment, a Toronto-based podcast that focuses on intersections of violence against people and land in Canada, while highlighting community-based resistance. Marsha also co-leads a community-based research project called #AltFuturities, which works with survivors of violence to conceptualize and record their personal and specific needs for justice. By engaging in community-based research and media making, Marsha hopes to continue advocating for non-carceral, anti-racist, and community-based approaches to justice.

In 2015, Marsha graduated from the University of Toronto with a B.A. in Peace, Conflict, and Justice Studies / Visual Studies, and though grateful for the privilege of attending post-secondary education, found her education to be extremely suppressive of critical dialogue about the violent nature of the Canadian state—a series of issues and histories she continued to learn about as a Cohort III Studio [Y] Fellow at the MaRS Discovery District.

Editor Representatives (3 positions)

Billie Pierre

My name is Billie Pierre. I’m from the Nlaka’Pamux nation in the southern interior of “bc”.   I got involved in writing and publishing in 1996 when I co-founded Redwire Magazine which came on the scene before the internet was accessible. It’s purpose for empowering and giving a voice for Native Youth. Ive been active in my own community since that time. My heart beats for sovereignty, land protection, my people on the land and displaced in the cities. I respect, support, and am inspired by learning other communities in their struggles of protecting Mother Earth and defending their People.

I would like to be an editor for the Dominion Newspaper. I have a solid understanding of sovereignty, and globalization. I have good connections with land defenders and organizers in North America, and I see working with Dominion as an opportunity to learn and grow more.

All My Relations!

David Gray-Donald 

My name is David Gray-Donald. I’m running for the Editor Rep position and would be very excited to join the board. I have been an editor since the spring and have solicited content from lots of people and groups and hope to do more of that, as well as build up an editorial collective for the Media Co-op.

I got into journalism from my involvement in the Quebec climate movement. I posted content to the Media Co-op because no one else was writing in English about what was happening in those francophone communities.

Before that I did environmental sustainability work in Montreal but got tired of it.

Since getting into journalism in 2014 I have been trying to get overlooked stories into the mainstream, or at least publicized. For example, I covered a few anti-Line 9 pipeline stories for VICE and Briarpatch magazine.

I usually post a few times a month to the Media Co-op (see my articles here), usually about racism, environment, and protest.

This summer I volunteered at the administrative level with the Media Co-op while there was some staff and board turnover.

I have really appreciated the platform the Media Co-op provides to people, the reporting the Co-op does, and how it acts to develop new journalists’ skills. I want to keep building all that up.

Contributor Representative (1 position)

Nadia Kanji

Nadia Kanji has been a passionate participant and activist in independent media and social movements for several years. She has professional experience in media, research, policy and operations management on both local and international levels. Following her time as an Assistant Editor at the Media Co-op, Nadia went on to become a producer and member of the editorial team at The Real News Network, and served as an editorial intern at The Nation Magazine. Her contributions to the Media Co-op focused on foreign policy, and she managed a team of five journalists to produce weekly reports. If elected, Nadia would bring her background in commerce to help the Media Co-op create a sustainable business model. She would work to expand the scope and reach of the Co-op’s content within an overarching goal of replacing global capitalism with a democratic and equitable economic system.

Reader Representative (1 position)

Brenna Owen

I am a climate justice-radio-making guest and settler in Toronto. In January 2016 I co-founded the Built Environment, a podcast exploring violence against people and land on Turtle Island (Canada), with emphasis on community-based resistance. I recently returned from a cross-country podcasting journey, during which I travelled from Toronto to Tofino and back, learning and collecting stories. I got my start in community radio at CFRC 101.9fm in Kingston, Ontario, where I was an undergraduate student in politics and history. At CFRC, I hosted the local, alternative news show, recruited and trained volunteers for the news collective, and coordinated CFRC as the host of the 2015 Homelessness Radio Marathon.

In 2014 and 2015 I travelled to international climate negotiations with the Canadian Youth Delegation (CYD). We aimed to bring attention to the Canadian government’s lack of substantive, ambitious climate policy: we questioned Canadian negotiators, lead creative actions, wrote blog posts and delivered frequent updates to our community through social media and e-newsletters. While I am still actively interested in the CYD and climate governance, I am no longer a member of the Delegation. For the next year, I am looking forward to devoting my attention to growing the Built Environment and starting to write in earnest again. I am excited at the prospect of joining the Media Co-op to meet people and continue my learning and support of grassroots media. In addition to my climate and media interests, I am currently working as the Digital Media Assistant at the Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation.

No nominations were received for Halifax or Vancouver Representative.