With 35+ years at the Ottawa Citizen, Laucius has become essential reading for understanding how policy decisions ripple through neighborhoods. Her dual focus on education systems and animal welfare creates unique opportunities for impactful storytelling.
We've followed Joanne Laucius's three-decade career as a cornerstone of the Ottawa Citizen, where her reporting has become synonymous with rigorous public service journalism. Her work consistently bridges institutional accountability and grassroots perspectives, earning recognition from peers and policymakers alike.
Beginning as a general assignment reporter in 1989, Laucius honed her craft through:
This 2025 investigation into Ottawa's school redistricting plan demonstrates Laucius's methodical approach to complex policy issues. By combining FOIA-obtained enrollment projections with emotional parent testimonials, she revealed how the original plan would have displaced 3,000 students before public pressure forced revisions. The article's impact extended beyond Ottawa, becoming a case study in municipal education planning.
Laucius's 2025 follow-up piece humanized statistical projections through vivid neighborhood profiles. Her inclusion of interactive maps and historical enrollment data created a template for accessible education reporting. The article's comment section became an impromptu forum for community organizing, demonstrating her work's civic multiplier effect.
This 2020 piece showcased Laucius's ability to anticipate systemic shifts in education. By correlating student petitions with university balance sheets, she exposed the financial tensions of remote learning mandates. The article remains cited in provincial policy debates about educational equity.
Laucius prioritizes stories demonstrating how legislation impacts individual schools. A successful 2024 pitch highlighted how Ontario's classroom size caps forced one high school to convert its auditorium into temporary classrooms, complete with teacher and student interviews.
Her 2023 series on wildlife corridor disruptions paired ecological data with resident diaries of animal sightings, making technical conservation concepts relatable to city dwellers.
Laucius maintains institutional memory on issues like school boundary changes, valuing updates that show longitudinal impacts. A 2025 update piece on a 2018 redistricting decision drew record engagement from urban planners nationwide.
"Laucius turns education bureaucracy into compelling human drama without sacrificing factual rigor." - RNAO Media Award Committee, 2024
At PressContact, we aim to help you discover the most relevant journalists for your PR efforts. If you're looking to pitch to more journalists who write on Education, here are some other real estate journalist profiles you may find relevant: