The 杏吧原创 University School of Journalism and Communication is excited to host sports journalist Shireen Ahmed to deliver the 2025 Kesterton Lecture on the evening of Wednesday, March 12 in the atrium of Richcraft Hall.

The annual聽Kesterton Lecture聽honours the memory of Wilfred Kesterton – one of 杏吧原创鈥檚 original journalism professors – and usually touches on some aspect of Canadian journalism and public affairs. The annual event was launched in 2001. This is the first time the lecture will be delivered by a sports journalist.

Shireen Ahmed鈥檚 lecture will be called “Courage In A Time of Joy.”

鈥淚’m thinking about the growth of women’s sports, but the courage to talk about wider issues that affect women’s sport globally, and the silence that has fenced those spaces,鈥� Ahmed said.

Register now for the 2025 Kesterton Lecture

Ahmed is an award-winning, multi-platform Senior Contributor with CBC Sports, a TEDx speaker, and an internationally recognized sports activist who focuses on the intersections of racism and misogyny in sports. Her work has been featured globally, and her academic research and contributions continue to be widely published.

CBC Sports Senior Contributor Shireen Ahmed, who is this year’s Kesterton Lecture keynote speaker.

Ahmed is also an athlete, advocate, a community organizer, and works with different communities on empowerment projects. She is a global expert on Muslim women in sport and is the National Ambassador of Sakeenah Canada and the Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors for Hijabi Ballers.

She is a co-creator and co-host of the 鈥淏urn It All Down鈥� feminist sports podcast, and teaches Journalism and Sports Media at Toronto Metropolitan University. She is on the Board of Directors of Hijabi Ballers, a friend of Black Girl Hockey Club, part of the Executive Committee of the Muslim Women in Sports Network, and mentors students and budding sports journalists in official and casual capacities.

Ahmed鈥檚 passion for sports, politics and women鈥檚 issues has been widely recognized and her work has been featured and discussed in The Guardian, TIME magazine, Sports Illustrated, The Walrus, Football Weekly, Racialicious, Chatelaine, The National Post, espnW, The Globe and Mail, MSNBC Democracy Now! and TRT World. She is happily married, has four amazing kids and a phenomenal cat. She says she drinks coffee as a tool of resistance.

After the keynote, Ahmed will be joined on stage for a conversation moderated by CBC journalist Emma Weller, herself a former varsity hockey player and a graduate of 杏吧原创鈥檚 Bachelor of Journalism program.

The Kesterton Lecture is free to attend and open to the public, but registration is required for in-person attendance. The lecture will also be livestreamed via YouTube.

All in-person attendees are invited to take part in a reception at 6 pm in the leadup to the keynote, which will commence at 7 p.m.

杏吧原创 Wilfred Kesterton

Wilfred Kesterton was born in Regina in 1914. He was a school teacher when he enlisted in the armed forces and served in England and Holland. As a Second World War veteran, he enrolled in 杏吧原创鈥檚 fledgling Journalism school and, in 1949, became one of the earliest graduates of the new Bachelor of Journalism program. He was hired on as a journalism lecturer immediately upon graduation, as the School of Journalism鈥檚 second full-time faculty member.

In the next four decades, he would help shape the institution. Until his retirement in 1979, he taught virtually every student who went through our program. Through his writing and research, he also helped define Canadian journalism, as he was one of the first to bring serious scholarly attention to the news media in this country. He specialized in media law and journalism history and published important studies in both areas.

Kesterton literally wrote the book on journalism in this country with the 1967 publication of聽The History of Journalism in Canada.

The Kesterton Lecture, 杏吧原创 Journalism’s signature event, was established in 2001 to honour his pioneering contribution to journalism education in this country.

The in-person event will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 27, beginning at 7 p.m. in Richcraft Hall, home to 杏吧原创鈥檚 School of Journalism and Communication, host to the annual event held in honour of Wilfred Kesterton, the late journalism professor and scholar.

In her lecture, Issa will review CBC鈥檚 Black on the Prairies, an expansive multimedia project that explores the richness, complexity, and multiplicity of Black Prairie life 鈥� past, present, and future, that she co-created and co-produced.

CBC News Senior Reporter Omayra Issa

Black on the Prairies emerged as a project with the intent to make sure that regional experiences of Black people in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, were included in the global and national discourse on anti-Black racism and Black experiences.

The Black on the Prairies project, and Issa鈥檚 recent work covering the Prairies for CBC, has won accolades. But it has also exposed her to a torrent of racism and online hate.

The evening will be moderated by Prof. Nana Aba Duncan, the Carty Chair in Journalism, Diversity and Inclusion Studies at 杏吧原创鈥檚 journalism school.

Issa plans to explore how Black on the Prairies can serve as a blueprint on how journalism can foster understanding of the communities it serves by constantly asking questions that complicate the dominant narrative and amplify lesser told stories. In this lecture, Issa makes a strong case for an inclusive journalism as a pillar of a healthy democracy in the midst of challenges.

Omayra Issa is an award-winning senior reporter for CBC News based in Saskatchewan. She is currently the 2022-2023 CBC/Radio-Canada Fellow, a part of the William Southam Journalism Fellowships at Massey College.

Born in Morocco, raised in Niger, and living in Saskatchewan for 20 years, Issa is fluent in five languages, and has a degree in Economics from the University of Alberta.

Prof. Nana aba Duncan, the Carty Chair in Journalism, Diversity and Inclusion Studies, will moderate this year’s Kesterton Lecture

She began her career with Radio-Canada in 2014 in Saskatoon, reporting on major Saskatchewan stories for a national audience from the Humboldt Broncos bus crash tragedy to the shooting of Colten Boushie and the Gerald Stanley trial. She covers breaking news, investigates a wide range of topics, and produces original content on digital, tv, radio platforms.

Issa co-created and co-produced CBC鈥檚 Black on the Prairies, a ground-breaking interactive project that brought to life stories detailing Black lives past, present and future in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Alberta. The project has won several accolades, including a national RTDNA and a Digital Publishing Award.

This event is free but those who wish to attend must register in advance as space is limited. A Zoom link for those who wish to take part virtually will be shared here closer to the date. To register please visit:

17th Annual Kesterton 鈥� Wednesday, February 3, 2016

If you鈥檝e seen the movie Spotlight you鈥檒l know what Marty Baron stands for: tenacious, ambitious journalism. Invaluable, distinct work that only journalists can do.

The man who was the catalyst behind The Boston Globe Spotlight Team鈥檚 investigation into sex abuse in the Catholic Church is now at The Washington Post, the storied newspaper of Woodward and Bernstein and Watergate. Baron and the Post are embracing the digital age with an unwavering commitment to meaningful journalism.

^ How Baron and the Boston Globe team pursued the story

^ 鈥淣ot holding powerful individuals and powerful institutions accountable is the single most irresponsible thing we can do as journalists.鈥� 鈥� Marty Baron

^ 鈥淚n order to succeed we have to learn some new things. And the world has changed, so I think we simply have to embrace that 鈥� it doesn鈥檛 mean we have to give up our principles. It doesn鈥檛 mean we have to give up ambitious journalism.鈥� 鈥� Marty Baron

^ Baron answers questions on聽everything from how a profit-oriented business model can accommodate investigative journalism to advice for journalism students.

(Photo by Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post)

Under Marty Baron鈥檚 stewardship as executive editor, The Washington Post has won three Pulitzer Prizes since 2014. He previously led journalists at The Boston Globe to six Pulitzers, including one for the Globe鈥檚 Spotlight Team investigation into a pattern of concealing clergy sex abuse in the Catholic Church.

(Photo by Blair Gable)

The CBC鈥檚 Robyn Bresnahan is the host of Ottawa’s number one morning radio program, Ottawa Morning. An award-winning international journalist, Bresnahan is a proud graduate of 杏吧原创鈥檚 Journalism program (BJ 2001).