Blog
January 19th 2010
R.I.P. Urban NDN
Winnipeg is suffering the death of one of its most distinct monthly publications.
Urban NDN, founded by journalist and weekly columnist for the Winnipeg Free Press Colleen Simard, was a unique Manitoba aboriginal publication covering political, entertainment and cultural news each month. Recently it was announced, due to a combination of factors, the paper would be closing its doors.
With a small, passionate staff and a collection of funny, poignant columnists, Red River College Creative Communications grad Simard pumped out a quality paper that made readers question, laugh, cry but most of all think about the world around them for nearly a year and a half.
I know this because I was lucky enough to be an Urban NDN intern for a few weeks in April 2009. Through spending time in the office atop the Money Mart on the corner of Selkirk Ave. and Salter St., exploring the corners and characters of the North End and challenging the stereotypes of what it means to write for a grassroots paper - I grew.
My growth as a writer, a Winnipegger and an individual would have never been possible without such an open and creative publication that chose to stay true to its audience and its morals. The stories I wrote, including an editorial on what it was like to be white and write for an audience that I was not a member of culturally, were unquestionably among my favourites in my short career.
I profiled singer/songwriters, talked to passionate teachers and chatted with community activists working on cool projects. Some of the most powerful interviews I’ve ever been a part of happened in my time reporting there. One that moved me the most was with Roanna Hepburn.
I had the opportunity to interview Hepburn, the grandmother of an 18-year old woman who had allegedly been beaten by multiple City of Winnipeg police officers, resulting in both physical and emotionally scarring.
The story was never picked up by any major media outlet in the city, even when Hepburn began a petition against police brutality that reached all the way to the University of Ottawa and was on track to collect 10,000 signatures.
It was Urban NDN’s willingness to connect with its readers via stories like Hepburn’s that made it such a ballsy, alternative paper.
As Simard discusses in her January 9 column, regardless of how long it lasted, owning and operating a paper was a dream come true for her.
As a reader, a writer and a painfully optimistic fan of big dreams, it hurts my heart that Urban NDN will no longer be.
However, its existence and successes, both big and small, during its life will remain a powerful example of what journalism is capable of being.
Stay tuned to The Uniter for more on Urban NDN’s closing from beat reporter Samuel Swanson in the coming weeks.
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