The Community Radio Fund of Canada is launching a new weekly radio series called Viewpoints. This 30 minute news magazine will be aired on 30 radio stations across Canada in its first phase. Viewpoints provides an overview of what’s happening across the country, thanks to some 20 radio correspondents working for the Local Journalism Initiative in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, Québec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

The Local Journalism Initiative (LJI) supports the production of original civic journalism news content that covers the diverse needs of underserved communities across the country. Politics, society, environment, community, arts and culture take the air on Viewpoints hosted by Boris Chassagne. The program is also available through Apple Podcast, Spotify and other platforms.

On this first edition of Viewpoints:


Wake up, smell the coffee and you could well be buying the company. That’s what happened to a couple who fell in love with a local roastery on Cortes Island. They are now the proud owners of Becca’s Beans in British-Columbia. We’ll stay on Canada’s West coast where Humpback whales have been making an impressive comeback over the past 40 years. The theory is, they like the food. But at the same time, killer whales remain an endangered species and climate change could be responsible. And in New Brunswick, the Wolastoqey Nation has filed a new title claim. Several major corporations are named as defendants, as well as the provincial and federal governments. And we go to Pontiac, Québec where Dr. Maurice Lamarche, who has been working as a physician for more than 45 years, is hanging-up his white coat as one of the longest-serving members of the region’s health care system.

The epsiode features reporters Anastasia Avvakumova, Greg Osoba, Erica Butler and Caleb Nickerson and producer and host Boris Chassagne. Viewpoints is presented by the Community Radio Fund of Canada in collaboration with the NCRA and community and campus radio stations across Canada.