Great photos from Vancouver!
Thanks to Larry Blackstock for contributing some awesome photos from our trip this weekend to Vancouver!
Meet the Executives: Wayne Williams, news director; Lorna Haeber, head of current affairs programming; Sanjay Bhatt, AAJA Seattle chapter president; and Sharon Chan, AAJA National president.
Williams and Haeber met with our delegation of a dozen AAJA members over lunch at CBC Vancouver headquarters. They spoke about their efforts to increase the diversity of staff and news coverage to reflect the cosmopolitan city (almost half its population is of Asian descent), as well as the challenges they see in reaching parity. Chan and other AAJA members shared with them the kinds of events and programs we organize in the United States to support diversity in newsrooms, encourage youth to enter the profession and retain talented mid-career professionals.
From Seattle With Love: Sanjay Bhatt, AAJA Seattle chapter president; Sharon Chan, AAJA National president; Alden Habacon, CBC Television manager of diversity initiatives; Jennifer Chen, associate producer of CBC Vancouver’s Early Edition
At the end of Friday’s dinner, Habacon and Chen thanked the 50 Asian-Canadian journalists in attendance. Bhatt and Chan thanked the pair for their work organizing a two-day, packed itinerary for our AAJA delegation, including the 10-course dinner at Spicy Court, and presented them with chocolates made in Seattle favored by the Obamas and two Seattle Times coffee mugs.
AAJA delegation and our new Vancouver friends: TOP ROW: Peter Wong, Candace Heckman, Venice Buhain, Athima Chansanchai, Alden Habacon. BOTTOM ROW: Sharon Chan, Sanjay Bhatt, Jennifer Chen and Lori Matsukawa.
Photo taken at Spicy Court before we headed off to a lounge for after-dinner drinks.
Exploring Past and Present in Chinatown: Jennifer Chen, Alden Habacon, Andy Yan, Yvonne Leow, Sharon Chan, Peter Wong, Sanjay Bhatt and Lori Matsukawa
We learned about striking parallels between Asian-Canadian and Asian-American history on a fabulous tour by Andy Yan, an urban planner and policy expert at BTA Works.