21 Moments from 2021

3. Chief Sack Questioning

Sipekne’katik decided to launch their own fishery and during this, their leader Chief Mike Sack was brought in for questioning by Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

I had previously attempted to charter a boat to be closer to the action as it was happening vs covering it from a distance on land. This part fell through as DFO had threatened anyone who was on the water that they would be arrested or charged. After discussing this with the local DFO Supervisor, he passed those threats onto me as well which would be my first incident with a possible charter of rights violation.

Media is allowed to attend these events and cover them. This would later be re-assured to me by a DFO Media Communications officer saying my rights would be violated if the area supervisor did anything. This would ended up working in my favour as I would not have been able to capture the drama that would play out on land when Chief Mike Sack was detained.

As captured for Reuters. Blog post, Globe & Mail 1 and Globe & Mail 2.

2. Virgil for 215 Children

Number two and number one are rather closely tied. The day prior to number 1, I was invited by indigenous leaders to a indigenous protest at the Sir John A MacDonald statue. The plan for the leaders was to lay 215 pairs of shoes next to the statue. When they started they knew they’d have 215, what they didn’t know was by the time it ended they’d have a lot more than 215 pairs.

Later that day the city of Charlottetown voted to remove the statue.

More: Blog Post, Globe & Mail, National Post, Toronto Sun, Winnipeg Free Press, Radio Canada, and many more.

1. Sir John A Statue Removed

For many tourists and locals alike, visiting the John A MacDonald statue in downtown Charlottetown was a picture perfect moment. Until 2021. In 2021, the Sir John A MacDonald statue was removed after months of criticism. This was a major change since June 2020 when all city councillors voted that the statue will remain in place.

The statue had been a major controversial issue over the past few years with individuals targeting the statue with everything from red paint to moving the statue.

Seeing how the statue was located outside my office, it was an easier assignment to cover.

The photograph ended up being the cover to a couple of the major newspaper’s in Canada and played on multiple TV broadcasts including the local and national CBC versions.

Captured for: The Canadian Press.

Seen in: Abbynews, Globe & Mail, National Post,