Kirstine Stewart is the CEO of Media Mughals, author of Our Turn, and the former head of CBC, VP of Twitter Media and Executive Member of the World Economic Forum. She currently lives in Los Angeles, where her husband Zaib Shaikh is the Consul General of Canada.
This time of year in Los Angeles usually has a certain rhythm, a build-up of energy that you can feel everywhere. Right after the clock strikes “Happy New Year”, awards show season kicks off. After a few years of stop-start-stop activity between COVID and the strikes, 2025 finally felt like a return – restaurants booked out, gowns being fitted, event planners working overtime.
For Canadian expats in Hollywood, this is also a season of celebration. Normally, at the Consulate Residence (we call it “Canada’s House”) the team would be finalizing details for our annual gathering, raising a glass to Canadians claiming the gleaming statuettes that testify to their great talents.
But this year, L.A. faced tragedy again. And after what looked like a promising start, once more the energy is different. The cameras that swarmed L.A. were instead trained on the hillsides for breaking news coverage of the wildfires –and in the aftermath have largely moved on. The destruction remains: scorched landscapes, families displaced, and communities still reckoning with what’s been lost. Soon, the cameras will be back, this time for the Oscars. But how do you reconcile celebration with devastation?
In the weeks following the fires, we’ve seen how deep the ties in this city really run. L.A. is known as a town of storytellers, but it’s also a city of production people – the ones who get things done. And in true production fashion, the clipboards have come out. The same organizational force that makes sprawling movie sets run smoothly has mobilized for relief efforts. Crews of volunteers formed with the same efficiency as film units, only now they’re distributing supplies instead of call sheets.
The Canadian community here has been part of that effort. Expats in entertainment, business and the arts have stepped up – checking in on neighbours, organizing fundraisers, and using their platforms to direct help where it’s needed most. At the Canadian Consulate, the focus was on immediate needs as the extent of the devastation was revealed. It seemed every person knew at least one family who had lost everything, and for those relatively unscathed, the survivor’s guilt was real. It was a reminder that even in a city like L.A. that thrives on reinvention, recovery won’t happen overnight. The needs don’t vanish just because the news cycle moves on.
With all of this taking place in the context of a U.S. government transition, another conversation emerged. Even as Canadian water bombers were dispatched to help fight the flames, and as Canadian and Mexican firefighters worked alongside their American counterparts, a different kind of storm was brewing. The looming threat of tariffs on Canadian exports has left many here feeling unsteady.
In times of crisis, the 49th parallel border disappears – help flows freely, without hesitation. But in the aftermath, political and economic tensions have perplexed many. There are Canadians in L.A. who have spent years building their careers, businesses and families here, becoming a part of the fabric of this city. Now, some are questioning that relationship. There’s an undeniable sense of disappointment that adds to a fractured mood for those impacted by the latest tragedies affecting this city.
Our partnership runs deep, and in SoCal is acutely felt, not just on sound stages. We together, the U.S. and Canada, work hand in hand not just as economic partners, but in areas like defence and security. We share joint command of Vandenberg Space Force base in Santa Barbara, where just weeks ago we joined service men and women from both sides of the 49th celebrating the RCAF’s 100th anniversary. The U.S. and Canada are a pair of the Five Eyes, and in the days just after the fires we joined our admirals, commanders and top brass at the largest Sea Service operations event touring the latest in maritime security and defence technology in San Diego.
The mix of loyalty and confusion mirrors what many in L.A. are feeling in the wake of the fires. This is a place built on reinvention, but rebuilding takes time, and attention is fleeting. Now the next wave of awards celebrations like the Oscars bring glamour and distraction, but how will they acknowledge the resilience and losses of the past months?
For us, we’re balancing both worlds – we’ll be recognizing achievement in a different way in 2025, while supporting those rebuilding their lives. Focus now will be on continuing the Canadian Creative Accelerator program – which spurs opportunities for Canadian talents in tech, film and music – which Zaib and team launched in the last few years. If there’s anything this moment has reinforced, it’s that L.A. is more than red carpets and Hollywood. It’s a place of many talents, and a city of resilience where people come together when it matters most.
When the red carpets do roll out and the lights go up, it will be great to feel that spirit make its way once more on to the awards stage. Because the most powerful stories aren’t always the ones on screen, they’re the ones happening all around us, in the quiet acts of generosity, in the rebuilding, and in the partnership of two countries that deep down are neighbours – or neighbors – through it all.
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