While living in Vancouver I resided in the demonized area known as the Downtown Eastside (DTES). I worked part-time in some of the residential housing programs and produced this series as an independent photographer. I met some of these drug-addicted subjects through work, met others at bars or in the street in front of my apartment. These particular women always…
Somaliland’s devastating drought: TNPJ talks with Canadian photojournalist Adrienne Surprenant A deadly drought is currently sweeping across several countries in Africa including Somalia, South Sudan, Nigeria and Yemen. One area which has received little media attention is the self-declared independent state of Somaliland. Adrienne Suprenant has been reporting on the ground there for the past year (with a focus…
What if death wasn’t an end in itself, but a vector for empowerment and recognition instead? This is the vision of Hadjira Belkacem, founder of the Association pour la Sépulture Musulmane au Québec (Association for Muslim Burial in Quebec). Hadjira, an Algerian immigrant who’s been living in Quebec with her family for over 15 years, has worked hard for the…
As a photojournalist, I have spent some time documenting the opioid crisis that is currently wreaking havoc in my hometown of Vancouver. A few months ago a story about drug users learning to save each other’s lives by administering Narcan, which I had photographed, went up online. That same day my brother went into treatment for a heroin addiction that…
Too often Indigenous women and non-binary peoples are not heard or seen as we define and experience ourselves. I am working to redress this by creating images of contemporary indigenous people from an indigenous perspective. An Exploration of Resilience is about identity, culture, strength, vulnerability, and love – these images are about resilience. We are often looked at as inferior or…
An environmental movement is stirring in indigenous communities across North America. The moniker ‘water protector’ came from the protests of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), and the DAPL story is a powerful example of activism in the face of environmental racism. But environmental activism is often much more subtle than the headlines let on. In Canada’s North, indigenous youth are stepping…
Malartic, Que., is a small town of 3,300 people which is home to the largest open pit gold mine in Canada. The mine originally operated from the 1920s to the 1950s, when it shut down. Then, in 2008, the mine was reopened by Osisko Mining Corporation. Because the ore deposits lie beneath the southern part of the town (rumour has it that…
Michael Ilgert doesn’t look like a criminal. With his rubber boots and boisterous laugh he is, in many ways, the quintessential small-time dairy farmer. He is selling an illegal product however. The local health unit has taken him to court over concerns about the safety of the milk he sells from his small farm in Renfrew, Ont. The milk is…
On a cloudy November day the smoke generated from the stacks along the harbour is the same shade of gray as the sky that looms heavy above. Distinguishing the broad clouds from the billows of smoke quickly becomes impossible. From the elevated portion of Burlington Street one is provided with an unobstructed view of blast furnaces, abandoned picket lines and…