Jim Rankin

We've extended the deadline for our mentorship program - apply by Oct. 14! Get one-on-one mentoring from some of Canada's top journalists.

Apply now: https://caj.ca/programs/mentorship/

Tixtree By selling or buying tickets on Tixtree you are leading the way towards a sustainable future.

Hey Toronto and area media types, tickets for Newzapalooza 2025 live band karaoke edition with The Approximators now on sale. Show is November 22 at legendary The Duke on Queen St. E. As always, it's a benefit for the Children's Aid Foundation of Canada, and is Media Event of the Year!

Youth give Jane Goodall reason to hope Primatologist is inspired by young people’s desire to live in harmony with one another and nature

Jane Goodall, primate expert and conservationist, dies aged 91.
www.theglobeandmail.com/world/articl...
Here’s a piece I wrote about her in 2014: Youth give Jane Goodall reason to hope
www.theglobeandmail.com/news/nationa... via @theglobeandmail.com

Our Fact Check campaign is now live at factcheckhere.ca! On this website you can...

-Find credible news sources

-Read about the importance of fact-checking

-Share our Fact Check campaign content like this ⬇️

Unifor’s Fact Checked campaign fights misinformation by boosting Canadian journalism TORONTO—Unifor’s Media Action Plan launched its hard-hitting Fact Checked campaign today with social media, TV and newspaper spots to bring attention to the fight against misinformation.“The Canadian…

Unifor’s Media Action Plan launched its hard-hitting Fact Checked campaign today with social media, TV and newspaper spots to bring attention to the fight against misinformation.
#canlab #savelocalnews

This campaign is now live. Check it out! www.factcheckhere.ca

"Toronto is so comfortable that when he received an invitation to appear on The Tonight Show last Thursday - 'Me, a guy from Sheppard and Pharmacy!' - he ran right out and bought a new suit at Harry Rosen."

With TIFF on in Toronto, here's a snap of Mike Myers from 35 years ago, for @thestar.com story in which Myers expressed his comfort with being a Toronto guy:

Female pilots may perform better in high-pressure scenarios, University of Waterloo study finds In simulated scenarios, female pilots were faster at identifying an emergency and landing the plane safely.

Female pilots may be more consistent and accurate when flying in high-pressure scenarios, according to a small study out of the University of Waterloo.

ICYMI, great story!

In June 2023, the Canadian government passed Bill C-18, the Online News Act, mandating that big tech pay media organizations fees to distribute content. Google complied, but Meta refused to pay up. Mostafa Al A’sar examines the fallout: thewalrus.ca/if-you-think-we-...

#421 – Aisling Murphy Stageworthy · Episode

Really grateful to Phil Rickaby for having me on @stageworthy.ca, where we had a wide-ranging conversation about slime tutorials, my strange journey from theatre school to my job at The Globe and, of course, Taylor Swift.

open.spotify.com/episode/3FPj...

How a near-fatal punch on New Year’s six years ago changed a Toronto lawyer’s life — and his assailant’s David Shellnutt is telling his story to show what he has learned as an assault victim — and highlight what happens when a court case takes so long.

I still feel intense emotion when faced with my assault & survival. I'm thankful for that, it reminds me of the preciousness of life & what I've learned. Incredibly grateful to @jleerankin.bsky.social @thestar.com for sharing some insight into this journey: www.thestar.com/news/gta/how...

Really touched by this story of the fallout from a violent dispute on a sidewalk on a rainy night in Toronto so many years ago. In the U.S. it might have ended in gunfire. Here, it's insight. Good for Shellnutt. @jleerankin.bsky.social

Some Toronto students offered Free Palestine and Free Tibet as yearbook quotes. The school removed quotes from the entire Grade 12 Parkdale Collegiate administration said the decision was made to align with a provincial directive to avoid political biases in the classroom.

Another Toronto high school is being accused of suppressing student voices after all Grade 12 quotes were removed from its yearbook over student submissions related to Palestine and Tibet.

SHAI & FAM WITH THE TROPHIES 🥹

What it's all about.

#ThunderUp #OKCThunder #ThunderNation #NBA

Amazing!

Bar chart showing traffic counts on Bloor Street West in Toronto during the afternoon rush on Wednesday, June 11, 2025. For each hour from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., the number of bikes and motor vehicles (cars, trucks, motorcycles) was recorded. At 4–5 p.m., there were 643 bikes and 849 motor vehicles. At 5–6 p.m., 930 bikes and 832 motor vehicles. At 6–7 p.m., 919 bikes and 909 motor vehicles. At 7–8 p.m., 726 bikes and 935 motor vehicles. Bike counts exceeded car counts from 5 to 7 p.m. The chart was created by Matt Elliott for City Hall Watcher using data from the Toronto Community Bikeways Coalition.

Cool study from @bikewaysto.bsky.social detailing a traffic count on Bloor Street taken on June 11 with a camera at 412 Bloor West. During the peak of the afternoon rush, bikes outnumbered cars.

I repeat: bikes outnumbered cars.

drive.google.com/file/d/1ctd4...

A description of Buzz's support for advocacy on homelessness.

Several people sitting at a table outdoors, holding microphones.

RIP #BuzzHargrove @unifor.org

Ontario government facing lawsuits from inmates over ‘unconscionable conduct’ by Maplehurst jail guards The lawsuits mark a widening fallout from the violent incident, which has already compromised dozens of criminal prosecutions.

NEW: Ontario's government is facing a slew of lawsuits, including a proposed class-action, from former Maplehurst inmates subject to a brutal collective punishment in December 2023.
www.thestar.com/news/investi...

An LAPD helicopter claimed to have ID'ed protesters from above and threatened to "come to your house" The practice, an expert warns, could lead to "reprisals and retribution by the police for your politics.”

An LAPD helicopter claimed to have ID'ed protesters from above and threatened to "come to your house."

The threat was greeted with extreme concern by civil liberties and digital privacy groups. It suggests the LAPD could be using facial recognition to identify and retaliate against protesters.

IT’S A BRAND-NEW EPISODE OF DEEP LEFT FIELD!!!

This week, Tim Leiper looks back at his #Bluejays days, the BatFlip and more!

@cdnbaseballhof.bsky.social chair Jeremy Diamond talks induction weekend!

And you get to meet Steven Jaschinski, the Burlington kid who is now an #MLB umpire!!

What is life like for Black people five years after George Floyd’s murder? The same political leaders who claimed to they’d heard the calls of this historic movement eschewed meaningful change in favour of the status quo.

"The wholesale betrayal of Canada’s largest racial justice movement by those in power continues to have deadly impacts for Black and Indigenous folks today." @policingblack.bsky.social reflects on five years since the 2020 BLM uprising.
www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...

A B.C. couple waited weeks to get their stillborn daughter's remains. Then, they were invoiced for her autopsy | CBC News A month after delivering their stillborn child, a couple received an invoice for her autopsy addressed to her by name. It revealed her remains had been waiting for pick up two weeks longer than necess...

A B.C. couple waited weeks to get their stillborn daughter's remains. Then, they were invoiced for her autopsy.
Expert says lack of standardized care for stillbirths results in errors that traumatize grieving families, by Jodie Martinson www.cbc.ca/news/canada/... via @cbcnews.ca #stillbirth

Twenty volunteers were trained this month and are now officially open for business to offer Canadian journalists confidential colleague-to-colleague help through the Canadian News Industry Peer Support (CNIPS) program, a pilot initiative of the CAJ. caj.ca/canadas-news...

Just a little @thestar.com time capsule from May 3, 1967, the morning after the Leafs last won the cup. "Sawchuk and Bower have done more than anyone since Satchel Paige to uphold the dignity and usefulness of middle age against the arrogant claims of youth." Bacon: 69 cents/lb at Dominions.

How the end of a pilot program for migrant food workers might affect your meals During the pandemic, they were called essential. Migrant workers who packed our meat, picked our produce, and kept grocery shelves stocked. In return, many were offered a pathway to permanent

Canada ended a program that offered permanent residency— & hope to migrant food workers—they kept food on our tables especially during the pandemic. Now a path that could lead to better conditions & rights is closed.
Two Star immigration reporters on my podcast:
www.thestar.com/podcasts/thi...

A month after assaulting Chadd Facey, who later died, this Toronto cop shot two other racialized teenagers Incident was a month after he assaulted Brampton teen Chadd Facey who later died.

Toronto police bicycle patrol to "fly the flag" in a community housing complex goes very awry, with police shots fired, one civilian wounded and another nearly shot in the head. A judge finds police racially profiled teen driver, via @thestar.com's @j-pags.bsky.social and Victoria Gibson

‘Numerous signs of torture’: a Ukrainian journalist’s detention and death in Russian prison The Guardian, working with media partners, has tracked down first-hand accounts to reconstruct Viktoriia Roshchyna’s final months

Detained without charge, Ukrainian journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna was likely tortured before she was found dead in a Russian prison. She was 27 years old.

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

Three years ago, an all-party committee in BC released 11 actions to take on police reform.

The province says they’ll do them all—but three years on, have little to show for it.

My latest:

www.cbc.ca/amp/1.7519320