He never backed down from social justice
Long-time CJFE president believed down ‘to his core’ in standing up for rights
Jeannine Amber remembers the time when people began screaming racial epithets and throwing beer bottles in her Toronto neighbourhood.
Her father Arnold Amber, the longtime president of Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE), ran outside and onto the road to yell back at them.
“I wanted him to come back inside and I was scared he was going to get hurt,” recalled Jeannine, who was a child at the time.
“But he stayed out there. That’s just who he was.”
The gutsy free-speech advocate, union leader and CBC executive pro- ducer took the same approach to those who stood in the way of social justice — and good reporting.
“He never strayed away from standing up for people and he was very big on social justice advocacy. It was his passion,” Jeannine said.
Arnold Amber died on Labour Day, age 77, after battling an aggressive form of cancer for about a month. He also suffered two strokes over the summer.
Amber was president of the CJFE for about 25 years — the longestrunning leader in the organization’s history. He was also (among other things) an executive producer at the CBC, a union leader at the Canadian Media Guild, and a foreign correspondent for Reuters in Africa and Europe. “He was someone who I knew was just dedicated to social justice and to workers’ rights, to journalists’ rights, to free expression. He really, really believed in those things to his core,” said Tom Henheffer, executive director of CJFE.
“He’s leaving shoes that just can’t be filled.”
Amber hired Henheffer in October 2013 to help manage the free speech and journalistic advocacy organization. By the time he died, CJFE had racked up an impressive series of victories: it helped win the freedom of Al Jazeera English reporter Mohamed Fahmy, who spent almost two years jailed in Egypt; pushed for anti-SLAPP legislation in Ontario and is currently lobbying for a bill to protect journalistic sources. “He was the man who built CJFE into what it is,” Henheffer said.
Jeannine and her brother David said they believe their father will be remembered for his passion for social justice advocacy, caring for his family and colleagues as well as his dry, sarcastic sense of humour.
“He wasn’t a big man physically but he was a force to be reckoned with,” David said.
Amber also had a hand in the creation of the International Freedom of Expression Exchange, which advocates for the protection of free expression around the world. He has won three Gemini awards for international news coverage and in 2014 he received a lifetime achievement award from the Canadian Media Guild.
As a union organizer, Amber fought hard for the CBC to create permanent jobs rather than a string of yearlong contracts. He gave hundreds of CBC workers a shot at a steady job and pension.
A tribute by Lise Lareau, former national president of the Canadian Media Guild, called him a “warrior in the fight for what’s right and fair.”
“It is beyond fitting that he died on Labour Day,” she wrote.
Lareau said that Amber was a strong force behind the scenes in both his journalistic life and his union work.
“Hundreds of people who have permanent jobs at CBC can thank Arnold,” Lareau said in an interview. “I think he’s one person that’s impacted more people at the CBC than any one other . . . and people are in tears.”
Amber is survived by his wife, Phyllis, daughters Jeannine and Gillian, his son, David, and four grandchildren. A private funeral will be held later this week, as well as a memorial service at a later date.
“He was always an advocate for those without a voice,” David said. “Whether that was his colleagues or his family. He was also looking after and caring for everybody.”