Cabinet should consider directly paying individual reporters up to $45,000 a year in the name of diversity, says a Department of Canadian Heritage report. Direct cash payments would be in addition to rebates of $29,750 per employee at cabinet-approved newsrooms.

“Organizations mentioned the need for government funds dedicated to creators and journalists from Indigenous, racialized and religious minority communities in the media,” said the report Changing Narratives Fund Report On Consultations. “Funding should be stable and targeted,” it added.

The proposal was drawn from questionnaires with selected advocacy groups, said Changing Narratives. Proposed subsidies would be equivalent to “a salary of $45,000 per annum” for reporters who are Indigenous, Muslim, Black or LGBTQ.