Laura Robinson has been a free-lance journalist for nearly 20 years, and is the author of five books on issues in sport.
She is a former member of Canada’s national cycling team and a former Canadian champion in rowing.
She was the first journalist in Canada to write about sexual abuse in sport in 1992 when The Toronto Star printed “Sexual Abuse: Sport’s Dirty Little Secret.”
Her book Crossing the Line: Violence and Sexual Assault in Canada’s National Sport changed how Canadians had to look at hockey, while “Black Tights: Women, Sport and Sexuality” questioned the objectification of female athletes.
Her film “Niigaanibatowaad:FrontRunners” won Best Short Live Film at the American Indian Film Festival in San Francisco in 2008.
Her first children’s book, “Great Girls: Profiles of Awesome Canadian Athletes” became a #1 Best Seller for Young Adult Books in Canada.
Her second children’s book, “Cyclist Bike List: Everything A Rider Needs to Know” will be published by Tundra Books in the spring of 2010.
Robinson coaches the Anishinaabe Racers, a mountain bike and Nordic ski team at Cape Croker First Nation Elementary School in Ontario, Canada. The intermediate girl’s team from the school won the 2009 provincial title at the Ontario Elementary School Nordic Ski Championships in March.
Degrees and Scholarships:
University of Western Ontario
Social Science BA
Canadian Olympic Academy (Annual week long school that studies issues and philosophy of sport).
International Olympic Academy (Three-week long school that studies issues and philosophy of sport. Four Canadians are selected annually to attend).
Scholarship to the Banff Centre of the Arts, Cultural Journalism Programme.
Markin Flanagan Distinguished Writer¹s Programme; Writer in Residence, University of Calgary 2000 2001.
Journalist in Residence, Green College, University of British Columbia, fall semester 2004
Career History 1990 to Present:
Journalism:
Freelance journalist in electronic and print media: Regular contributor to the Commentary Page, Books Section, Travel Section, The Globe and Mail, Bi weekly sports columnist, NOW Magazine from 1994 95. Contributor to Ms. Magazine, Explore Magazine, Canadian Living, Saturday Night, Calgary Herald, Toronto Life, Toronto Star, Ottawa Citizen, Winnipeg Free Press, Canadian Forum, Chatelaine, The Village Voice, The Georgia and Calgary Straight, The Svenska Dagbladet (Swedish Daily), Alberta Views, Abroad, Olympic Review, Literary Review Canada.
Books:
Great Girls:Profiles of Awesome Canadian Athletes (Toronto: Harper-Collins, 2004)
Black Tights: Women, Sport and Sexuality. (Toronto: Harper Collins, 2002)
Crossing the Line: Violence and Sexual Assault in Canada’s National Sport. (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1998)
She Shoots, She Scores: Canadian Perspectives on Women in Sport. (Toronto: Thompson Educational Publishing, 1997)
The Best Bike Book: Due spring 2009, Tundra Books for Children, Toronto.
Also included in several Canadian anthologies, including Why Are You Telling Me This? Banff Centre Press, 1997, “Taking Sport Seriously: Social Issues in Canadian Sport”, Thompson Educational Publishing, 1997, “Second Chapter: The Canadain Writers Photography Project”, Banff Centre Press 2004, Making the Team, Canadian Scholars Press, 2004, “Clear Writing: Readings in Expository Prose”, Broadview Press, 2007.
FrontRunners; A Play in Two Acts, Publishing date Spring 2008. Produced at the University of Calgary, Calgary Centre for the Performing Arts, March 2001, and The CanWest Global Theatre in Winnipeg 2002.
Electronic Media:
Writer/Researcher for the following media outlets:
CBC Radio Sports, CBC Radio Infotape, CBC Radio Morningside, CBC TV, the fifth estate, Prime Time News, Adrienne Clarkson Presents, TSN Inside Sports, National Film Board: Baseball Girls, The Game of Her Life.
Co producer, Director, and Writer:
Vision TV three-part documentary series for Skylight entitled “Sport’s Unlevel Playing Field”
Co-produced, wrote, and directed Torchrunners: A documentary on ten Indigenous runners in Manitoba with Buffalo Gal Pictures Inc.
Writer, co-producer “Niigaanibatowaad:FrontRunners” film for APTN. This is a filmed version of my FrontRunners play. Aired November 2007. Presently in film festivals and educational use.
Journalism Awards/Recognitions:
1991
Reprint of “Breaking the Pink Ribbon Syndrome” from the Globe and Mail Commentary Page (Aug. 18, 1990) in World Press Review Magazine, January 1991
1992
Awarded Robertine Barry Prize for English language print medium by the Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women (CRIAW) for “Starving for the Gold” (April 8, 1992, Globe and Mail Focus Section) on women athletes and eating disorders.
1993
IRE Award (Investigative Researchers and Editors Award) from the United States for Crossing the Line, documentary produced with the Fifth Estate CBC Television, on sexual abuse of female athletes by male coaches. Documentary broke a ten year ratings record.
1994
Essay used by the Ontario Ministry of Education for province wide testing for grade nine students. Originally published as The Unsinkable Silken Laumann, May 25, 1992, Commentary Page, The Toronto Star.
1995
Cultural Journalism Scholarship: The Banff Centre for the Arts.
1999 Crossing the Line: Violence and Sexual Assault in Canada¹s National Sport selected by University of Windsor as winner of the Human Kinetics Faculty Book Award.
1999
Delivered “Donald Macintosh Memorial Lecture” for the Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario.
2000-01
Markin Flanagan Writer’s Residency, University of Calgary, as part of the Distinguished Writers Programme.
2002
Winter Writer in Residence, Bishop Strachan School
2002
Play The Game Award, for best research and writing at Play The Game: 3rd Conference For Media Professionals In A Globalized Sport World, Copenhagen, Denmark.
2004
Journalist in Residence, Green College, University of British Columbia, fall semester.
2004
FromtRunners tours Southern Ontario and Scandinavia, sponsored by the United Church of Canada, the Canada Council for the Arts, Dept. of Foreign Affairs, and Scandinavian cultural and Sami organizations.
2005
FrontRunners performed at the 39th General Council of the United Church of Canada, Thunder Bay.
Major Games Coverage:
1993
North American Indigenous Games, Prince Albert, Sask.
Canada Games, Kamloops, B.C.
Student World Games, Buffalo, NY.
Arctic Winter Games, Lesser Slave Lake, Alberta.
1994
Commonwealth Games, Victoria, B.C.
Women’s Tour de France, France
1996
Atlanta Olympics, Atlanta, GA.
1997
North American Indigenous Games, Victoria B.C.
1999
Pan Am Games, Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Arctic Circle Race, Sisimuit, Greenland
Birkebeinerretit Race, Lillehammer, Norway
2000
Sydney Olympics, Sydney, Australia
2002
North American Indigenous Games, Winnipeg, Manitoba
2004
Athens Olympics, Greece
2005
World Cup of Nordic Skiing, Canmore, Alberta
2007
Chaired first international panel on violence against children in sport, Reykjavik, Iceland, Play the Game Conference
2008
World Cup of Nordic Skiing, Canmore Alberta
2008
Accredited journalist for the Beijing Olympics
Guest Lecturer:
Alberta Institute of Art and Design, Calgary
Banff Centre for the Arts, Banff, Alberta
Brock University, St. Catherine’s, Ontario
Carleton University, Ottawa
Concordia University, Montreal
Danish School of Journalism, Aarhus, Denmark
Danish University for Sport, Copenhagen, Denmark
Douglas College, Vancouver
Gloucester Cheltenham College of Higher Education, Britain
Queen¹s University, Kingston
Laurentian University, Sudbury Ontario
Mount Royal College, Calgary
Norwegian University of Sport, Oslo
Red Deer College, Red Deer
Ryerson Polytechnical Institute, Toronto
SAIT: Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, Calgary
Sheffield-Hallom University, Sheffield, England
Simon Fraser University, Vancouver
Sir Wilfrid Laurier University, Kitchener Waterloo
St. Mary’s University, Halifax, Nova Scotia
Tufts University, Boston Mass.
University of Alberta, Edmonton
University of Brighton, Britain
University of British Columbia, Vancouver
University of California, Berkeley
University of Calgary, Calgary
University of Guelph, Guelph
University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge
University of Manitoba, Manitoba
University of Oslo
University of Southern Denmark
University of Ulster, Belfast, Northern Ireland
University of New Brunswick, Fredericton
University of Western Ontario, London
University of Winnipeg, Manitoba
University of Toronto, Toronto
University of Windsor, Windsor
York University, Toronto
Athletics:
Ontario Cycling Team: 1976 77, 1982 83
Canadian Cycling Team: 1982 83
Ontario Cycling Champion: 1975, 1976, 1981
Ontario and Canadian Rowing Champion (Women’s pair) 1979
Volunteer coach in mountain biking, Nordic skiing, and track at Cape Croker First Nation Elementary School, Chippewa of Nawash First Nation, Ontario.
Working with Chippewa of Nawash to create recreational trail system throughout community.
Recipient of the Cum Laude Award from the Southern Ontario Ski Division for years of contribution to the sport, 2006.
Recipient of Chief and Council Award for coaching young person to Ontario Championship in cycling and Nordic Skiing.
Recipient of Nawash Health Centre’s Addictions Preventions Office award, 2007.
Recipient of Nawash Social Services volunteer award at Chief’s Feast, 2008.
Still like to compete in cycling, Nordic skiing, rowing and running events.
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