I was a (very small) part of a COPA!

The Toronto Star won a bundle of awards at the Canadian Online Publishing Awards this week, and I was a very small part of it.

The newsroom puts a lot of time into training and thinking digitally. It's quite a task, especially for the veteran reporters, to think outside a print medium. But our site has a good mix of interactive features, high-quality videos and bunch of other story-telling tools.

The Star took silver for best news coverage, based on three stories: the Eaton Centre shooting, the federal budget and the Union Station flooding that happened on a Friday at rush hour. I was involved in the latter, writing and updating an article at least 15 times and working the phones while multiple reporters sent me what they saw and heard on the scene. I'm thrilled to have been a small part of our award.

One of the best features the Star won a COPA for was Somalia, Where Famine is a Crime. The site combines videos, photo galleries and captivating writing by videographer Randy Risling and our national security reporter Michelle Shephard (who I'm a huge fan of). You should really take a look at it.

FoodShare's mobile food market brings relief to 'food deserts'

Video to be posted next week.

The parking lot at 90 Mornelle Ct. is nestled by high-rise apartment buildings. Fast food joints and convenience stores are steps away while the two nearest grocery stores are both located up steep hills.

But at this parking lot, on a wet and windy October morning, Marlon Neil and his son Israel have bought plantain, ginger, grapes, carrots and much more.

Every week, the Mobile Good Food Market sends a box truck full of nutritious food to Toronto’s food deserts — high-population areas where fresh food is far and expensive — to be sold at wholesale prices.


See my report in The Toronto Observer.

Don Jail flood sends sewage across 50-bed unit

After a number of overnight shifts due to a wonky course schedule, I was glad to write this story. It was a Star exclusive and my first print byline in weeks, but more importantly it's a story about a serious issue affecting numerous people.

Some of our callers were really distraught, and as a journalist you learn to distance yourself and get the details from people who are suffering. I also co-wrote a follow-up when it this happened again the next day.

Sophia Brown’s 23-year-old son, Tiaven, called her from his unit at the Don Jail.

“He calls me and says, ‘Mom, we’re dying,’ and I can hear the screaming and hollering.”

Three inmates also called the Star Wednesday after a 50-bed section of the jail was flooded with sewage.

See my report in the Toronto Star.

Voyeur websites under scrutiny by police and public

One photo shows a woman in a low-cut top picking up spilled change. Another shows a teenager’s thong rising up her backside.


Colleen Westendorf, a spokesperson for SlutWalk, views such photography on the Internet as harassment of women.

“Voyeurism affects women in the same ways all forms of violence, harassment and sexism affect women,” Westendorf said. “Women are denied ownership and agency of their own bodies.”

Cheap, portable cameras have made it easy to take photos of people without them knowing they’re being watched. But anonymous Internet forums have given voyeurism a means of showcasing thousands of photos of unassuming women exposed to anonymous gazes.


See my report in The Toronto Observer.

Africentric high school has low turnout

After years of academic research, intense media scrutiny and rowdy debates, Toronto’s first Africentric high school class has launched in Scarborough — with six students.

Officials are blaming delays in promoting the program, which follows the elementary-level Africentric school that launched in 2009 and counts over 200 pupils and a waiting list.

The Toronto District School Board planned to kick off the high school program in 2013, but decided last spring to run a pilot program. Grade 8 students were notified in June, months after most had picked their high schools.

See my report in The Toronto Observer.

TDSB academies offer specialized learning experiences (with audio clip)

This is my first post for The Toronto Observer, the final module of our reporting courses. After publishing an East York-focused newspaper every two weeks, we have a semester of publishing a hyperlocal news site that focuses on Scarborough, along with two issues of a print magazine.

For my first article, I filed an audio clip and some photos, both of which you can find on the site.

Academies like the vocal music module at Heather Heights J.P.S.
are helping fill schools with declining enrollment.
Dylan C. Robertson photo

Fifteen students stand in three groups across their classroom, waiting for teacher Fiona Hopkins to count them down.

“3… 2… 1—”

One group starts singing the first lines of Barges, a traditional campfire song. The other two groups follow, creating a layered chorus.

The class consists of 11- and 12-year-olds, most of whom are wearing cartoon sweaters. But rhythm, melody and harmony are already familiar to these Grade 6 students at Heather Heights Junior Public School, near Ellesmere Road and Scarborough Golf Club Road.

See my report in The Toronto Observer.

Cogeco email outage leaves thousands in Ontario frustrated

The school year’s just around the corner, but you may have some trouble enrolling your kid in the Halton Hills Blue Fins swim club.

That’s because head coach Mike Thompson is among thousands of Ontarians who woke up Monday to no email service.

Cogeco offers free email accounts to its Internet subscribers across Ontario. The company says its personal email service has been down since 4 p.m., though some have been in the dark since Sunday night.

See my report in the Toronto Star.