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Highlights from this year's future of independent media summit

November 10, 2025

On a surprisingly sunny October weekend in the nation’s capital, Press Forward members came together to gather as a community, discuss the issues publishers are facing in their communities and to celebrate their successes and efforts.

Kicking off the weekend with a live taping of the Ricochet podcast, In Bed with The Elephant, host Adrian Harewood hosted an engaging and broad conversation with public intellection Luke Savage at Ottawa restaurant Union Local 613. With cocktails and canapés in hand, the group was ready to take on the weekend’s discussions after having brought their energy to a discussion at Canada’s Senate led by Senator Andrew Cardozo.

As we heard at last year’s conference, “joy is a powerful motivator” and this year’s summit proved that even further. Whether over beverages or in panels or on the patio of Carleton University’s Richcraft Hall, attendees of the summit were delight to spend time in conversation with one another. We could barely get attendees to leave at the end!

Saturday’s panels included a focus on AI in and for the newsroom, the new funding environment, leveraging news influencers for your newsroom, public policy in the media ecosystem and other interesting questions that Canada’s news publishers are tackling.

For more: J-Source’s Clement Lechat covered the event.

Press Forward works to ensure people in Canada have strong independent and community-focused journalism. We unify, elevate and advocate for media organizations in Canada to strengthen innovation, inclusivity and diversity in media across the country.

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