Jackie Dives was shocked to find her photo had been drawn by Maclean’s Magazine.
A national Canadian magazine has apologized to a photographer after drawing her images when she declined to license them.
Jackie Dives was approached by Maclean’s Magazine to use some of her photographs for a 2024 article that was being written about drug supply in Vancouver. Dives went to ask the people in her photos whether they consented and one of the two people said no.
“I went back to Maclean’s and I said, ‘Hey, I’m so sorry, I don’t have permission from the people in the photographs to license these to you’,” Dives tells CBC.
But months afterward, Dives received a text message from one of the people in the photographs informing her that Maclean’s had drawn her photos and published them. “It was so embarrassing,” Dives says. “They had hired an illustrator to make images that were very, very similar.”
Dives’ photos are unmistakable.
Dives penned a letter to the magazine, stating that the illustrations represented a “copyright violation” created without her consent. “Despite my clear decision to withhold permission for the use, based on the fact that the subjects of the photographs did not want to be featured,” she adds.
Dives notes that she has been a contributor to Maclean’s publications for years and that she has been documenting the overdose crisis for “over a decade,” and the incident directly undermines her work and trust-building with subjects.
“Circumventing the rights of photographers makes it impossible for us to continue making a living, and demonstrates a devaluing of the crucial contribution photojournalists make to your publications.”
Apology
In a tweet dated September 2, 2025, Maclean’s acknowledged wrongdoing. “Maclean’s published two illustrations that were based on photographs taken by Jackie Dives, used without her permission and in violation of her copyright. The editors at Maclean’s regret using her photographs in this manner and apologize to Ms. Dives for the damage incurred.”
On Instagram Dives says that because she works in sensitive environments, it is particularly important that she has control over her images.
“The question I always get asked first when I’m talking with a new photo subject is, ‘How will the photos be used?’ It is crucial for me to be able to guarantee them that I have control over where their image will be published and disseminated,” she says.
Dives hired a lawyer and was able to settle the dispute with Maclean’s outside of court.
Image credits: Coutesy of Jackie Dives.