About

The Investigative Journalism Foundation is a nonprofit newsroom focused on public interest journalism. We are a new kind of media outlet, built around databases on who donates to politicians across Canada, who lobbies them, and how the government spends your money.

Launched last year, we’re rapidly growing and proud to have been selected for Fast Forward’s 2024 Accelerator for tech non-profits. We’re also delighted to have won a Digital Publishing Award in the Data Journalism category and the Product of the Year award from LION Publishers.

As a nonprofit, nonpartisan media outlet, our primary purpose is to serve the public. We do this by publishing in-depth investigative journalism that speaks truth to power. Our databases are also used by other journalists, academics, policymakers and individuals seeking to increase transparency and strengthen Canadian democracy.

We believe in a collaborative model and are proud to partner with leading media outlets to ensure our non-profit journalism reaches as wide an audience as possible. To date, our journalism partners include The CBC, The National Post, The Walrus, CTV, The Canadian Press, Capital Daily, The Tyee, Canada’s National Observer and The Narwhal.

We are supported by individuals who believe in the importance of public interest journalism. You can subscribe to support our work here. We believe radical transparency is vital for media outlets as well as politicians. We disclose the names of all our donors here.

We're proud to be members of the National NewsMedia Council of Canada and the Institute for Nonprofit News. Details on our team can be found below. You can send story tips here.

TEAM

Zane Schwartz

CEO & Editor-In-Chief

Zane is an award-winning investigative journalist and the founder of the IJF. He is the National Chair of the Canadian Association of Journalists and an alumnus of the National Post and Maclean’s. MORE

Carmen Reilly

Chief Operating Officer

Carmen is an experienced leader and team builder. She has held roles in sales, customer success, and product management, and presented at several Technology Services Industry Association conferences. MORE

Cecil Rosner

Managing Editor

Cecil is a veteran investigative journalist, writer and trainer. He spent more than 30 years at the CBC as a producer and manager, winning numerous awards for his work. He is currently an adjunct professor at the University of Winnipeg. MORE

Meghan Snider

Director of Development

Meghan leads the IJF’s fundraising and donor relations efforts. She holds an MA in political science from the University of Toronto. MORE

Max Hartshorn

Technology Manager

Max is an experienced technologist and manager. Previously he worked for 10 years at Global News as a development team lead. MORE

Kate Schneider

Reporter

Kate Schneider is a U.K.-based reporter with experience working at the Oxford Political Review and the Canadian Law Review. Her work has also been published by the CBC. MORE

Zak Vescera

Reporter

Zak is a Vancouver-based reporter focusing on white-collar crime in British Columbia. He previously reported for The Tyee and The Saskatoon StarPhoenix. MORE

Bethany Lindsay

Reporter

Bethany Lindsay is an award-winning investigative journalist who covers white-collar crime. She is based in Vancouver and previously reported for CBC News, the Vancouver Sun, and the Cambodia Daily. MORE

Carly Penrose

Reporter

Carly is a Toronto-based journalist. She holds a master of journalism from Toronto Metropolitan University. Her work has appeared in the National Post, This Magazine and The Canadian Press. MORE

Liv Chug

Reporter

Liv Chug is an investigative reporter who interned at Humber College’s Storylab program. MORE

Angela Amato

Reporter

Angela Amato is a Métis reporter based in Edmonton. Prior to joining the IJF, she worked as a general assignment reporter at the Regina Leader-Post and with the Canadian Press. MORE

Apurva Bhat

Reporter

Apurva Bhat is a Toronto-based reporter with a bachelor of journalism from Toronto Metropolitan University. Her passion lies in covering community-based stories. MORE

Martin Allen

News Applications Developer

Martin is a graduate of Columbia University’s Lede Program for Data Journalism and the former editor-in-chief of the Western Gazette. MORE

Sam Park

Data Analyst

Sam is a computer science graduate who strives to create meaningful products with his skills. MORE

Stephanie Li

Web Developer

Stephanie is a Toronto-based web developer and neuroscience graduate with a a passion for user-experience/user-interface design. MORE

Ashley Desautels

Research & Development Associate

Ashley is a Kamloops-based researcher with a customer service background who is working with the IJF to help build data-sharing systems and relationships with government agencies. MORE

Michael Pereira

Contributing Editor

Michael is an award-winning journalist. He was the lead developer on the Globe and Mail’s Unfounded series and is also an alumnus of the CBC and the Winnipeg Free Press.

Fatima Syed

Contributing Editor

Fatima is a reporter at The Narwhal. She is an alumna of the National Observer, Canadaland, The Toronto Star and The Walrus.

ACADEMIC PARTNERS

April Lindgren

Toronto Metropolitan University Professor at the School of Journalism

Lindgren is principal investigator for the Local News Research Project and editor-in-chief of the Local News Data Hub, a reporting initiative committed to training student data journalists and shoring up local journalism by supplying newsrooms with data-driven stories.

Matt Malone

Thompson Rivers University Assistant Professor of Law

Malone’s research focuses on various ways law protects secret information, including in the context of access to information. He is the founder and lead of the Open by Default database project, which shares documents made available through Canada’s Access to Information Act.

Christopher Cochrane

University of Toronto Associate Professor of Political Science

Cochrane is also interim chair, undergraduate of the department of political science at the University of Toronto Scarborough. He helps run the Linked Parliamentary Data Project, which digitized the written record of debate in the House of Commons.

Rohan Alexander

University of Toronto Assistant Professor of Information and Statistical Sciences

Alexander is also the assistant director of CANSSI Ontario, a senior fellow at Massey College, and a co-lead of the Data Sciences Institute Thematic Program in Reproducibility.

Harold Jansen

University of Lethbridge Professor of Political Science

Jansen is also interim University Librarian. In 2018, he became an associate dean in the faculty of arts and science. He has been teaching at UoL since 1998, focusing on Canadian political parties, elections, political finance, and digital political communication.

Lisa Young

University of Calgary Professor of Political Science

Young is the author of Feminists and Party Politics, co-author of Rebuilding Canadian Party Politics and Advocacy Groups, and co-editor of Money, Politics and Democracy. She was president of the Prairie Political Science Association from 2020-2022.

Randy Besco

University of Toronto Assistant Professor of Political Science

Besco’s research focus is on elections and public opinion, especially related to race and immigration. He has worked on projects examining the impact of gender and ethnic differences on political donation trends in Canada.

Holly-Ann Garnett

Royal Military College of Canada Associate Professor of Political Science

Garnett is cross-appointed at the department of political studies and School of Policy Studies at Queen’s University (Kingston), and an Honourary Research Fellow at the University of East Anglia (U.K.). She is co-director of the Electoral Integrity Project and co-investigator with the Consortium on Electoral Democracy.

Jacob Robbins-Kanter

Bishop’s University Assistant Professor of Politics and International Studies

Robbins-Kanter is a Canadian politics specialist whose research focuses on political parties, political communication, and representation. He is currently preparing a book manuscript that examines the relationship between local campaigns and party headquarters during Canadian federal elections.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

The Board of Directors includes Zane Schwartz and the following four experienced leaders:

Brent Jolly

Chair

President of the Canadian Association of Journalists. Managing Director at National NewsMedia Council. Judge at National Newspaper Awards.

Sadia Zaman

Director

CEO of the Inspirit Foundation. Past Managing Director of the Royal Ontario Museum, Director at CBC News, and Executive Director of Women in Film and Television-Toronto.

Karyn Pugliese

Director

Editor-in-Chief of Canada's National Observer. Past managing editor of investigative journalism at CBC News, executive director of news at Aboriginal Peoples’ Television Network and Harvard Nieman Fellow.

John Ruffolo

Director

Managing Partner of Maverix Private Equity. Board Member at the Royal Ontario Museum and the CIBC Foundation. Co-founder of the Council of Canadian Innovators. Past CEO of OMERS Ventures.