About Us | Here Magazine: Canada’s Voices

Here’s Purpose

We are a Victoria, British Columbia-based not-for-profit organization whose members are dedicated to helping newcomers transition into their adopted communities through cultural literacy education, language development, community mentorship, and cultural exchange.

Here Magazine is multimedia platform by, for, and with newcomers to Canada. We believe that lived-experience storytelling, meaningful cultural exchange, and education are key to growing empathy and building bridges of understanding. By amplifying newcomer voices and experiences and welcoming people from all cultural backgrounds, Here Magazine has established itself as a positive messaging platform celebrating the Canadian multicultural mosaic, diversity, and inclusive communities.

Mandate

to give newcomers the opportunity to see themselves and their newcomer experiences reflected in the media
to develop language skills, and cultural and digital literacies in newcomer communities
to grow intercultural awareness by sharing the norms, traditions and stories of all cultures
to introduce newcomers to their adopted communities and accessible opportunities
to exchange, engage, and empower through community mentorship and the sharing of experience

Board of Directors

President

Fiona Bramble

Vice-President

John-Evan Snow

Secretary

Ali Basiri

Treasurer

Heidy Lopez

Director, Past Vice-President

Hyeyoung Jeon

Director

Jakelina Listes

Director

Eric Bramble

Director

Simona Sbardelotto

Director

Daniela Pinto

Director

Pam Devito

Come on over to our Discussion Group Introductions to introduce yourself and learn more about our Board members!

Editorial Team

Founder and Managing Editor Fiona Bramble has a background in English Literature and Applied Linguistics and taught English as a Second Language (ESL) to adult learners in Victoria B.C. for over fifteen years. She is a second-generation French-Irish-Scottish Canadian.

Editorial content is developed in collaboration with community members, organizations, service providers, and newcomer writers, illustrators, and designers. We welcome and provide media mentorship for newcomer and immigrant writers. We celebrate emerging and established immigrant writers, writers of colour, and Indigenous writers across Canada. Contact us at community@heremagazine.ca

Sponsors / Community Partners

Territorial Acknowledgement

In our continued effort to Indigenize our work and to challenge the ongoing neocolonization, the Here Magazine family expresses gratitude to the original stewards of the land, and respectfully acknowledges that our work takes place on the unceded territories of the Lekwungen-speaking peoples, including Songhees, Esquimalt, and W̱SÁNEĆ First Nations. The Here Magazine family believes cultural education and storytelling are key to the path forward and hopes that First Nations and newcomer communities will continue to share cultural experiences and histories to deepen one another’s understanding, and to ensure that we move forward together in this time of truth and reconciliation.