Luís LM Aguiar is Professor of Sociology at the University of British Columbia, Okanagan. He is the PI in this study of contemporary ethnic media in Canada, and on this his interests lie in understanding the future viability of the Portuguese ethnic media in Montreal. He also researches the marginalization and forced precarity of migrant workers in neoliberal Canada. 

Theme(s): #Narratives of Transition; #Multigenerational Engagement

Farrah Bérubé holds a PhD in Communication and is a Full Professor at the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (Canada). She is also a regular researcher at the Intercultural Relations Research Laboratory (LABRRI) in Montreal. Her research expertise focuses on the representation and treatment of diversity in Quebec and Canadian media, as well as migrants’ uses of media, including issues of representation, consumption, and production. Her work also explores intercultural communication and the social and media representations of diversity. Since 2020, she has served as Director of Undergraduate Communication Programs and Head of the Communication Section within her department.

Theme(s): #Narratives of Transition; #Beyond Ethnic “Silos”

Carlos Teixeira is a leading expert in urban social geography. His research interests have gradually evolved from an early focus on Portuguese settlement in Canada to a research interest on the settlement experiences of different immigrant groups (from Europe and Africa to Latin America), especially their challenge in finding adequate housing and their participation in ethnic entrepreneurship. His current research focuses on: (a) the changing social geography of Canadian cities, particularly Toronto and Vancouver; (b) ethnic entrepreneurship through comparative case studies of immigrants in Toronto and Vancouver; and (c) the housing experiences and coping strategies of new immigrants and refugees in suburban Toronto and Vancouver and small and mid-size cities. More recently he joined forces with Luis Aguiar and Farrah Bérubé to study the Portuguese media in Canada.

Theme(s): #Narratives of Transition; #Beyond Ethnic “Silos”

Dr. Sherry S. Yu is Associate Professor in the Department of Arts, Culture and Media, with a graduate appointment in the Faculty of Information at the University of Toronto. Her research explores the role of media and journalism in multicultural societies from critical, comparative, and collaborative perspectives. She is the author of Diasporic Media beyond the Diaspora (2018, UBC Press) and the co-editor of Ethnic Media in the Digital Age (2019, Routledge) and The Handbook of Ethnic Media in Canada (2023, McGill-Queen’s University Press). She is the theme lead for Theme 3: Multigenerational Engagement, and a member of Theme 4: Beyond Ethnic “Silos.”

Theme(s): #Multigenerational Engagement; #Beyond Ethnic “Silos”

As a PhD student, Sujaya’s research interests look at globalization, intercultural relations, and Canadian multiculturalism through platform and media studies. Inspired by her family’s roots in Trinidad and Tobago with an ancestry from India, Sujaya’s academic journey was inspired by ethnic media from Canada’s Indo-Caribbean community.

Sujaya is a research assistant for the University of Toronto Scarborough’s Department of Arts, Culture and Media, where she works with Professor Sherry Yu on the Digital Ethnic Media Hub (DEMH) which aims to serve as a publicly accessible digital space with an ethnic media directory and an ethnic news database.

Sujaya Rampersad-Singh

Graduate Research Assistant

Dr. Ju is Professor of Public Relations at Mount Royal University, Calgary, Canada. Her research focuses on public relations for the public good, examining how communication can serve societal interests by promoting inclusion, dialogue, and social well-being beyond organizational self-interest. Using mixed and community-engaged methods, she studies how marginalized communities use communication to navigate structural barriers, participate in civic life, and build relationships with broader society. 

Theme(s): #Beyond Ethnic “Silos”

Brian Daly is an Assistant Professor and Associate Director in the School of Journalism, Writing & Publishing at the University of King’s College in Halifax, Nova Scotia. His research focusses on diversity, equity and inclusion of Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) in the Canadian media industry. In this SSHRC project he will survey Black publications in Atlantic Canada to document their fundraising and audience-engagement challenges.

Theme(s): #Narratives of Transition

Haruka (she/her) is a Master of Journalism student at the University of King’s College and a graduate research assistant for the project “From the East: Challenges and Opportunities Facing Black-owned Media in Atlantic Canada.” She is currently producing a video documentary on Deaf education in Nova Scotia. Having previously reported on marginalized voices in Japan, she is deeply interested in exploring new methods of accessible storytelling.

Gilberto Fernandes (he/him/his) is an immigrant from Portugal whose transnational life regularly intertwines his two homes. A visiting scholar in the Department of History at York University, Toronto, his research has focused on the history of the Portuguese diaspora in North America, and the construction industry and building trade unions in Ontario. He is a prolific and award-winning public historian, community archivist, and curator with multiple credits, including travelling and online exhibitions, documentaries, podcasts, theatre, walking tours, and other formats.

Theme(s): #Beyond Ethnic “Silos”

Tracy Lopes holds a PhD in African History from York University, with a minor in African Diaspora and Legal History. She recently completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Toronto Scarborough, where her research focused on the movement of serviçais (indentured workers) from Angola to São Tomé and Príncipe. She is currently a research assistant on the Ethnic Media in Canada at a Crossroads project, conducting content analysis of Portuguese-language newspapers.

Leah Hamilton is Vice Dean, Research and Community Relations and Professor of Organizational Behaviour in the Faculty of Business, Communication Studies, and Aviation at Mount Royal University. She is a community-engaged scholar who works with newcomer communities and 2SLGBTQIA+ communities to better understand the impacts of policies and programs. She also researches public attitudes toward immigrants and 2SLGBTQIA+ communities. Her research is funded by SSHRC. 

Theme(s): #Beyond Ethnic “Silos”

Dr. Anne Murphy is Associate Professor and Chair, Punjabi Language, Literature, and Sikh Studies in the Department of History at UBC-V. Their research for the Ethnic Media at a Crossroads project concerns online and print media in the Punjabi language and/or targeting Punjabi Canadian communities. Dr. Murphy’s forthcoming monograph, due out in early 2027, explores the political imaginaries expressed in the Punjabi language through decolonization and into the postcolonial periods in India and Pakistan.

Theme(s): #Platforming & Information (In)Equity; #Multigenerational Engagement

Jai Sidhu is an undergraduate student at the University of British Columbia studying Political Science and Asian Studies. His academic interests centre on Punjabi-Canadian communities, diaspora politics, and the intersections of political theory with South Asian religious texts. His current research includes an analysis of Punjabi print media in Canada for the “Ethnic Media at a Crossroads” project, and a project entitled “Paths to Belonging: Multiculturalism and Canadian Political Identity Among Middle-Aged Punjabi Immigrants in the Lower Mainland.”

Prabhpreet Singh Gill is a third-year student in the Sciences Po-UBC Dual Degree Program. His majors in Politics and Government and Law from Sciences Po, and his majors in International Relations and Middle Eastern Studies, have allowed him to explore diasporic movements in great depth. His work in the Ethnic Media Studies Project focuses on how traditional and non-traditional media outlets on social media interact with the Punjabi diaspora in Canada.

Prabhpreet Singh Gill

Anne’s Undergraduate Research Assistant

Camille Dundas is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of award-winning online magazine, ByBlacks.com. She is also the founder of the IDEA Practice, where she leads as a diversity, equity, and inclusion educator dedicated to transforming workplaces through scenario-based learning.

Maria Paula da Costa Silva Ferreira (Paula Ferreira) is the President of the Azorean House of Quebec (Casa dos Açores do Quebec) located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. She has held this position, on a voluntary basis, since 2023.

Born in Ponta Delgada, São Miguel, Açores, Portugal, she emigrated to Canada in 1970. She holds a Certificate in Human Resources Management from McGill University.

When she retired in 2024 from a multinational forest products company, she held the position of Manager of Human Resources and Executive Compensation.

Anita Li is publisher and CEO of The Green Line, an award-winning news outlet in Toronto that delivers community-driven solutions journalism. She also recently served as Journalism Innovator-in-Residence at Toronto Metropolitan University. With over two decades of industry experience across North America, Anita is recognized for her expertise in community-driven journalism, news entrepreneurship and media innovation.

Maria Saras-Voutsinas is the Executive Director of The National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada. Maria advocates on behalf of her member publications to ensure that third language Canadian media is celebrated and gets the recognition they all deserve. 

Shanshan Shi (she/her) is a PhD candidate in Communication, Media and Film at the University of Calgary and a contract instructor at Mount Royal University. Her research examines platformized media environments and digital persuasion, focusing on how systems of visibility, targeting, and voice operate in everyday communication contexts, particularly in relation to youth, migration, and consumer culture. She holds a master’s degree in Communication from Johns Hopkins University and completed two bachelor’s degrees at Miami University.

Madeline Ziniak

Madeline Ziniak, C.M.,O.Ont. has been involved in traditional and ethnic media for over 40 years as a senior broadcast executive, producer, director and journalist. Madeline is Chair of the Canadian Ethnic Media Association. She has received the Order of Canada, the Order of Ontario, as well as numerous community, government, and industry related honours in her work for the advancement and development of ethnic media in Canada. Madeline was the National Vice President of Omni Television. She is a board member of the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council since 1991.