On March 1, 2024, The Honourable Pascale St-Onge, Minister of Canadian Heritage, announced $58.8 million to extend the Local Journalism Initiative for the next three years (2024-27).
News Release: Support for independent local journalism because you deserve to know
Local journalism reflects our day-to-day realities, informs us about issues that might affect us and, through storytelling, unites us as neighbours and Canadians. The Government of Canada remains committed to ensuring that all Canadians can access sustainable and robust independent news. This important investment will help support the creation of original local journalism that covers the diverse needs of Canada’s underserved communities. Today’s funding brings total support for this initiative to $128.8 million over eight years, since its 2019 launch.
The Local Journalism Initiative (LJI) supports the creation of original civic journalism that covers the diverse needs of underserved communities across Canada.
Funding is available to eligible Canadian media organizations to hire journalists or pay freelance journalists to produce civic journalism for underserved communities.
Find out who can apply and how to apply here.
Interested organizations are invited to contact the appropriate industry organization directly or visit their website for details.