At 15, Jonathan (who also goes by JP) watched Hotel Rwanda. Determined to take action against genocide, he began advocating in Quebec schools and beyond, urging Canada to do more to prevent human rights abuses and crimes against humanity.

When ethnic cleansing escalated in Sudan’s Darfur region, he knew that was where he needed to go. He was 17.

Crossing into Darfur at night from Chad alongside Sudanese rebels, JP co-produced a CBC documentary that marked the beginning of his career in conflict reporting. He went on to cover maritime geopolitics and the shifting global order in the Middle East. Between 2010 and 2012, he reported from Somalia, Yemen, Ethiopia, and Israel.

In 2011, he traveled to Cairo to cover the Tahrir Square uprising. Injured and detained, he was expelled from the country. Just months later, he returned to the region to report from the frontlines of the Libyan revolution.