Katharine Lake Berz

Katharine Lake Berz is a freelance journalist who writes about how national and international issues impact people. Her work has appeared in the Toronto Star, The Globe and Mail, CBC, Broadview, The Canadian Press, TVO, National Post, News Decoder and the Walrus.

Katharine was nominated for a 2023 National Newspaper Award for her series of articles on Ukrainian women and children who survived Russian war crime violence. Her award award-winning film Unbroken: A Story of Resistance portrays these victims fighting to stay alive.

Before becoming a journalist, Katharine worked at McKinsey & Company and advised a number of not-for-profit organizations. She holds a bachelor of commerce degree from Queen’s University, a master of philosophy degree in international relations from Cambridge University and was a fellow in the Fellowship of Global Journalism at the University of Toronto.

Katharine lives on Vancouver Island and in Toronto, Canada.

FEATURED ARTICLES

Articles
Black South Africans lose hope as they wonder when they will share in the wealth
Toronto Star
Black South Africans lose hope as they wonder when they will share in the wealth
Toronto Star

In shantytowns in and around Soweto, democracy has failed to materially transform residents’ lives, 30 years after Nelson Mandela’s triumph.

Toronto Star
‘I will never teach anything but the truth’: Meet the impassioned defiers of Florida’s ‘anti-woke’ laws
Toronto Star
‘I will never teach anything but the truth’: Meet the impassioned defiers of Florida’s ‘anti-woke’ laws
Toronto Star

A teacher, a writer and an historian present a small but determined community of resistance toward Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’s culture war against “woke” ideology.

Toronto Star
30 years in jail for a murder they say they didn’t commit. These sisters’ first trip together was harder than either could have imagined
Toronto Star
30 years in jail for a murder they say they didn’t commit. These sisters’ first trip together was harder than either could have imagined
Toronto Star

Quewezance sisters and Indigenous elders invited the Star on parts of a journey laden with emotion and also risk. They hope that sharing their anguish and resolve will prompt the release of unjustly imprisoned Indigenous women.

Toronto Star
‘It is clearly a strategy’: The truth is emerging about Russia’s use of rape in the war on Ukraine
Toronto Star
‘It is clearly a strategy’: The truth is emerging about Russia’s use of rape in the war on Ukraine
Toronto Star

“The women are destroyed….I have never heard such horrors in my life.” “The enemy allowed them to continue living but their weapon destroyed their lives.”

Toronto Star

  • “Katharine will raise the game immensely for the profession”

    – Dominic Barton, Global Managing Partner Emeritus, McKinsey & Company

  • "I’ve worked with many journalists since Marie Colvin was killed, but none have matched her passion and skill for telling these kind of stories - till now."

    Paul Conroy, Photographer and filmmaker