| CARVIEW |
2024
Highlights
Letters
Highlights of 2024
It’s incredible to think about how profoundly magazine editing has changed since I started in the 1990s. Back then, it was almost an industrial process. You had established gatekeeping mechanisms: physical manuscripts, print schedules that moved at the pace of shipping containers, and editorial meetings that felt more like factory floor planning sessions.
And today? Today we work on cloud-based collaborative platforms, real-time analytics, and multimedia integration. My team and I don’t just publish journalism; we essentially run real-time digital experiments in audience engagement.
Behind the scenes, we think deeply about SEO, platform algorithms, and social media stickiness. We obsess over our headlines and how our content appears on different channels. But we also understand that there are no shortcuts. Virality might make it seem like you can game the system to build an audience, but you can’t. It’s about playing a long strategy. There’s a stewardship element to growing and keeping a readership.
Understanding that has been key to our record-breaking traffic in recent years. The industry often clings to a false choice: depth or clicks. We have proven otherwise, creating a hybrid model that proves literary sophistication and journalistic rigour can thrive in a time of instant feedback and relentless churn. What does that mean in practice?
It means an exclusive profile of Justin Trudeau, diving into the then prime minister’s mindset as his popularity plummeted and his grip on the Liberal Party slipped. Or a gripping, immersively reported account of the theft—and unlikely recovery—of Yousuf Karsh’s iconic 1941 portrait of Winston Churchill, one of the most reproduced photographs of the twentieth century. Or it might be a sensational exposé of a rising Canadian scientist whose fabricated data shook the scientific community, showing just how easily ambition can distort the systems meant to safeguard truth.
These are three of our most-read pieces from 2024, and they expanded our conception of what journalism can be and do. By proving that thoughtful, nuanced writing can find an audience online, we want to push back against entrenched assumptions about what readers want. It’s a model that challenges both the clickbait economy and traditional gatekeeping. And you’ll find more examples of this journalism throughout this report.
My team and I are crafting a distinct identity for The Walrus — one that appeals to a broader audience eager for more stylized and expressive perspectives on current events and culture. The result has been a remarkably exciting and more accessible platform where The Walrus has come alive in new ways. And we’re just getting started.
Regional Coverage
At The Walrus, we believe that the best coverage comes from those who know their communities first-hand. That’s why, through our contributing writer program, we’ve made it a priority to work with journalists and storytellers who bring deep local knowledge to national conversations. In 2024, this commitment was especially evident in our expanded coverage of the North and Quebec.
Our Northern contributing writers brought voices from across the territories to The Walrus in 2024. We were proud to publish work by Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory, an Inuk writer based in Iqaluit; Pat Kane, a long-time Yellowknife photojournalist; and Rhiannon Russell, a veteran reporter in Whitehorse. When I lived and worked in Yellowknife, one of the most frequent complaints I heard was that national coverage of the North was often done by journalists parachuting in, lacking the lived experience to fully understand the region’s complexities. Through this program, we’re working to change that.
Over the past year, our Northern contributors tackled a range of issues central to life in the territories, from the hunting economy and the growing Nunavut–Greenland connection to the impact of urban waste on bears and the closure of a storied Whitehorse newspaper. They also examined Canada’s Arctic defence strategy at a time of rising geopolitical tensions.
One story that particularly resonated with readers was Pat Kane’s photo essay on the anniversary of Yellowknife’s wildfire evacuation. In August 2023, the city and surrounding communities were thrust into the global spotlight as nearly 20,000 people were forced to flee due to encroaching wildfires. While Yellowknife itself was spared, and most residents eventually returned, the challenges of the evacuation extended far beyond the initial headlines. Kane’s essay, “Yellowknife’s Wildfire Evacuation Was Tailored for the Privileged,” offered an insider’s perspective on the inequalities that shaped the experience—parts of the story that many in the south never saw.
Looking ahead to 2025, both Williamson Bathory and Kane will continue as contributing writers, while Russell has transitioned into the role of regional correspondent. With global attention increasingly turning to the North—especially as a certain world leader muses about taking over Greenland and expanding America’s influence in the Arctic—ensuring that Northern voices are part of the conversation has never been more critical.
We also expanded our contributing writer program in Quebec, welcoming Montreal-based Toula Drimonis and Sheima Benembarek. Both writers brought sharp, insightful analysis on some of the province’s most pressing cultural and political debates.
Drimonis’s essays tackled everything from Quebec’s health care struggles to the comedy of Sugar Sammy, as well as Montreal’s ambitious bike lane expansion—one of her most widely read pieces of the year. She also explored the impacts of gentrification, offering a critical look at how rapid urban transformation is reshaping Montreal’s neighbourhoods.
Benembarek brought a more international lens to her reporting. One of her standout essays stemmed from a trip to London during the anti-immigrant riots that made global headlines. Drawing connections between the hostility she witnessed in the UK and the rhetoric she’s encountered in Quebec, she offered a nuanced reflection on the global rise of anti-immigrant sentiment. To make her work more accessible to Quebec readers, we translated this piece into French, along with another by Drimonis on the province’s lack of support for out-of-province francophones.
By investing in regional contributors, we’re ensuring that important stories are told by the people who know them best. Whether it’s the North, Quebec, or beyond, these voices not only enrich our coverage but also change the conversation entirely.
2024: A Year of Surprises
The internet is an unpredictable animal. You can’t always tell which articles will attract the most readers or spark the biggest conversations. Editorial decisions can often be cautious, guided by backward glances at high-performing content and the optimization of keywords to appeal to search engines. A data-informed process for choosing which stories to publish might make sense in the attention economy. But an obsession with numbers can crowd out the best part of journalism: the joy of finding a story you didn’t know you needed.
At The Walrus, we’re willing to take chances on an article, even if there’s no clear signal it will attract a ton of clicks. To us, there’s value in stories that tell readers new information and centre on human experiences—or that are simply a damn good read. As the digital editor, I’ve been delighted that some of our top performers in 2024 have seemingly come out of left field. They covered everything from a history of the Moleskine notebook to a feature on alternatives to retirement homes to a love letter to Joni Mitchell’s album Court and Sparks on its fiftieth anniversary.
Ironically, one of our top stories in 2024 dealt with the problem of data. “The Collapse of Self-Worth in the Digital Age” is an insightful essay by Thea Lim which recently won silver at the National Magazine Awards. Its structure is unconventional—fragments build around a central idea, exploring how algorithms hollow out our inner worlds. Lim’s sentences also go deep. And its success offered us an important lesson: data can’t always tell you what people are itching to read. Readers still have an appetite for great writing and pieces that lay bare other minds.
The Walrus Contributing Writer Program
Launched in late 2023, the contributing writer program has supercharged our editorial process. By redesigning our newsroom process, we can now commission ideas, edit and fact-check drafts, and publish stories at a much faster rate, sometimes all within a single day. For the most part, we aren’t trying to compete with breaking news; rather, we publish when a simmering conversation reaches a rolling boil. The nimbleness and speed of our contributing writers have also helped us break stories, publish exclusives and be the publication that turns up the heat. Three of the contributing writers I work with do this exceptionally well.
In April 2024, Arno Kopecky wrote a prescient essay about how far-right political parties are poised to decide the environment’s fate—a provocative idea that proved true after elections in many countries, including the US, Germany, and France, saw surges in far-right power.
In August, Rachel Browne broke the story that Robert Land Academy, a military-style boarding school in Ontario, was facing numerous multi-million-dollar lawsuits over allegations of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse.
Our exclusive reporting sparked a release and a reckoning: former students by the dozens came forward to share their stories, the number of lawsuits exploded, and Family and Children’s Services Niagara launched an investigation. And now, the academy is shuttering its doors.
Then, in October, Michelle Cyca reported—also for the first time—that the acclaimed playwright Jani Lauzon, who has long identified as Metis and built a career on Indigenous-themed plays and music, could provide no clear record of that ancestry. Furthermore, there was no evidence that Lauzon’s father had ever attended an Indian residential school—an alleged fact that was central to her highly reviewed play 1939. In response to our reporting, Lauzon changed her bio from “Métis” to “Indigenous,” and the theatre showing the play ended its run early.
These kinds of stories exemplify what The Walrus does best: challenge readers to think differently, publish with facts and fairness, and ignite conversations.
12
Unforgettable
Reads
“Justin Trudeau’s Last Stand”: Justin Ling’s cover story, featuring an exclusive interview with the former prime minister, is a personal account of his trajectory as the country’s leader, which was ultimately followed by his resignation in January 2025.
“An Explosion of Abuse Allegations Against a Military-Style Boarding School”: Rachel Browne’s investigation into accounts of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse at Ontario’s Robert Land Academy encouraged a wave of new victims to come forward and pursue legal action, eventually leading to the institute shutting down.
“With Jasper, a Once Beloved Town Becomes a Haunting Sight”: As a long-time reporter on climate issues, contributing writer Arno Kopecky took a closer look at the forest fire that ravaged Jasper, using it as a warning of the climate-fuelled tragedies likely to follow.
“Nowhere Safe: Twenty-Five Days in Wartime Gaza”: A few months into the war in Gaza, Louis Baudoin-Laarman, a worker with Doctors Without Borders, offered a first-hand account of the chaos, anger, and anguish gripping Palestine.
“Are Workplaces Inherently Toxic?”: Senior editor Samia Madwar’s cover story answered a question on many employees’ minds: Is your workplace toxic? Through a range of accounts, her article reveals a resounding “yes”—and shows that it’s far more insidious than some organizational leaders would like to admit.
“AI is a False God”: Republished in the Guardian, Navneet Alang’s timely piece deflates some of the hype around artificial intelligence—and warns of its pitfalls.
“Loblaw has become an Everything Company”: Fuelled by a national boycott of the Canadian grocery chain, David Moscrop’s story spoke to the company’s growing monopolistic grip on shoppers. Soon after this story was published, Canadian grocery stores signed an anti-monopoly agreement.
“An Acclaimed Canadian Playwright Faces Questions of Pretendianism”: Contributing writer Michelle Cyca was the first to question Jani Lauzon’s Metis identity, prompting the playwright to revise her bio and the theatre hosting her play to end its run early. Her story highlights the growing issue of non-Indigenous people claiming Indigenous identity.
“If Pierre Poilievre Wins”: In a comprehensive editorial package covering everything from immigration to conspiracy theories, a range of writers explored what to expect under a Conservative government led by Poilievre as the party’s popularity surged in 2024.
“The Ukrainians Who Refuse to Fight”: Amidst the headlines of wartime politics and casualty accounts, Jonathan Garfinkel’s story offered a rare and sensitive narrative of a Ukrainian family who fled in the face of a martial order.
“Are Universities Failing the Accommodations Test?”: Simon Lewsen examined the rising demand for student accommodations at universities, revealing how this surge is stretching an already overwhelmed system to its limits, one that may be failing its beneficiaries in the process.
“The $20 Sandwich That Could Topple Trudeau”: As the cost of food soared across Canada, Ira Wells wrote about how consumer anger could change the trajectory of the 2025 federal election. The story gained national attention.
Stories
from Our
Contributing Writers
“Shadow Government: The Consulting Firms Telling Ottawa What to Do” by Justin Ling
“A Poilievre Government Would Be Steps Back for the Climate”by Arno Kopecky
“Social Media Is Helping Bring Indigenous Languages Back from the Brink” by Michelle Cyca (also published in Cree)
“Memoirs Are Almost Impossible To Sell” by Tajja Isen
“How a Lost Buoy Brought Me Home” by Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory
“Trump’s Return Could Make Trudeau Look Even Smaller” by Philippe J. Fournier
5
Stories That
Surprised Us
“Tim Hortons Is Brewing an Idea of Canada That No Longer Exists”by Tom Jokinen
“The Collapse of Self-Worth in the Digital Age”by Thea Lim
“Joni Mitchell’s Best Album Is Turning Fifty. And It’s Not Blue”by KC Hoard
“Moleskin Mania: How a Notebook Conquered the Digital Era”by Ronald Allen
“What Should You Do with Your Stuff before You Die?”by Christina Myers
Top Regional
and
International
Stories
“Should the Arctic Really Brace for an Invasion?”by Pat Kane
“In Afghanistan, Women Haven’t Given Up”by Soraya Amiri
“Is Quebec a Traitor to Canada’s Francophone Minorities?”by Toula Drimonis (also available in French)
“Who’s Afraid of Country Food?”by Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory
As you read this, 2024 might already feel like a distant memory. But as a registered charity, we believe it’s important to take this opportunity to reflect on the past calendar year, not only to uphold our values of transparency and accountability, which includes sharing a snapshot of our audited financials, but also to look back in the spirit of learning and growth.
We can’t say this enough: The Walrus would not be thriving twenty-one years in without your support. We hope these pages will shine a spotlight on the essential role you’ve played in sustaining a trusted and thoughtful platform where Canadians can engage with some of the biggest issues of our time, always in pursuit of a better future for all.
In January 2024, we welcomed a new editor-in-chief, the award-winning poet and writer Carmine Starnino. Under Starnino’s leadership, we’ve published sharp and timely coverage of a wide range of issues. In this review, you will also hear from other editors who have guided our work over the past year, along with featured investigations and stories that have sparked conversations, accountability, and change.
Earlier this year, we launched a new three-year strategic plan with three guiding priorities: strengthening sustainability, operating holistically as a media organization, and deepening Canada’s conversations (plural). We are pleased to share that 2024 was our best year for website traffic and digital audience growth to date, which includes the successful debut of The Walrus Games. We now reach 1 million readers monthly across our various platforms. We couldn’t have done any of this without you.
At the same time, 2024 may be remembered as one of the last years in which fact checking was widely supported on major social media platforms. As disinformation and misinformation continued to spread across Canada and beyond, The Walrus responded by hiring an additional full-time fact checker. This move is part of our ongoing effort to ensure that we can publish fact-checked, trusted journalism each day.
The timing of this publication marks a bittersweet moment for Jodi Butts, with June 2025 marking her retirement as chair: “As chair of the board over the last five years, I have been proud to help lead the organization through economically volatile and highly socially polarizing times—from the onset of COVID-19 to major political upheaval. I’m happy that The Walrus continues to be in very good hands.”
All of us at The Walrus look forward to your continued support and ambassadorship for fact-based reporting and conversations. We are especially grateful to The Chawkers Foundation in particular for their steadfast support since The Walrus’s inception. Thank you for reading and for your commitment to independent media in Canada at a time when we need it the most.
The Walrus has always taken pride in its educational mandate, part of which is buoyed by our longstanding commitment to fellowships that train the next generation of journalists and producers.
In 2024, we welcomed ten fellows from across the country, offering them hands-on training in fact checking, editing, digital production, and marketing within a national media organization. This work would not be possible without the generous support of our funders. We thank the Cannonbury Foundation, CIBC Foundation, The Chawkers Foundation, Journalists for Human Rights, Power Corporation of Canada, and TD Bank Group for believing in the importance of Canadian fact-based journalism.
Throughout the year, The Walrus was delighted to receive national recognition for our in-depth reporting and art. We kicked off 2024 with a gold win at the Canadian Online Publishing Awards for Rachel Browne’s investigation into the Meeting House scandal—a story that also received recognition at the US-based Wilbur Awards. Lindsay Jones earned multiple accolades for her reporting on sexual assault. Her feature “Who’s Going to Believe Me?” won silver at the Atlantic Journalism Awards, gold at the National Magazine Awards, and also won the Landsberg Award.
The Walrus contributing writer Michelle Cyca took home Silver at the Digital Publishing Awards and gold at the National Magazine Awards for her columns. The Walrus also won additional silver awards for fiction by Claire Cameron; a profile on Alanis Obomsawin by Zoe Heaps Tennant; Eamon MacMahon’s photo essay “Bombs, Bullets, and Endangered Birds”; and our May 2023 cover, “Did You Know This Was a Graveyard?”
A highlight of the evening was senior editor Harley Rustad receiving the prestigious Editor Grand Prix gold for his outstanding contributions to Canadian journalism.
In a year shaped by urgent debates around health, climate, technology, and politics, The Walrus events team continued to offer Canadians ways to engage with some of the biggest questions of our time. The Walrus Talks series in 2024 featured a diverse lineup of in-person and virtual events, drawing 12,830 registered attendees both nationally and internationally. As the world moved further away from the COVID-19 years, we saw a strong return to in-person events while maintaining a robust virtual presence, with attendees tuning in from eighty-three countries.
In 2024, The Walrus Talks covered a range of topics, including menopause, polarization, and artificial intelligence. In April, The Walrus partnered with Concordia University to host two in-person events in Toronto and Ottawa. The first event, It’s Electric, examined the future of sustainable cities and industry, while the Cultural Futures event explored how AI is affecting Canadian arts and culture. In June, The Walrus presented a talk on Canada’s Creative Power in Ottawa, which was supported by national cultural institutions like the Canada Council for the Arts, CBC/Radio-Canada, the Canadian Media fund, and Library and Archives Canada, among others.
New strategic partnerships helped elevate this year’s programming. In collaboration with McGill University’s Max Bell School of Public Policy, The Walrus co-presented Unexpected Climate Connections, a one-day conference exploring new approaches to climate policy. We also partnered with The Belonging Forum—a research, advocacy, and action group focused on fighting social isolation—to host The Belonging Series, which fostered dialogue on inclusion and community building.
The Walrus also continued to promote important cross-sector discussions through our Leadership Dinners and Luncheons—exclusive, off-the-record gatherings where leaders in business, media, academia, policy, and politics discuss challenges and opportunities for progress in their fields. In May, we hosted our second leadership gathering with Johnson & Johnson on reimagining health reconciliation. The full afternoon of panels and discussions featured Indigenous health care leaders sharing their expertise and vision for equitable health solutions.
The Walrus Lab, the client services arm of The Walrus, continued to help build brands in telling compelling stories through writing, podcasts, and events in 2024.
This year saw major milestones for Canadian Time Machine, a podcast produced for Canadian Heritage that explores important anniversaries in our national history. The series surpassed 35,000 downloads in 2024, completed its second season, and launched its third. It also became the second most popular Canadian-produced history podcast on Apple Podcasts.
The Walrus Lab expanded its podcast offerings with the launch of Imagine 2080 in February. The series is a collaboration with McMaster University’s Future of Canada Project, envisioning what the country might look like fifty-five years into the future.
In print, The Walrus Lab partnered with the Greater Toronto Airports Authority on a custom content series called Y We Travel. Launched in July, this ongoing series explores the personal and cultural significance of travel, with each issue highlighting a new story about what we stand to gain from our journeys. The series will continue into 2025.
The Walrus Lab continued its tradition of championing Canadian literature with the annual Amazon Canada First Novel Award. In 2024, the $60,000 prize went to Alicia Elliott for And Then She Fell, a powerful novel exploring Indigenous identity, motherhood, and mental health. In the Youth Short Story Category, grade-eleven student Khaliya Rajan from Vancouver made history as the youngest winner ever.
The Walrus is best known for bringing together industry leaders cultural influencers, and philanthropists—all in support of a strong civil society through fact-based journalism and meaningful conversations.
In May 2024, The Walrus Gala welcomed over 300 guests and sponsors at the beautiful Ricarda’s Atrium in downtown Toronto. Co-chaired by Jennifer F. Longhurst and Zai Mamdani, who serve on The Walrus board of directors and are members of our Optimistic Canadians philanthropic community, the event raised over $500,000 in direct support of our journalism.
A matching donation from long-time supporter Rosemary Phelan helped generate an additional $23,000 for our fact-checking fund, ensuring that every article published at The Walrus is verified and accurate.
In June, Rosemary continued to champion our work by opening the doors of her beautiful home to host our Optimistic Canadians celebration. Over fifty of The Walrus’s closest friends and stakeholders attended the event. This annual get-together honours the individuals, foundations, and corporate partners who sustain our work year after year through their philanthropy.
We ushered in the fall season with a special evening at Alo Private Dining in Yorkville, Toronto, hosted by Jennifer F. Longhurst, the vice-chair of The Walrus board of directors. The night featured a talk and Q&A with political commentator Justin Ling, who provided an audience of forty with behind-the-scenes insights into his June exclusive interview with then prime minister Justin Trudeau and what might lie ahead for the 2025 federal election.
Financials
The economic reality of a mid-sized charity today is characterized by volatility and a rapidly changing social environment. The Walrus’s mixed revenue model—made up of philanthropy, event sponsorship, client revenue, government grants, advertising, and circulation—means that we are oftentimes able to adapt to fluctuations in any one area by increasing our focus on others.
Similar to previous years, we ended 2024 with a surplus, positioning us to continue to thrive in a challenging environment. We are grateful to over 3,000 donors and sponsors whose support in 2024 ensured that The Walrus can continue to foster the most important conversations and ideas of our time.
Boards and Advisory Committee
Management Team 2025
Executive Director
Jennifer Hollett
Editor-in-Chief
Carmine Starnino
Director of Partnerships and Sponsorships
Tracie Jones
Head of Philanthropy
Laura Lavie
Director of Audience Engagement
Bryan Maloney
Marketing Director
Monita Mohan
Production Director
Maria Musikka
Digital Director
Christopher Wang
Director of Finance
David Young
Board of Directors,
September 2024 to June 2025
Chair
Jodi Butts
Vice-Chairs
Åsa Kachan
Jennifer F. Longhurst
Directors
Stephen Atkinson
Komal Bhasin
Miro Cernetig
Rob Farina
Andrew Giosa
Ira Gluskin
Suha Jethalal
Clèche Kokolo
Claire Lanctôt
Zai Mamdani
Ray Samuels
* We mourn the loss of Darrel J. McLeod, beloved author, artist, and educator. Darrel was a member of The Walrus board of directors from 2022 to 2024
National Advisory Council
- Siri Agrell
- Ian Alexander
- Zahra Al-Harazi
- Shelley Ambrose
- Charlie Angelakos
- Shari Austin
- Maxine Bailey
- Bruce Bennett
- Helen Burstyn
- Diane Blake
- Miro Cernetig
- Shakir Chambers
- Cameron Charlebois
- Paul Cohen
- Heather Conway
- Clint Davis
- Michael Decter
- John Delacourt
- Martha Durdin
- William Fox
- Roger Garland
- Emmanuelle Gattuso
- John Geiger
- Marina Glogovac
- Blake Goldring
- Elizabeth Gomery
- Francesca Grosso
- Alyssa Hussein
- Dr. Eric Jackman
- Tom Jackson
- Roberta Jamieson
- Donald K. Johnson
- Lucille Joseph
- Mark Kingwell
- Chethan Lakshman
- Janelle Lassonde
- Gerald Lazare
- D’Arcy Levesque
- James Little
- Louise MacCallum
- Hugh MacKinnon
- Bruce MacLellan
- Roxanne McCaig
- Robin McLay
- Scott Mullin
- Chima Nkemdirim
- Karl Percy
- Rosemary Phelan
- Anna Porter
- Julian Porter
- Justin Poy
- Karen Prentice
- Irfhan Rawji
- Gretchen Ross
- Janice Rubin
- Pierre Santoni
- Ray Sharma
- Niigaanwewidam James Sinclair
- Gillian Smith
- Lee Smolin
- Helga Stephenson
- Mira Sucharov
- Anne Sutherland
- John Tory Jr.
- Aritha van Herk
Educational Review Committee
Chair
Åsa Kachan
Vice-Chair
Mark Migotti
Madhur Anand
Kiran Banerjee
Benjamin Berger
Randy Boyagoda
Lea Caragata
Nadine Caron
David Cramb
Logan MacDonald
Fenwick McKelvey
Angela Misri
Tokunbo Ojo
Annette Schultz
Zoe Todd
Download and read the complete The Walrus Year in Review 2024
Special thanks to all of our donors.
See the full 2024 donor list here.
Portrait Illustrations (above): Arthur Dennyson Hamdani
Canadian Race Relations Fellow 2024-2025