Joyce Hunter

After receiving her diploma in Durham College’s Journalism – Print program in 2003, Joyce began her career at The Daily Press in Timmins as a general assignment reporter/photographer. She then moved on to the aboriginally owned and operated Wawatay News to work as a reporter before being promoted to editor. She has spent more than 10 years working as a journalist and has won national and provincial awards for her work, including the 2008 Canadian Community Newspaper Award for Best News Story, the 2006 Ontario Community Newspapers Association Award for Best News Story and the Canadian Ethnic Media Association’s Innovation Award in 2013. She has a deep and personal connection to the legacy left by residential schools due to her older brother’s sudden death while attending St. Anne’s Residential School in Fort Albany, Ontario. She successfully lobbied for his repatriation to her community many years after. Joyce is currently the Aboriginal Liaison Strategy Coordinator for the City of Thunder Bay where she is working on continuing to develop the city’s relationships with the Indigenous community.