Journalist Jai Parasram appointed Distinguished Fellow in Canada

Trinidad and Tobago-born veteran journalist-author Jai Parasram is among the four Distinguished Fellows appointees to the Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies. Jean Michel Montsion Director, Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies recently made the announcement. They are York University President emerita Lorna Marsden and President of the Institute for 21st Century Questions Irvin Studin reappointed and they are joined by former diplomat and Director of the School for Public and International Studies at Glendon, Annie Dimerjian, and Canadian journalist Parasram.
Parasram is a journalist, author, and communications and media specialist, who worked at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) until his retirement in 2013. He was the Line-up Editor on the pioneering team that inaugurated the CBC’s 24-hour cable news service in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1989, and was privileged to edit the first newscast to air on the service. Parasram’s career began in his native Trinidad and Tobago in 1972 and spanned more than four decades, mostly in television, during which he worked as a reporter, editor, producer, interviewer, news anchor, news director and executive producer.
He has worked with clients in T&T, Canada and the United States in program development for radio and television, corporate communications, event management and political communication. He has also trained journalists in T&T and Canada. He has also served as a political and communication adviser to two Prime Ministers of T&T.
Parasram has won several prestigious awards for excellence in journalism. He holds a Master of Journalism degree (MJ) from Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada. Parasram is the author of Far from the Mountain (2013), a series of notes and commentaries on the politics of Trinidad and Tobago between 2007and 2012, and Beyond Survival: Indians in Trinidad and Tobago 1845-2017 (2017), a narrative about a people who blended the best of East and West to preserve for themselves and future generations, some of India.
Prominent members of the community, Distinguished Fellows are selected based on their past contributions to the Centre, the field of Canadian Studies or Canadian society. Working closely with the Director and the Executive Committee, they will offer advice on ongoing and future initiatives and priorities for the Centre.
Montsion said the Robarts Centre team will greatly benefit from these Fellows’ insights in supporting our activities, and in finding ways to make the scholarship conducted through the Centre more visible, connected, and part of the public conversation. (Source: Trinidad Guardian, September 10, 2021)