By Wendy-Ann Clarke
Still on a high from wins at the Canadian Screen Awards in late May, the newest member to the Investigative Journalism Bureau (IJB), Ryan McMahon, says joining the newsroom feels like the natural next step in his evolution as a storyteller.
McMahon’s docuseries Thunder Bay earned three nominations, taking home awards for best factual series and best factual writing. The four-part series, produced with Canadaland and streaming on CRAVE TV, explores the murders of Indigenous people in the city of Thunder Bay, Ontario and the systemic racism that allowed it to occur.
A long-time stand-up comedian turned journalist, McMahon joined the IJB in March as Indigenous Affairs Reporter. It has helped him expand his chops into print journalism covering a groundbreaking class action lawsuit exposing the state of housing in Canada’s First Nation communities. With much more coming down the pipeline, he is also host of Heliograph: Snapshots, an IJB podcast interviewing reporters on the deeply intimate and personal stories behind their investigations.
“I’ve called this a dream job because I think working in different mediums is very rewarding,” says McMahon. “Writing is a different muscle, it’s a different type of collaboration, and I believe there’s value in all these mediums… the newspaper industry has its own audience so it’s a wonderful step for me in my career. It’s one that I’m very thrilled to have made.”
Journalism is about finding truth but sometimes in Indigenous communities, the truth is very complicated, explains McMahon who is Anishinaabe from Couchiching First Nation in Northwestern Ontario. Reporting is complicated and often fraught with challenges because for so long those communities have been misrepresented by mainstream media, he says.
Encouraged by the growing recognition of the need for trauma-informed reporting in marginalized communities, McMahon says greater context is needed in the reporting process.
He says he appreciates the meticulous efforts the IJB puts into crafting stories, ensuring that context and representation are handled with care. He respects humility in the writing process, carefully considering every word and sentence to ensure fair, balanced, and accurate journalism.
“What I really value about the IJB is that we’re very intentional and we talk very deeply about our drafts. To me, that intention is an integral part of a newsroom that is willing to engage with Indigenous stories. The spirit in which you enter a story, the reason why you’re telling that story and how you’re telling that story will guide you.”
Having an Indigenous journalist with lived and professional experience in a position to explore truth at an independent newsroom is rare. McMahon is focused on building intentional partnerships with those whose voices need to be heard.
The IJB has spent years cultivating relationships with First Nation communities across the country. That patience has resulted in major investigations and more to come.
“I feel very lucky to be involved with the team here and to contribute to the reporting,” says McMahon. “I think that a collaborative non-profit newsroom that aims to tell really rich, complex, thoroughly reported news stories on Indigenous communities is not just obviously needed in this country, but I think is one of the secret serums to progress here.”
Ryan McMahon is on a six-month contract with the Investigative Journalism Bureau. Support our mission to continue to tell deeply reported stories in Indigenous communities by donating to keep reporting positions like this alive. Visit ijb.utoronto.ca/support-us to give.