Photo: Alex McBride
An evening to celebrate human rights journalism October 20, 2021 | Evergreen Brick Works | #Night4Rights
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A MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR & CO-CHAIRS Journalists for Human Rights is Canada’s leading media development organization. For 19 years, JHR has remained committed to protecting media freedoms and promoting greater human rights awareness around the world. From Canada to Mali to Iraq - and now Afghanistan - JHR works to empower journalists to fight for the truth worldwide. We are honoured to bring you Night for Rights 2021, our 19th anniversary celebration - and we wish you a warm welcome to the gala. At this year’s gala hosted by Emmy Award-winning Adrienne Arsenault of the CBC, we will hear from Afghan-Canadian human rights advocate Roya Shams, who fled Kabul as a young schoolgirl a decade ago and has now recently reunited with her family in Canada after their own escape from the Taliban last month. BBC Chief International Correspondent Lysa Doucet, C.M., O.B.E. will join us from Washington to talk about the situation on the ground in Kabul, as she saw it just a few days ago. We will also look back at our successes through COVID-19 in the past year, as JHR Mali Program Lead Moro Siaka Diallo will talk about how information can indeed save lives, especially during a pandemic. Karyn Pugliese will highlight how we can continue to put the truth in truth and reconciliation, while this year’s Gordon N. Fisher/JHR Fellow at Massey College Patrick Egwu will share his experiences of covering human rights in Nigeria. There will be a special opportunity to support JHR’s ongoing effort to evacuate journalists from Kabul. At tonight’s Fund A Need hosted by The Auctionista, we are raising $21,000 to cover the costs of evacuating seven more journalists out of Kabul. We hope you partake in our live fundraising round.
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Thank you to our valued sponsors, supporters AND volunteers who have provided important financial support, time and energy to making tonight’s effort happen. And thank you to all of you for showing your support by being with us tonight. We couldn’t do this work without you. So now sit back, be inspired, and donate! We are in for a wonderful evening — all in celebration of human rights journalism. Sincerely, THERESA EBDEN, Chair
MASAI UJIRI, Co-chair
Director of Marketing and Communications programs for Accenture’s global Growth & Strategy organization
President and Vice-Chairman of the Toronto Raptors
MICHAEL COOKE, Co-chair
LISA LAFLAMME, Co-chair
Journalists for Human Rights chair & former Editor of the Toronto Star
Chief Anchor and Senior Editor for CTV National News
CATHERINE CANO, Co-chair President and Founder of Canovision, former Administratrice of La Francophonie and CEO of CPAC
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NIGHT FOR RIGHTS HOST Adrienne Arsenault Adrienne Arsenault hosts THE NATIONAL, alongside Andrew Chang in Toronto and Ian Hanomansing from Vancouver. Emmy Award-winning journalist Adrienne Arsenault has been a senior correspondent for THE NATIONAL since 1999, deployed to the biggest breaking news stories and investigative stories in Canada and around the world. Arsenault’s assignments have included disasters, conflicts, politics, sports and human dramas. She won a 2015 International Emmy for her work covering the Ebola crisis. She has covered six Olympic Games for CBC, including Tokyo 2020, as well as the FIFA World Cup in South Africa. Her investigative work on security has seen her cross Canada and pursue terror stories across the globe. Arsenault began her career at CBC in 1991, as an editorial assistant for The National. Over the years since, her postings have included Vancouver, Washington, Jerusalem and London. Arsenault was named the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association’s Journalist of the Year. She has won two Gracie awards for outstanding female correspondent, a Monte Carlo Festival award for her coverage of the Zimbabwe election and several Gemini and Canadian Screen Awards. Arsenault has been telling people for years that she has a crush on her job. Follow Adrienne Arsenault on Twitter @ adriearsenault
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NIGHT FOR RIGHTS GUEST SPEAKERS Rachel Pulfer, Executive Director JHR Rachel Pulfer is the Executive Director of Journalists for Human Rights, Canada’s leading media development organization. A magazine journalist of 10 years’ standing, Pulfer took over JHR in 2011 and has since worked to expand its scope of operations from one continent to three. This included adapting JHR’s innovative community-led model of media development work overseas to successful programming on Indigenous rights in Canada and moving into the Middle East and North Africa in the wake of the Arab Spring. Working with journalists Michael Cooke, Troy Reeb, Lisa LaFlamme, Karyn Pugliese, Joanne McDonald, Kenny Yum and many many others, Pulfer pioneered an approach to media partnerships that embedded Canadian journalism experts in training programs with JHR across the media landscape. On her watch, the organization has doubled in scope while winning several regional and national awards acknowledging the impact of JHR programs. Such recognition includes the 2018 Bill Hutton Award for Excellence in Journalism from RTDNA Canada, 2018 Ontario Heritage Award and 2013 Canadian Ethnic Media Award for Innovation for the Indigenous Reporters Program, and a 2013 Governor-General’s Award for Services to the People of Ghana.
Karyn Pugliese Karyn Pugliese, aka Pabàmàdiz, is currently the Managing Editor, Investigative, for CBC television. She is best known for her awardwinning work as a Parliament Hill reporter and as the Executive Director of News and Current Affairs at APTN (Aboriginal Peoples Television Network). She joined Ryerson’s faculty in 2020 while completing a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University. She is a board member of Canadian Journalists for Free Expression, a Journalists for Human Rights Ambassador and co-chair of the Canadian Association of Journalists’ advocacy committee.
Moro Siaka Diallo Moro Siaka Diallo is the Project Manager at JHR Mali. He began his career in advertising before making the switch to the humanitarian sector, where he has worked with numerous international organizations on development projects related to child protection, maternal, newborn and child health as well as social marketing. He has a degree in Communications & Public Relations. Moro is dedicated to working to promote human rights and democracy in Mali.
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Lyse Doucet, C.M., O.B.E. Born in eastern Canada, Lyse Doucet is the BBC’s Chief International Correspondent and a senior presenter who anchors news programs for BBC World TV and World Service Radio. She is regularly deployed to present special news coverage from the field, interview world leaders and report across the BBC’s domestic and global outlets. Before joining the BBC’s team of presenters in 1999, Lyse spent 15 years as a BBC foreign correspondent with postings in Jerusalem, Amman, Islamabad, Tehran, Kabul and Abidjan. She is a regular visitor to the Middle East and has covered major stories in the region since 1994, when she established the BBC’s office in Amman, Jordan. Lyse was awarded an O.B.E. in the Queen’s Honours list in 2014 for her services to broadcasting and the Columbia Journalism Award for lifetime achievement in 2016. Her most recent awards include, in 2018, the Trailblazer Award from the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security, and the Change the Culture Award from the Theirworld education charity. In 2017, she was honoured with the Charles Wheeler Award for Broadcasting by the British Journalism Review, Italy’s Luchetta Award for a report on Syrian children, and the Next Century Foundation Award for Outstanding Contribution to Broadcasting. In 2016, she received the Sandford St Martin Trustees’ Award for reporting on religious issues, and the One World Media Radio award for a documentary on Afghan women. Earlier honours include an Emmy and a Peabody in the United States in 2014 for her team’s reporting from Syria. She is a trustee of Inter Mediate, an honorary patron of Canadian Crossroads International and a member of Friends of Aschiana UK, which supports street working children in Afghanistan. She is also a founding member of the Marie Colvin Journalists’ Network and a Senior Fellow of Massey College at the University of Toronto. She is a trustee of the Frontline Club for Journalists and a member of the Canadian Journalism Forum on Violence and Trauma. Lyse has eleven honorary doctorates from leading British and Canadian Universities. She has a Master’s degree in International Relations from the University of Toronto, and a BA Hons from Queen’s University in Kingston.
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Roya Shams Roya Shams is an activist for women’s rights and girls’ education. Born in Kandahar, Afghanistan, Roya’s progressive views were shaped by her father, a police officer who insisted that his daughters be as well educated as his sons. After her father was killed by the Taliban in 2011, Roya, then 13, came to Canada to study at Ottawa’s Ashbury College with the help of Toronto Star and its readers. Roya has worked toward women’s empowerment from her earliest years. She taught literacy skills, English and computer skills to women and girls in Kandahar through the Afghan Canadian Community Centre and Khadija Woman Association, as well as advocating for women and girls to become engaged in the community by acquiring an education so that they could enjoy a better quality of life. In Canada, she has spoken across the country at human rights and fundraising events for the Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan, at schools, book clubs and events for Syrian refugees, and to Parliamentarians about the value of education. Roya was the first international student at the Forum for Young Canadians. An active volunteer, she has tutored newcomers at the Catholic Centre for Immigrants and is developing a foundation to help street kids in Kandahar. Furthermore, she has become associated with the Canadian Federation of University Women in order to help with their mission to ensure that girls and women have equal opportunity to an education in secure environment. Roya was an HR director for Aga Khan Foundation to help with girl’s education in Afghanistan. Roya has been honoured as a junior Voice of Hope by the Economic Club of Canada. Roya is currently enrolled in Master of International Affairs at the University of Ottawa.
Patrick Egwu Patrick Egwu is a Nigerian freelance investigative journalist. His work on human rights, social justice, migration, and global health in sub-Saharan Africa has been published by Foreign Policy, NPR, Daily Maverick, Christian Century, America Magazine and elsewhere. Patrick recently completed an Open Society Foundation fellowship on Investigative Reporting at the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa. He also has master’s and bachelor’s degrees from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. In February, he won the 2021 International Center for Journalists’ Global Health Crisis Award for Covid-19 reporting.
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Global News is proud to once again support
Night For Rights and the work JHR does amplifying life-changing journalism around the world.
Globalnews.ca
JHR HUMAN RIGHTS LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD Journalists for Human Rights conceived this award to recognize those whose body of work to date exemplifies principles of human rights reporting that has delivered powerful impact. This includes a deep commitment to professionalism, accuracy and fairness, paired with a relentless focus on giving voice to the voiceless and marginalized of society, opening up important public conversations on issues that matter, and moving that conversation forward towards solutions that make life better for everyone. JHR is pleased to announce Jean La Rose, former CEO of APTN for 20 years. as the winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award. La Rose has been recognized for representing and giving a voice to Indigenous communities through broadcasting that reached more than 11 million subscribers across the country. He is currently President of Dadan Sivunivut, a corporation devoted to the promotion of Indigenous Canadian television and film productions, radio, musical talent and cultural activities.
NATIONAL NEWSMEDIA COUNCIL/JHR FRASER MACDOUGALL AWARD The National NewsMedia Council, in partnership with Journalists for Human Rights, will present the annual Fraser MacDougall Prize for Best New Canadian Voice in Human Rights Reporting. The Prize is awarded to an exceptional piece of human rights-focused journalism published in campus-based media during the past academic year, as determined by a panel of distinguished judges.
RBC/JHR INDIGENOUS REPORTERS AWARD Award for Outstanding Work by an Indigenous Youth Reporter Journalists for Human Rights (JHR) is excited to recognize a piece of outstanding journalism created by a First Nations, Métis or Inuit journalist between the ages of 15 and 29 years old with the Award for Outstanding Work by an Indigenous Youth Reporter. JHR conceived of this award as part of the organization’s Indigenous Reporters Program which seeks to increase the quality and quantity of Indigenous stories and voices in the media in Canada, and in recognition of the outstanding work young Indigenous journalists are producing and consequently reshaping public narratives in Canada today. The award is funded by the RBC Foundation in support of RBC Future Launch, a commitment to helping young Canadians prepare for the jobs of tomorrow.
EVENING PROGRAM
6:00PM Welcome Cocktails
6:30PM Gala Dinner and Presentations Evergreen Brick Works
Master of Ceremonies:
Adrienne Arsenault, Host of THE NATIONAL, CBC
Remarks Rachel Pulfer, Executive Director, Journalists for Human Rights Masai Ujiri, Team President and Vice-President of the Toronto Raptors Karyn Pugliese, Managing Editor, Investigative for CBC Lyse Doucet, C.M., O.B.E. BBC’s Chief International Correspondent Roya Shams, Women’s and girls’ rights activist Moro Siaka Diallo, Program Manager, JHR Mali Patrick Egwu, Gordon N. Fisher/Journalists for Human Rights Fellow
Fund A Need The Auctionista
Closing Remarks Michael Cooke, Journalists for Human Rights Chair of the Board,
Emeritus Editor in Chief Toronto Star
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THANK YOU TO THE FOLLOWING ORGANIZATIONS AND INDIVIDUALS FOR PURCHASING TABLES Derek FIsher . Massey College . APTN . Delaney Family . Peter Donolo & Mary Cruden . Alethea Au/Stikeman . New Gold . Rachel Pulfer & Karim Bardeesy . Anonymous . Unifor
MESSAGE FROM THE FIELD
Proud supporter of JHR and its mission to strengthen Human rights by empowering a strong and independent press.
WEEKNIGHTS 11 CTVNews.ca
WWW.JHR.CA | INFORMATION@JHR.CA | @JHRNEWS | #NIGHT4RIGHTS phone: 416.413.0240 | fax: 416.413.1832 147 Spadina Avenue, Suite 206, Toronto ON M5V 2L7 Journalists for Human Rights is a registered Canadian Charity #860372853RR0001
THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS! Journalists for Human Rights is grateful to our sponsors who made today’s event possible. We thank you for supporting our mission to protect and strengthen media freedoms across the world.
Platinum Sponsor Three Anonymous Donors Partner Sponsors
Gold Sponsors
Hospitality Sponsors Publicity Sponsor
Honorary Sponsors
Louise Penny