This I Believe Fact Sheet

What It Is: This I Believe is a series of three-four minute first-person essays that will air each weekday beginning May 14, 2007 on CBC Radio One. These essays, composed and read by Canadians from all walks of life, explore the core values and beliefs that guide their lives. The series, which premiered in April 2005 on National Public Radio in the United States, is a contemporary version of the landmark series of the same name created in the 1950s by legendary journalist Edward R. Murrow. Jay Alison and Dan Gediman are the producers of the American series. Anne Penman of CBC Radio is the producer of the Canadian series.

Beyond Broadcast: This I Believe essays have life beyond their broadcasts on the premier online news website www.cbc.ca. The website’s This I Believe section includes text and audio from the series and photographs of the essayists. www.cbc.ca/thisibelieve.

2007 Prominent Essayists on This I Believe: Forty prominent Canadians have contributed essays for the launch of the Canadian version of This I Believe. People like astronaut Julie Payette, Beverly McLachlin Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, Rick Hansen, writers William Deverell, Shauna Singh Baldwin and Anosh Irani, Nobel prize nominee Sheila Watt-Cloutier, Senators Mobina Jaffer and Anne Cools, former Prime Minister Joe Clark, Olympic gold medallist Clara Hughes and design guru Bruce Mau to name a few.

The History: In 1951, radio pioneer Edward R. Murrow embarked on a remarkable project. He asked hundreds of Americans, including former U.S. Presidents, leaders in industry, workers, taxi drivers, actors and homemakers, to distill into a short essay the basic values by which they lived. Eleanor Roosevelt, Presidents Harry Truman and Herbert Hoover, Helen Keller, Jackie Robinson and Albert Einstein were just a few of the hundreds of people who participated in the series. This I Believe reached 39 million radio listeners daily and appeared weekly in 90 leading newspapers. An initial book of essays sold 300,000 copies.

Our Goal: The goal of the project is to begin and to build a public dialogue that encourages Canadians to think about their own personal beliefs and to accept the beliefs of others even if they are different from their own.

Crafting Your Essay: We invite you to contribute to this project by writing and submitting a statement of personal belief – from serious to humorous, philosophical to personal.

Some advice we offer all This I Believe contributors:

• Your essay should be a minimum of 350 words and maximum of 500 words
• Tell a story; express your belief in the events of your life
• Avoid preaching or editorializing
• Tell us what you do believe and why, not what you don’t believe
• Read your essay out loud to a friend to get feedback on how clearly and personally you have written your belief and the reason for it