New Role, More Advocacy for Unifor’s Moreau at IFJ

Courtesy: Frédéric Moreau de Bellaing

 One of the most passionate press freedom advocates Unifor Canada has ever produced, Jennifer Moreau, now has a bigger voice on the international stage. Almost ten years after colleagues successfully urged her to run for a vacant seat on the International Federation of Journalists executive committee, Moreau has just been elected as Vice-President of IFJ. She was chosen as 1 of 2 Vice-Presidents, which comes with a place on the influential administrative committee.

Moreau has a refreshingly clear vision of media and what is needed from IFJ: “We’re at a crisis point with media and journalism. The media industry has been suffering for years and the more we suffer, the weaker we are to be targeted for attacks – press freedom, violence and murder.  [IFJ] are at the crossroads of labour and journalism. We’re trade unionists and media workers. We’re in an ideal position to fight back against these attacks on journalism.”

What does the plan to ‘fight back’ look like?  Moreau says, “We need to coordinate better with other international organizations on that mission. We need clear measurable goals and accountability reporting back to our members.  We need to connect better with our affiliates in Africa. We need to connect with unions that have left in protest.”  In recent years, some European unions parted ways with IFJ, due to concerns around transparency, accountability, and ethics within the establishment. Moreau wants to bring this 100-year-old organization back to its core mission – speaking for all journalists.  

IFJ are a Federation of unions from around the world that represent media workers. They’re the largest organization of their kind, founded in 1926. IFJ’s core principles are to promote press freedom and advocate for journalist safety. The organization represents over 600,000 media professionals from 187 unions/associations in 140-plus countries. The congress meets every 3 years, but the administrative committee, consisting of the top 5 executives, meets much more frequently. Moreau describes executive committee meetings saying: “[We] get together and share information about our common problems and strategize on solutions.  We find other countries that are in similar situations and sometimes worse. Looking at Gaza, Ukraine and Lebanon – we’ve seen journalists targeted.  When you target a journalist, you’re trying to kill the truth, and that truth is more important than ever.  We need to have a more coherent plan for fighting back against this extremism.”

Balancing the priorities of Unifor and Canadian journalists with a myriad of international issues, requires perspective: “Sometimes you look at what’s happening in Canada and it pales in comparison to what is happening in other countries.  But we would be naïve to think there aren’t attacks on press freedom in Canada,” said Moreau, whose home base is Unifor Local 2000 in British Columbia. “It was eye opening to see that not all unions look like ours, and not all unions have the tools that we have.  We have a lot to offer and a lot to share.  We have capacity to help but we also must be respectful and listen.”

The IFJ’s 22 new delegates are settling into their roles amidst troubling times – we have seen records set globally in 2024 and 2025 for the most media workers killed in history.  Moreau knows the connection between press freedom and our future: “If we don’t have global journalism, we can’t participate in a global democratic society.” Media workers, Canadians, and Unifor members alike, are lucky to have this press freedom warrior entering this new role at this storied foundation.