Canadian Magazine Industry News
19 February 2008,    
Canadian Girl offers alternative to "fluffy and silly" teen mags

When Michael Sheasgreen realized the magazines targeted to his teenage daughters were “often fluffy and silly” and “too sexual,” he decided to bring something new to the market. “I just didn’t feel there was a media out there that had any meat to it,” Sheasgreen says. To alleviate this concern, Sheasgreen has decided to launch a new magazine, Canadian Girl.

The debut cover of Canadian Girl, a magazine that "takes girls seriously."

The magazine, published five times a year, will be distributed to Canadian high schools by publishing and educational marketing company MIR Communications. While MIR has launched successful in-school elementary magazines such as kidsworld. Canadian Girl will be the company’s first aimed at the teen demographic. Sheasgreen says MIR realized a magazine “that took girls seriously” could have the same success in high schools as kidsworld does in elementary schools. 

MIR will drop 200,000 copies of Canadian Girl at 500 high schools across the country when the mag launches in May. “We want to stay urban and we want to stay big,” Sheasgreen says. “It’s just more economical to deliver more magazines to fewer locations.”

Editor Alexandra Kimball says the magazine will “feature girls who are making a difference in their communities or globally.” The first issue includes interviews with Nina Dobrev from Degrassi: The Next Generation, who, along with other cast members, recently volunteered with Feed the Children Africa. The edition also profiles Miss Green Earth Vancouver Jessica Trisko, an environmental activist working toward her PhD in sciences at the University of McGill.

— Michelle Singerman
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Wow, Torstar really seems to be on a mission to bankrupt one magazine after another....
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Full of terrific information, Thanks!...
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