CBC/Radio-Canada and The Canadian Press were co-winners of the 2008 Michener Award for meritorious public service journalism. The news organizations teamed up to produce an investigative series on Taser stun guns and particularly their use by the RCMP.
After seeing all the presentations, the people I didn’t envy the most were the judges.
I don’t know how I would have made a choice, so thank you. And that makes it even more of a privilege to have won among such an incredible and impressive range of stories. Congratulations to everyone.
Ce projet représente ce qu’il y a de mieux en journalisme. En mettant à profit la presse écrite, le web et la puissance multi-plateforme du diffuseur national, CBC/Radio Canada et la Presse Canadienne ont démontré ce que nous pouvons accomplir lorsque nous mobilisons toutes nos resources. Nous nous questionnons peut-être sur notre avenir, mais ce type de projet prouve haut et fort notre role et notre valeur dans une société démocratique.
While some of the work on tasers was done earlier, the real galvanizing event that spurred this work was the death of Robert Dziekanski in Vancouver airport. The shocking video of his death and the revelations at the Braidwood Inquiry gave our work even greater importance. We feel we have fulfilled our mandate as public broadcasters by advocating on behalf of a voiceless immigrant and by holding public institutions accountable.
Comme diffuseur publique, notre priorité est de présenter les histoires qui sont importantes pour tous les canadiens. Et surtout de pouvoir raconter des histoires comme celle de Robert Dziekanski et de sa mère, qui méritent justice et un examen honnête des faits.
And the story is not over – we continue to research taser use in Canada to better understand police use and reliance on these weapons. And in Vancouver, Commissioner Thomas Braidwood has warned the Mounties he will consider allegations of improper conduct and cover up against them.
They are going to court to stop him. We, along with you, will be watching.
Thank you again for the wonderful recognition of this work.
Esther Enkin
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Rideau Hall
June 10, 2009