Another two Megaphone vendors -- Gilles Cyrenne and Jathinder Sandhu -- are taking a journalism course at Langara College in the fall, as part of an ongoing scholarship program.
The initiative provides basic journalism training to people marginalized by poverty and other life circumstances so they can become more empowered to tell their own stories, as well as report on their communities more effectively.
Partnering with the journalism department at Langara College, Megaphone launched a pilot project in 2021 which saw two initial peers (Nicolas Crier and Julie Chapman) attend the Fundamentals of Reporting course at Langara.
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The project was a huge success; Langara and Megaphone now fund an annual scholarship called the Megaphone and Read Mercer Entrance Award, which helps those on low incomes with barriers to education receive this training.
In 2022, Yvonne Mark and Mike McNeeley attended. In 2023, Priscillia Mays Tait and Richard Young won the scholarship; Richard had to postpone his participation until 2024, and he attended with fellow scholarship recipient Eva Takakenew.
Throughout the three-month fall journalism class that starts each September, Megaphone provides wraparound support for scholarship winners. The opportunity includes access to all on-campus resources; one-on-one time with the instructor; access to a mentor-editor; and a generous stipend.
Once trained, the vendor-reporters become a part of the Megaphone pool of freelance journalists and photographers taking on paid reporting assignments. They also act as mentors to the next up-and-coming reporters.
Congratulations to Gilles and Jathinder, who are this year's scholarship winners!
Megaphone: Why are you interested in receiving the Megaphone and Read Mercer Entrance Award for journalism training?
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Gilles Cyrenne: When I was young, I worked briefly in education, but that ended as a result of depression and alcoholism. (I am now 38 years sober and sympathetic to others suffering from addiction).
Ten years ago, I retired from a career as a journeyman carpenter and started writing with Thursdays Writing Collective at Carnegie Community Centre. I have self-published one book of poetry and I am seeking a publisher for a second one, completed with the help of Vancouver Manuscript Intensive with Elee Kraljii Gardiner, now Vancouver's Poet Laureate, as my mentor.
At Carnegie, I renewed my passion of education by volunteering at Carnegie Community Learning Centre. I was invited to join the Carnegie Community Centre Association Board of Directors, where I served for eight years, two as vice-president and five as president.
This work intimately connected me with Vancouver's Downtown Eastside (DTES) and with Megaphone nine years ago. I have been published in Voices of the Street, as well as Megaphone magazine in almost every month in the last year since I joined The Shift peer newsroom. Through Megaphone my work has been published across Canada as part of the Local Journalism Initiative.
I want to take the Fundamentals of Reporting course because I want to report more expertly about the vibrant creativity of the DTES, along with the civic neglect that creates poverty, homelessness and addiction.
I want to create a more balanced view of this amazing community and the love and support I have felt here in the last 25 years.
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Jathinder Sandhu: I applied for journalism in 1989 and didn't pass the exam at Langara. At that time, I didn't know much about life. I was accepted into SFU instead and took communications, and I excelled in that field. I now have been given this fantastic opportunity to take this course.
I have lived experience of mental illness and addiction. I feel I could bring a lot of this experience to the course and learn more about becoming a better journalist and reporter.
I have 21 years of sobriety and I especially want to explore how mental illness is reported in mainstream media. I have written for the Carnegie Newsletter, Voices of the Street and Megaphone magazine. I joined Megaphone in 2022 and am now a part of The Shift peer newsroom.
Through Megaphone and the Local Journalism Initiative, my work has appeared in community newspapers across Canada.
I am deeply passionate about mental health, addiction, feminism, poverty, history and environmentalism. I have participated in peaceful protests since 1989, and I want to explore how mentally ill South Asian women are treated in India and Canada. For example, did you know that they still chain schizophrenic people to trees in India? Just like in the Victorian era in the West, the public pays a fee to ogle at the mentally ill in some Indian institutions.
Mental health care in Canada, although it has its flaws, is the best mental health system in the world by far, following the Netherlands and Germany.
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I am really excited with having this opportunity to study at Langara. My father, who is my biggest supporter, worked as a security guard for Langara for 13 years.
I want to report on social justice issues and interview others. My greatest joy is helping others achieve their goals.
Finally, I learned about the power of the pen when I wrote my first article in 1989 at SFU. I wrote about arranged marriages and I received death threats. But I didn't care because I spoke the truth about the oppressive system of arranged marriage.
Thank you for accepting me into Fundamentals of Reporting. I know I am lucky to be admitted. I have two disabilities where I have to take medication and see doctors. And I believe my dreams are coming true. I love to write! I could learn more about improving my grammar, but that will come in time.
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