Membership of the CAJ Ethics Committee

The current membership of the Ethics Advisory Committee of the Canadian Association of Journalists is:

The current membership of the Ethics Advisory Committee of the Canadian Association of Journalists is:

Ivor Shapiro (chair), associate professor and undergraduate program director of the School of Journalism at Ryerson University. Shapiro teaches journalism ethics and feature reporting and previously worked as a reporter, magazine editor, and editorial trainer. He is the Founding Editor of J-Source. Born and raised in South Africa, he immigrated to Canada in 1985 and is a former contributing editor of Saturday Night magazine and former managing editor of Chatelaine magazine. Shapiro has written feature articles for those magazines as well as Toronto Life, The Walrus, Maclean's, Today's Parent and The Globe and Mail's Report on Business Magazine, among others. He is the author of one book-length work of literary journalism, What God Allows: The Crisis of Faith and Conscience in One Catholic Church (Doubleday, New York: 1996), and the editor of The Bigger Picture: Elements of Feature Writing (Emond Montgomery Press, 2008).

Marc-François Bernier, Research Chair in Communication of the Canadian Francophonie specializing in journalism ethics at the University of Ottawa. Bernier holds a PhD in political science and is a communications and journalism professor at the Department of Communication of the University of Ottawa. He has published many scientific articles and book chapters on journalism ethics and professional conduct and is frequently called upon as an expert witness in civil defamation cases.

Patrick Brethour is The Globe and Mail's British Columbia editor, heading a bureau of 17 journalists. Previously, he was the Alberta bureau chief for The Globe, reporting on energy, economic and political news in the province from 2002 to 2006. During the dot-com boom, he reported on technology from Toronto. He joined the Globe in 1996; before that, he worked at the Ottawa Citizen in various capacities.

Bert Bruser, lawyer, is counsel to the Toronto Star and an adjunct professor at both the Faculty of Law, University of Toronto, and the School of Journalism, Ryerson University. A former senior partner at Blake, Cassels & Graydon, he has acted for newspapers and others in the publishing business for more than 30 years.

Tim Currie, Assistant Professor of Journalism at the University of King's College in Halifax. Currie has taught online journalism and research at the university since 1999. He has a master’s degree in communications and technology from the University of Alberta and is co-editor of the forthcoming textbook The New Journalist. He comments frequently on new media issues.

Kathy English, Public Editor at the Toronto Star. She began her journalism career at the Brantford Expositor in 1976 and was a Star reporter and feature writer from 1983-1989. She has reported and edited for the Hamilton Spectator, London Free Press, Toronto Sun, and The Globe and Mail. She taught newspaper journalism at Ryerson School of Journalism for 10 years. In her sabbatical year from Ryerson, she completed a Master’s degree in Canadian history, writing a thesis on 20th century newspaper ownership trends and the demise of family ownership in Canadian newspapers. After departing from Ryerson's journalism faculty in 1989, she launched websites for two Canadian media companies, SunMedia and Transcontinental Media, and also directed the launch of the San Francisco-based parenting website, BabyCenter Canada. English served on the board of the National Newspaper Awards for 5 years and was a board member of the Organization of News Ombudsmen (ONO)She also serves on the programming committee of the Canadian Journalism Foundation and on the board of the Gordon Sinclair Foundation.

Esther Enkin, executive editor CBC News. Esther Enkin was appointed Executive Editor, CBC News in 2008. Enkin has worked in radio and television at CBC since 1975. She was a founding member of The Journal, and went on to be a documentary field producer.  Several of her productions won international awards. Since then, she has held a number of progressively more responsible  roles.  As head of information programming and chief journalist (Radio) from 1997 to 2002, Enkin implemented a new operation structure and helped developed new programs including This Morning and Outfront.  From 2003 to 2007, Enkin was deputy editor-in-chief of CBC News, and oversaw the first steps in the integration of radio, television and online news. In her current position of executive editor, CBC News, Enkin is responsible for the quality and standards of CBC journalism.   She  oversees policy and standards, developing policy and ensuring CBC's journalistic standards are met nationally and regionally on all platforms.  Along with a colleague from Radio Canada, she is responsible for a complete rewrite and design of CBC’s authoritative ethical code,  Journalistic Standards and Practices. 

Meredith Levine has been on faculty at the Graduate Journalism Program at Western since 2006.  Previous to this she spent two years with McMaster’s medical school teaching professionalism and ethics to graduating medical students.  As a journalist, she worked for a decade at CBC national radio current affairs creating programs and in depth series on social and health issues.  Meredith  also worked as a writer/producer of TV documentaries with Breakthrough Films. As a freelance print journalist, she has published in the NY Times, The Nation, the Newstateman (UK), the Globe and Mail and several Canadian magazines.  Meredith has collaborated with Dr. Gordon Guyatt, the Godfather of evidence-based medicine, on several research projects focused on incorporating patient perspectives into treatment guidelines, the most recent of which will be published in the Journal of Clinical Epidemiology.  Meredith recently completed her M.J. (thesis stream) at Carleton University for which she was awarded The Senate Medal for Outstanding Academic Achievement.

Julian Sher, is the senior producer of CBC TV’s premier investigative documentary program, the fifth estate. He is also the author of six books, and a past president of the CAJ. He has worked as a investigative reporter for the Toronto Star and the Globe and Mail and his features have appeared in New York Times, USA Today, Maclean’s and Walrus magazine.

As a TV producer and writer, Sher directed a New York Times-CBC TV investigation called Nuclear Jihad, which won the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award, the broadcast equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize, in 2006. His book ‘Until you are dead’ helped Steven Truscott clear his name after 50 years of being wrongly convicted of murder. His latest  two books focused on child abuse. His books have twice been named Best True Crime Book of the year by the Crime Writers of Canada. More information at www.juliansher.com.

Craig Silverman is an entrepreneurial journalist and the founder and editor of Regret the Error, a Poynter Institute blog about media errors, accuracy and verification. Silverman previously served as director of content for Spundge, helped launch Canadian online news startup OpenFile, and was managing editor of PBS MediaShift. He has been a columnist for Columbia Journalism Review, The Globe And Mail, and the Toronto Star. Silverman is the author of Regret The Error: How media Mistakes Pollute the Press and Imperil Free Speech, and his work has received awards from the U.S. National Press Club, Mirror Awards, American Copy Editors Society, Crime Writers of Canada, National Magazine Awards (Canada), and the Canadian Online Publishing Awards.

Shauna Snow-Capparelli is the associate professor and chair of the bachelor of communication-journalism program at Mount Royal University, Calgary. Snow-Capparelli  chaired this committee’s writing in 2011 of the CAJ Ethics Guidelines and Principles for Ethical Journalism, and also authored MRU’s Journalism Code of Ethics and Professional Practices, a comprehensive policy guiding all student reporting conduct and journalistic work. Snow-Capparelli’s professional experience includes 13 years as a staff writer at the Los Angeles Times and a brief stint at another Southern California Daily, the Orange County Register. At the L.A. Times, Snow-Capparelli covered the arts beat, and also wrote and edited a widely read daily entertainment news column, Morning Report.

Ellen van Wageningen is the managing editor for The Windsor Star, where she has worked as a reporter and editor since 1990. She was the Star’s business editor and prior to that the metro editor. During her time as a reporter she covered justice, municipal affairs and health.