Karyn Pugliese
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Karyn Pugliese (Pabàmàdiz) is a Canadian investigative journalist. She is a citizen of the Algonquins of Pikwàkanagàn First Nation in Ontario and a status Indian under Canada's Indian Act.[1] She was the first Indigenous person to be elected as President of the Canadian Association of Journalists. Pugliese was chosen for the twenty-fifth Martin Wise Goodman Canadians as Nieman Fellow, and graduated in the Class of 2020, Harvard University.[2] She is best known for her work as a journalist/executive director of news and current affairs at the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network,[3] and as the host of ichannel's #FAQMP.[4]
Pugliese was born and raised in Ottawa, Ontario, but frequently visited Pikwàkanagàn in her youth. Most of her close family lived off-reserve in Ottawa.[5] After graduating Pugliese worked short-term contracts at CBC Radio Ottawa's Morning Show, Sounds Like Canada and CTV television, Ottawa. For a time she left journalism and worked as a technical writer in the federal government.[1][6] Around this time she returned to Carleton University to complete an M.A. in history. Her thesis 'So, where are you from?' Glimpsing the history of Ottawa-Gatineau's urban Indian communities is a history of the off-reserve community she grew up in.[7]
Education
Pugliese graduated from the Ottawa Alternative High School program. She graduated with a combined honours in Journalism and History from Carleton University in 1998, and earned a master's degree in history at Carleton University in 2006.[7] Pugliese graduated from the Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University in 2020.
Awards and honours
Pugliese has been recognized by the Canadian Association of Journalists with two Charles Bury Awards, once for her leadership supporting journalists and fighting for media rights (2016)[8] and again (2023) for changing the way Canadian media covers Indigenous stories. In 2018 the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television presented Pugliese with the organization's annual Gordon Sinclair Award for distinguished achievement in journalism at the 6th Canadian Screen Awards.[9][10] In 2019 Pugliese received the Hyman Solomon Award for Public Policy Journalism [11] and was the co-recipient with journalist Justin Brake for the Native American Journalists Association (NAJA) 2019 Elias Boudinot Free Press Award.[12] She was chosen for the twenty-fifth Martin Wise Goodman Canadian Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University.[13] She won a National Newspaper Award for a series of columns written for the National Observer in 2021,[14] where she was editor-in-chief.
Advocacy (Press Freedom)
Pugliese was president of the Canadian Association of Journalists (2018-2020) and continues to sit on the board (2020 -2024 ). She previously sat on the CAJ Ethics Committee. Pugliese has acted as a co-chair for the Night for Rights Gala, an event which raises approximately $140,000 annually for rights-based journalism programming, and is organized by Journalist for Human Rights, JHR. Pugliese is an ambassador for Journalist for Human Rights,[15] and works with them to train young indigenous journalists.[16] She was an expert trainer for journalists in South Sudan.[17] Pugliese is also a board member for Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE).