AGM: 2014 Board Candidate

 
Cherise Seucharan
Toronto representative
 
I'm Cherise Seucharan and I’m interested in joining the Media Co-op to use my experience in digital media and production to promote local grassroots media in Toronto. I have a background as a student journalist and activist, and have gone on to work with a number of social justice-oriented groups and non-profits in the Toronto area as a blogger, social media manager and news aggregator. My most recent work involves liaising with a number of Canadian civil liberties groups to build a tool that tracks free expression violations across the country. I am also freelance as a writer and photographer, using my connection with local communities of people of colour and the differently-abled to report on stories that I'm passionate about. Though I'm relatively new to the Media Co-op, I'm excited to be a contributor and look forward to working more extensively with the group.
 
Darryl Richardson
Toronto representative
 
"Greetings, Salut, Sago, my name is Darryl Richardson and I hope to work again as your Toronto representative to the Media Co-Op board. I began working with the Media Co-Op as a photographer and print designer during Occupy Toronto. Since that time I have covered actions and stories all over Southern Ontario relating to poverty, indigenous struggles and police accountability issues. From February of 2013 onward it has been my privilege to work with the Editorial Collective at TMC. In this capacity I have acquired many skills and tools that will allow me to better serve the Co-Op. If you choose to elect me as your representative I promise to be more communicative and pro-active in my relations between the board and the local. I will always be receptive and responsive to any criticism or comment from other members of the Co-Op. 
Thank you for your time and consideration."
 
Maggie Reid
Toronto representative
 
I am currently a PhD student in Communication and Culture at York/Ryerson University. My primary research interests surround changes in intellectual property and surveillance strategies in digital environments and the relations between these changes and access to information, media democracy, and corporate/government transparency and accountability. My educational background has provided me with extensive research, editing and grant writing skills.
 
I am also someone who is passionate about alternative media and social justice issues, which has brought me to the medium of community radio to retreat from the hefty language of the academic world (at least for one day a week). I have been an intern at CHRY Radio for almost 2 years for our daily current affairs program, News Now. Through this internship I have been able to network a great deal with community groups, politicians, academics, and local artists to name a few. I have practiced and approached news reporting from a critical and anti-oppressive perspective. One of my interviews is currently up on the Toronto Media Co-op (http://toronto.mediacoop.ca/audio/canadian-mining-company-oceana-gold-su...).
 
I have a broad understanding of the media landscape both internationally, nationally, and locally in Toronto. I know how important it is to provide a space for underrepresented voices that is not dictated by corporate structures or motives. I am committed to maintaining and assisting organizations like The Media Co-op that seek to provide and maintain these spaces. 
 
Christian Labrecque
Montreal representative
 
Je suis impliqué auprès de la Coop média depuis la lutte contre les Olympiques de 2010 à soi-disant «Vancouver». Tout d'abord, je fus plus impliqué en y publiant. Je me suis plus impliqué dans l'organisation de la Coop en revenant m'installer à ce qui est appelé «Montréal» en 2010 et 2011. J'ai traduit une partie de l'infrastructure du site. Je fus également du lancement officiel de la Coop média de Montréal. Je connais la Coop média de Montréal de l'intérieur. Je suis membre du comité éditorial. J'ai aussi travaillé à titre de pigiste à son développement et son réseautage en milieux francophones.
Je suis très en lien avec les différents médias indépendants étant journaliste activiste ainsi qu'organisateur et membre de Médi@s Libres dont l'une des vocations est de créer plus de réseautage entre les médias indépendants à «Montréal» ainsi qu'ailleurs dans le soi-disant «Québec».
 
Actuellement, je suis un des organisateurs d'une soirée mensuelle de projections radicales appelée Projections insurgées qui est un pôle de ralliement libertaire et des médias radicaux à «Montréal».
Ayant observé de près et travaillé au développement de la Coop à «Montréal», mes préoccupations les plus importantes sont le développement des liens entre la Coop et les communautés autochtones en lutte, je suis un militant anticolonialiste de longue date, l'implantation du réseau en milieux francophones ainsi que le développement de l'engagement participatif, d'une certaine horizontalité, dans la Coop au niveau de «Montréal» ainsi qu'au niveau «national». Mais toutes ces préoccupations passent aussi par le développement de la Coop au complet.
 
Geordie Dent
Reader representative
 
My name is Geordie Dent, and I would like to apply for the Board of directors. I currently manage a non-profit and believe my experience in finance and administration could help in terms of running the operational aspects of the Board.  I've been involved with the Dominion Newspaper Co-operative since 2006 and am actively involved in the Toronto Media Co-op. 
 
Through my work with the Media C-op in the past, I think I would have an excellent link to the various people within the network.  My work with tenants in Toronto has given me experience in making difficult choices as well: overseeing staff, hiring, layoffs, restructuring, making use of scant resources, doing things cheaper, dealing with people with behavioral or mental health issues, dealing with complaints and learning copious amounts of information in a short time.
 
Though I don't have to deal with that all the time, and hope I don't have to deal with many of those issues at the Dominion/Media Co-op, I hope that I would be able to use that experience if necessary.
 
 
Roddy Doucet
Editor Member representative
 
I have been involved with the Media Co-op for the past three years as the National Membership Coordinator and in this time, I have come to believe deeply in the potential of the Co-op. I am very excited to be involved in the next stage of our development and played a small role in penning the proposed new structure many of you will be seeing for the first time this evening. I have extensive experience as a fundraiser and community organizer for many different organizations. The one hallmark of my career has been a desire to build solid foundations. I strongly support initiatives that promote lasting change and a patient approach to growth, the steady hand wins the race as my father continually reminded my teenage self
If I am elected to the board, I promise to do my best to push the Co-op toward becoming more member-responsive. I have found in my time that in the hustle and bustle of producing a magazine and trying to become financially viable we have fallen short on member outreach. I would work to ensure that at each stage of development we ask the question: did anybody solicit member feedback.
Thanks for your time and your support of the Co-op.
 
Matt Hanson
Editor Member representative
 
From November 2011, to November 2013, I contributed fifty posts to The Media Co-op as a Contributing Member. They spanned everything from Indigenous voices from the Amazon, to workers in Northern Canada, to Sudanese refugees in Egypt, and many more. In October of 2013, Drew Anderson, editor and publisher of Fast Forward Weekly interviewed me on my efforts to build a local of The Media Co-op in Calgary (http://www.ffwdweekly.com/life/your-face-here/matt-hanson-calgary-workin...). 
 
For two years, I also contributed original reportage solely for The Media Co-op on a regular basis, going out into the community to recover a youth-focused perspective on subjects of local, national and global interest. While only eight of the stories were green-lit by editors at The Media Co-op, I also published two articles for The Dominion. 
 
The Media Co-op inspired me to pursue journalism as an ongoing practice of social cause, and professional advocacy, which I continue to this day in New York City. While an active Contributing Member to The Media Co-op, I also became a permanent resident of Canada. I plan to fulfill the role of Editor Representative meaningfully, and enduringly, with special regard for Canadian journalism, to also build further capacity for international solidarity through cooperative media. 
 
 
Dru Oja Jay
Editor Member representative
 
I've been involved with the Dominion since it started in 2003, and have been actively involved with the Media Co-op since it was founded in 2008, and I have served two terms as a board member in the intervening years. The last three years, and especially 2014, have been difficult for board and staff alike, as a number of limitations of our structure and operations finally came to a head. However, the crisis presents us with a major opportunity to reinvision our work at the national level and put things on a solid footing for the next decade of operations. I've been deeply involved in drafting a proposal for how to restructure and revitalize the Media Co-op national office and the Dominion. If given the chance to serve a third term, my efforts will be dedicated to building a media co-op that pays its staff a living wage, maintains a healthy balance sheet, is more vital and diverse, focuses efforts on training a new generation of grassroots journalists, and which produces more high-quality journalism with our limited resources.