Elizabeth McSheffrey is a bilingual journalist from Ottawa with diverse experience in print, television and radio reporting. She currently works in northwestern Ontario, training Indigenous reporters in Grassy Narrows with Journalists for Human Rights.
Since 2012, Elizabeth has developed radio journalism in Sierra Leone, covered a federal election, investigated corporate and political scandal, and freelanced her way around East Africa. She recently worked for Nation Media Group in Kenya, and as investigative reporter for the National Observer in Ottawa.
Elizabeth’s work has been published all over the world by CBC, BBC, CBS, CTV, Globe and Mail, Slate, VICE, The Toronto Star, and others. She is best known for her coverage of Al-Shebaab terrorist attacks in Kenya, and her work on The Price of Oil, the largest national collaborative journalism investigation in Canadian history.
Stories with impact
Elizabeth’s reporting has had national and international impact: this year, she was a co-finalist for three national journalism excellence awards for her work on the Price of Oil, which drove legislative change on air pollution in Ontario, and exposed chronic regulatory infractions within Canada’s lucrative oil and gas industry that put the public at risk. Last year, she was part of the team nominated for a prestigious Michener Award for a series investigating conflict of interest within Canada’s federal energy regulator, which contributed to the eventual demise of the largest pipeline proposal in Canadian history.
In 2016, Elizabeth also co-won a Canadian Online Publishing Award for Best News Coverage, and in 2015, her feature on Uganda’s burgeoning cinema industry launched its action stars to international fame, earning her an AITO Young Travel Writer of the Year nomination. A few months later, her reporting on Canada’s fur industry provoked an internal investigation into a Canadian luxury apparel company, landing her on the list of finalists for an outstanding investigative reporting award from the Canadian Association of Journalists.
Elizabeth earned her Bachelor of Journalism degree from Carleton University and graduated at the top of her class. She was awarded the prestigious Phyllis K. Wilson Award two years in a row, and has guest lectured at Moi University in Nairobi and Queen’s University in Kingston, on international journalism and business and human rights, respectively.
For more information about her travels, visit elizabetharoundtheworld.com. To contact Elizabeth with a news tip, send a message through Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn or elizabeth.mcsheffrey@gmail.com.
