Sally Armstrong has covered stories in zones of conflict all over the world. From Bosnia and Somalia to the Middle East, Rwanda, Congo, and Guatemala, her eyewitness reports have earned her the Amnesty International Media Award four times over, as well as global acclaim. Armstrong shares her experiences reporting from the frontlines and imparts her audiences with the lessons she’s learned from the battlefields surrounding the complexities of “human rights” versus “human wrongs.”
In addition to her journalism, Armstrong is the author of several books, including Veiled Threat: The Hidden Power of the Women of Afghanistan; The Nine Lives of Charlotte Taylor; Bitter Roots, Tender Shoots: The Uncertain Fate of Afghanistan’s Women; Ascent of Women: A New Age is Dawning for Every Mother’s Daughter; and The Longest Revolution, and, her most recent, Rebel.
In 2019, Armstrong delivered the renowned CBC Massey Lecture series, traveling across the country to discuss how improving the status of woman globally is crucial to our survival. Her lectures are available as a published book titled Power Shift: The Longest Revolution. She also delivered the Judy LaMarsh Lecture at Victoria College in 2020, the same year she was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award from Women of Influence.
Throughout her career, Armstrong has received numerous awards and accolades including the YWCA of Toronto’s prestigious Women of Distinction Award, the Gold Award from the National Magazine Awards Foundation, the Achievement Award for Human Rights for Women from Jewish Women International, the Calgary Peace Prize, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Canadian Journalism Foundation, among many others.
In 2017, Armstrong was promoted to Officer of the Order of Canada and won her fourth Amnesty International Canada Media Award alongside photographer/videographer Peter Bregg for their work in Iraq. They also won the Gold Award for Investigative Journalism at The Canadian Online Publishing Gala for their work about the Yazidis called Resisting Genocide.
Armstrong is a former member of the International Women’s Commission, a UN body that consisted of 20 Palestinian women, 20 Israeli women, and 12 internationals whose mandate was to assist with the path to peace in the Middle East. She is also the recipient of 12 honorary doctorate degrees.
