I am journalist and editor originating from and living in Regina, Saskatchewan, Treaty 4 territory and the homeland of the Métis.
I am currently a reporter for Canadian Mennonite and a freelance writer and editor. I write for local publications and am interested in ecological preservation, Indigenous-settler relations and the quirks of my hometown. I’ve also written for Broadview magazine and rewild.org.
For my graduate research, (Master of Journalism, University of Regina), I investigated the state of native prairie in Saskatchewan, culminating in the multimedia website, The Prairie Commons Project.
Feel free to contact me at katiesawatzky@gmail.com.
The Prairie Commons Project
The multimedia website The Prairie Commons Project, is my graduate research project on the state of native prairie grassland in Saskatchewan. I take an in-depth look at governmental decisions and policies that threaten this landscape and grassroots individuals and communities organizing to protect it.
Sharing treaty land
Cover story for Briarpatch magazine’s July 2021 issue on the Treaty Land Sharing Network. (Photo courtesy of Valerie Zink.)
Studies show countries with larger militaries are slower at ratifying environmental treaties
Canadian Mennonite magazine
Film updates Stoney Knoll story
The new documentary Reserve 107: A Path Forward tells the story of a small grassroots group that built friendships across religious and ethnic lines and motivated the government of Canada to begin repairing an historic injustice.
Sitting in the struggle
Tany Warkentin’s experience on a recent learning pilgrimage in South Africa has inspired her to deepen the connections and relationships she’s forming in her own life and work.
Pain, apologies and repair following the 2017 MC Canada restructuring
Jeanette Hanson, director of International Witness for Mennonite Church Canada, began a Zoom call last spring with an apology to members of the Anabaptist Network in South Africa.
Feature film documents Mennonite migration
Toronto filmmaker Dale Hildebrand has lots on the go. In late November, he was preparing for a hospital series, had just shot a TV pilot for an Indigenous cop show and was looking ahead to work on a Western and a horror–sci-fi–thriller “type of thing.”
Jeff Schellenberg steps down after 28 years at Valaqua
Jeff Schellenberg can attest to the magic effect that Camp Valaqua has on people. After 28 years of living and working on and near Valaqua land, it’s home.
Commitment to accommodate
Living with extended family under the same roof has made sense to Thomas Bumbeh on several different levels throughout the years.
Ninety-two-year-old artist publishes children’s book
When Rita Dahl was a child, the bottom third of the family’s kitchen door was her canvas. The top sections were for her older sisters to draw on.
Seeing beauty and injustice
Cindy Wallace explores how writers wrestle with Simone Weil’s challenging ethics in new book
Flooding displaces 200,000 in Kenya
“Unprecedented and devastating” flooding in Eastern Africa has caused the displacement of 235,000 people in just five days, according to a UN report.
Re:wild (rewild.org)
Listening and looking for a ghostly messenger
The Santa Marta Sabrewing, an elusive bird in Colombia’s Sierra Nevada, is slowly coming into focus.
Wind energy project stokes tension and threatens Endangered Lear’s Macaw in Brazilian state of Bahia
Once on the brink of extinction, bird faces new threat to its survival
New fish species outsmarts predators by hiding out of water
Newly discovered Juan Deriba Killifish avoids predators by jumping onto leaves, but they might not be able to hide from their biggest threat: humans
The skinny on the search for the Fat Catfish
A team in Colombia is preparing to search Lake Tota and surrounding waterways for the fish, which has been lost to science for 66 years
We don’t need to fear a fungi-fuelled apocalypse
Fungi are a critical part of the wild and we need them more than we should fear them.
Degrees magazine
University of ReginaStores of growth and heart, and writing the first draft of history
As the University of Regina looks ahead to equipping the next generation of journalists and communicators with its new BA in Journalism, News Media and Communication, Degrees caught up with four School of Journalism alumni and where they’re at in their exciting careers.
U of R students and professors have been contributing to cutting-edge subatomic exploration for more than two decades. When all is said and done, members of the University’s Physics Department will have played a significant role in understanding the secrets of the universe.
The growing legacy of the U of R Herbarium
Former biology professor George Ledingham spent a lifetime collecting plant samples housed in the on-campus herbarium that now bears his name. The herbarium is getting a new lease of life thanks to a multi-disciplined effort that has rocketed the facility into the digital age.
Two U of R students share the effects of war in their home countries on their lives and how a new fundraising priority, Project Resilience, will make a difference to students from lands of strife.
Eagle Feather News
Organ donor advocate receiving new kidney
In Eagle Feather News
Community leader shares her story to highlight importance of organ donation
In Eagle Feather News
Documentary details other side of telling TRC stories
In Eagle Feather News
Agency working with patient being treated with traditional medicine
In Eagle Feather News
Controversial CRTC decision raises questions about space on airwaves for Indigenous broadcasters
In J-Source
Wawatay Native Communication Society says it was denied the Toronto and Ottawa licenses because of its government funding.
Book Review of Poor Housing: A Silent Crisis
In Briarpatch magazine
But the book’s approach becomes clear in the end: Winnipeg’s social housing is not just indicative of what is wrong with housing across Canada, but also a model for what is going right. There is outstanding housing advocacy work going on at the community level, and goodwill and investment on the part of the provincial government.
Parents rise up
In Geez magazine
While I identify with Hedges’s point that parents are limited by their caregiving, the statement that I can’t “easily rise up” like child-free folks downplays the significance of parenting and its contributions to nonviolent activism.
Resisting the pursuit of more
for Canadian Mennonite, Feb. 13, 2013
An aspiring cyclist
for Canadian Mennonite, April 10, 2013
A call for support as I parent
for Canadian Mennonite, August 14, 2013
I felt the Spirit under an umbrella
for Canadian Mennonite, Oct. 9, 2013
Hope for a doubting disciple
for Canadian Mennonite, December 11, 2013
An ode to this printed page
for Canadian Mennonite, Jan. 14, 2014
Celebrating Eastertide
for Canadian Mennonite, May 7, 2014
Local worship
for Canadian Mennonite, Nov. 15, 2014
A different kind of disaster
for Canadian Mennonite, May 6, 2015
Winds of change
for Canadian Mennonite, June 30, 2015
A just-oriented church community
for Canadian Mennonite, May 4, 2016
Agonizing over the 'best' community
for Canadian Mennonite, June 28, 2016