When Toronto Centre candidates faced off in Regent Park on April 30, 2025, the spotlight wasn’t only on politics—it was on the community itself. The packed debate at Daniels Spectrum, organized by the Community Civic Engagement Collaborative (CCEC), drew over 160 participants in person and online, proving that residents in Regent Park and the Downtown East are eager to engage in Canada’s democratic life.
The evening was hosted by a former Focus Media Arts Centre youth and Regent Park resident, who had once trained as a community newscaster for RPTV. Her presence symbolized the impact of civic journalism: empowering local residents to grow into civic leaders and trusted voices in their own community.
Residents pressed candidates on issues that matter most—affordable housing, youth employment, healthcare, community safety, and the conflict in Gaza—ensuring the concerns of marginalized neighbourhoods were front and centre in the federal race.
By covering and amplifying this event, Focus Media Arts Centre turned a single night of political debate into an ongoing resource for accountability, inspiring greater voter participation in a community where turnout has historically been low.
Add new comment
About LJI
LJI Impact is the section of commediaportal.ca where the journalists and their organizations participating in CACTUS' Local Journalism Initiative can share their greatest successes.
Through the written stories, photos and videos you see in the LJI Impact section, you'll be able to read first hand accounts about how the presence of a community journalist is making a difference in communities across Canada through the Local Journalism Initiative and the Community Media Portal.
The Community Media Portal is a gateway to the audio-visual media created by community media centres across Canada. These include traditional community TV and radio stations, as well as online and new media production centres.
Community media are not-for-profit production hubs owned and operated by the communities they serve, established both to provide local content and reflection for their communities, as well as media training and access for ordinary citizens to the latest tools of media production, whether traditional TV and radio, social and online media, virtual reality, augmented reality or video games.
The Community Media Portal has been funded by the Local Journalism Initiative (the LJI) of the Department of Canadian Heritage, and administered by the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS) in association with the Fédération des télévisions communautaires autonomes du Québec (the Fédération). Under the LJI, over 100 journalists have been placed in underserved communities and asked to produce civic content that underpins Canadian democratic life.
