Salvadoran journalist Eric Lemus is the first to receive the new Scotiabank/CJFE fellowship for a Latin American journalist, Scotiabank executives told Canadian Journalist for Free Expression (CJFE) members gathered at Massey College for the group’s annual meeting.

Lemus will be arriving at Massey College to begin the fellowship in September.

In addition, three new board members were elected to the CJFE’s board of directors: Havoc Franklin, a program development manager with CBC Radio, Peter Jacobsen, a founding partner of the firm Bersenas JacobsenChouest Thomson Blackburn LLP and Sharda Prashad is a senior writer at Canadian Business.

Six board members ran for re-election and will remain on the board: Arnold Amber (President), Bob Carty, Alice Klein, Anita Mielewczyk, John Norris and Phil Tunley. Current board members Morteza Abdolalian, Alison Armstrong, Donald Livingstone, Mary Deanne Shears, Kelly Toughill and Anna Maria Tremonti also remain.

The annual meeting was followed by a panel discussion on police impersonating journalists. The panelists were lawyer Phil Tunley, lawyer Peter Rosenthal who represents native activist Shawn Brant, Toronto Star reporter Peter Edwards and University of King’s College journalism profesor Kelly Toughill. The panel was moderated by Anita Mielewczyk.