Jatinder (Jett) Bassi, 39, Apr. 14, of cancer. Born and raised in Edmonton, Bassi began his career as a producer with MOJO Sports Radio (CHMJ-AM) Vancouver as a producer after graduating from the radio broadcasting program at Columbia Academy. He went on to work with OMNI BC as an editor where he continued pursuing his passion for sports journalism. He was promoted to sports reporter, camera operator and editor for OMNI News: Punjabi Edition in 2008, covering everything from hockey to kabaddi. Bassi was an integral part of the OMNI BC team covering both the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games as well as the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games, where he handled play-by-play for the Punjabi Olympic hockey broadcasts. Bassi joined CTV Vancouver Island in 2012, moving his family to Nanaimo, where he served the mid-island region as a news reporter and videographer.
Tony Wade, 68, of throat cancer in St. Leonards-on-Sea, England. Known as a trailblazer during his time with CBC TV in Vancouver in the 1970s and 80s, Wade was executive producer of newsmagazine program Pacific Report. In 1980, a report on the seizure of indigenous children and their placement with white families led to new laws in B.C. on the fostering of First Nations kids and won a B’nai Brith Media Human Rights Award. The show also notably landed guests like Michael J. Fox, who at the time was a major television star. Over the years, Wade produced three documentaries on Vancouver’s Georgia Straight newspaper including The Last Streetfighter: The History of the Georgia Straight on its 30th anniversary. The doc, which included an interview with humanitarian Bob Geldof, who was the paper’s music editor in the 1970s, won two CANPRO Canadian television awards and a certificate of merit from the Jack Webster Foundation. Wade was also the recipient of two Anik Awards, a New York Film and Television Festival bronze medal, and an AMTEC Award of Merit for documentaries about artist Bill Reid, children’s entertainer Charlotte Diamond, and historian Barry Broadfoot.
