About Us

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The Walrus is Canada’s Conversation

The Walrus provokes new thinking and sparks conversation on matters vital to Canadians. As a registered charity, we publish independent, fact-based journalism, produce national, ideas-focused events, and train emerging professionals in publishing and nonprofit management.

The Walrus is invested in the idea that a healthy society relies on informed citizens. We publish a national magazine eight times a year along with daily content at thewalrus.ca. Since our first issue, in 2003, we have featured award-winning writers and artists exploring issues related to technology, politics, business, the environment, and arts and culture.

The Walrus also entertains, with fiction, poetry, photography, illustration, and a wry sense of humour that rewards readers seeking a lively literary experience.

The editorial policy of The Walrus is to explore ideas and issues, and to elevate public discourse on matters of importance to Canadians by publishing essays, articles, and reviews based on facts and research.

Educational Mandate

The Walrus is a registered charity with an education mandate. This work is two-fold. The practical on-site training of the next generation of fact-checkers and journalists is essential for the ongoing health of Canadian publishing. To this end, The Walrus runs several annual fellowships and a writer in residency program. Thanks to the support of generous funders, The Walrus has trained close to 200 emerging journalists, who have gone on to become full time staff members as at The Walrus as Heads of Research and Editors, and have gone on to work at The New York Times, CBC, Maisonneuve, The Narwhal, Toronto Star and more.

We also seek to educate through our journalism. The stories we publish are selected, researched and edited to ensure they advance our readers’ knowledge of the topic and enlighten them on new subjects.

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Board of Directors
Educational Review Committee
National Advisory Council

Fact-Checked Journalism

In a post-truth world of fake news and misinformation, fact-checked journalism has never been more important. The Walrus prides itself on its stellar fact-checking standards, which is based on the guidelines and structures created by Heads of Research Allison Baker and Viviane Fairbank.

Policies and Standards
Fact-Checking Explained

The Trust Project

The Walrus believes in trustworthy journalism, and its ability to preserve and protect democracy. This is why we fact-check every story twice, and even fact-check the fiction that we publish. We also understand that claiming to be trustworthy isn’t enough. This is why we joined The Trust Project, a collaboration among news organizations that pledges to serve society through accurate and truthful reporting. The Walrus adheres to The Trust Project’s eight Trust Indicators® which can be found here.

Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility

The Walrus is committed to diversity and inclusion. In 2021, The Walrus completed The Global Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Benchmarks: Standards for Organizations Around the World (GDEIB), by The Centre for Global Inclusion. Informed by a panel of 112 expert panelists, the GDEIB consists of a total of 275 benchmarks (proven best practices for organizational standards of performance) in 15 categories and four groups, with five rating levels. The four key areas of the GDEIB are embedded in strategy, focus on people, internal culture-building, and social impact. This helped us evaluate our diversity, equity, and inclusion work, and develop a road map and strategy working with Komal Bhasin from Insayva.

The Walrus has an Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility Employee Resource Group (IDEA ERG) and a working group of leaders across the organization, responsible for ensuring our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Roadmap and Strategy is on track. This strategy is the foundation of our three-year strategic plan and includes new policies, ongoing training, and goals and measurement to ensure our work and teams reflect the diversity and stories of Canada.

As part of our educational mandate, The Walrus offers a number of fellowships across the organization, including the TD Fellowship on Disability and Inclusion. We publish stories in a range of formats, from print to web and audio, and we have closed captioning for our digital events. We conduct regular web accessibility audits to track our work with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.

Since 2020 we have been measuring diversity and inclusion at The Walrus through an annual staff survey, and have extended this survey to our Board of Directors, Educational Review Committee, and most recently our contributors. The Walrus also takes part in the Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ) Diversity Survey. You can also learn more about our staff and board here in the about section.

Awards

Since its inception in 2003, The Walrus has accumulated hundreds awards from the Advertising and Design Club of Canada, Canadian Association of Journalists, Canadian Hillman Prize for Journalism, Canadian Online Publishing Awards, Digital Publishing Awards, and National Magazine Awards. These accolades are not taken lightly—each award is recognition of the hard work put in by writers, editors, artists, and fact-checkers to create a finished piece that informs and educates.

Read more about our awards.

Support Our Work

As a registered charity and non-profit organization, The Walrus relies on the support of our community. There are many ways to support us, from subscribing to our print edition, becoming a supporter, or sponsoring an event or a fellowship.

Subscribe
Donate
Sponsor
Work with The Walrus Lab

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Land Acknowledgement

A land acknowledgement helps us recognize history and think about how it informs where we are now and what changes can be made going forward in a commitment to reconciliation.

We are honoured to contribute to a tradition of storytelling, and we welcome you to reflect on the land you’re on, wherever you are joining us from today. As part of the ongoing work of reconciliation, we encourage you to read the ninety-four calls to action made by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and to consider what concrete steps we can take, together and individually, to realize them.

Our main office is located within the bounds of the Toronto Purchase Treaty Number 13, created between the Mississaugas of the Credit and the British Crown in 1805. This land is also the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat peoples. Today, Toronto is home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples. The Walrus staff can be found all over Canada and the world.