By Jasmine Makar

Disclaimer: The student interviewed in this article has previously contributed to The Eyeopener.

The School of Journalism at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) has implemented a pause for interviewing and reporting on Indigenous-focused stories within the TMU community until the fall of 2026.

The pause comes after Indigenous community members at TMU approached the journalism faculty about a significant volume of requests directed towards Indigenous staff, students and student groups on campus. 

Chair of the journalism program, Ravindra Mohabeer, stated that the pause was implemented this semester after the Indigenous Education Council on campus sat down with faculty members this past fall to discuss “the footprint of journalism students and various forms of demand on time and expertise and relational work that occurs on campus.”

Mohabeer also added that the pause will not stop the faculty and students from relationship building and increasing their knowledge base. This semester will be spent “tooling up, becoming better educated through relationships with the Yellowhead Institute on campus, as a faculty, we’re going to be undertaking multi-module course that the Yellowhead Institute offers,” he said.

Yellowhead Institute is an Indigenous-led education and research institute at TMU. The research centre offers multiple forms of supports and information, including the Land Back free online modules, which was launched in September 2024 as previously reported by The Eyeopener. 

The Eye reached out to the Yellowhead Institute regarding the pause, but did not receive a response in time for publication. 

Fourth-year journalism student and a digital editor at Reconciling Journalism, Jordyn Misura, does not believe this pause will affect her learning as a student. “I think that reconciliation shouldn’t solely fall on Indigenous people to educate non-Indigenous people,” she said.

“As journalists, we’re taught to go and find the best story. And…minority groups aren’t this huge story that we have to exploit.”

She also reflected on her first two years in the program, and how her interview skills have evolved.

“If there’s anything that I could change about the journalism program, it would be to give us extra training and not let us go out and interview people,” she said. 

The Eye has previously reported on the effect journalism students can have while reporting on Indigenous communities.

Canadian media has historically pushed and reinforced negative stereotypes harming Indigenous communities across the country, according to TVO Today. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s (TRC) Call to Action 86 also calls for journalism schools to teach Indigenous history, including but not limited to the history of residential schools.

“We want to be able to find a way to thoughtfully guide that process of relationship building, knowledge development and having a repertoire of understanding that you can build from so that you can be a thoughtful and proper contributor to the calls to action from the [TRC],” said Mohabeer. 

The pause will be revisited among faculty at the end of this semester, and an “overall reporting guide” will be rebuilt centred on building relationships off and on campus with the Indigenous community, according to Mohabeer. 

Mohabeer also stated that students wishing to pursue a topic regarding the Indigenous community can be considered on a case-by-case basis and will be carefully guided. 

“Harm can occur with one person, and harm can occur with 500 people asking the same question. It’s not about the numbers so much as it is about the ability to thoughtfully guide somebody towards something,” he said. 

Misura said, “I don’t think that it silences [Indigenous voices]. If they want to speak out, they will reach out, but I think it gives them a break from, again using the word exploited.”