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Paul-André Comeau accepts the 1989 Michener Award from Governor General Ray
Hnatyshyn, on behalf of Montreal newspaper, Le Devoir.> |
Ottawa, June 19, 1990. Montréal Le Devoir has won the 1989 Michener Award for meritorious public service in journalism. The French language daily received the award for its coverage of the issues and challenges facing the Inuit people in northern Quebec in advance of a referendum on a proposal for self-government. The proposal was ultimately passed by native voters on April 10, 1989.
Ramon John Hnatyshyn, Governor General of Canada, made the pre-sentation this evening during a ceremony at Government House, in the presence of the award's founding patron, the Right Honourable Roland Michener. The seven finalists honoured were selected from among 57 entries submitted by print and broadcast news organizations. The Governor General said that each of the finalists had met the highest standards of journalism and had served their communities and profession with distinction. (full text of the Governor General's address)
À l'heure du choix ("The Deciding Hour"), Le Devoir's
award-winning submission, was the title of a 48 page supplement,
printed in French and Inuktitut, that appeared in the newspaper's
regular Saturday issue on April 1, 1989. According to Paule
Beaugrand-Champagne, then Le Devoir's associate editor-in-chief
responsible for the project, coverage of the referendum presented a
wide set of challenges: arrangements had to be made to receive
reports promptly from 14 remote communities, isolated from each
other and far from Montreal; the letters and characters of the Inuit
language had to be adapted to an electronic printing process; in
order to translate from French into Inuktitut, means had to be found
to explain southern concepts and expressions to native readers for
which there are no corresponding terms in Inuktitut; delivery of the
supplement had to be made to every household in the 14 solitary
communities scattered along Quebec's High Arctic coastline.
(Subscribers in Montreal and other settled areas received the
supplement in that day's issue of the paper.)
Le Devoir, with the smallest circulation of any metropolitan daily
in Canada, succeeded in overcoming these problems and Michener
judges commended the newspaper for "the extraordinary effort it made
to communicate with the Inuit on an equal basis and for what it
achieved." They added, "Except for the language matter, content in
the supplement was quite normal... but the fact that it was done and
the way it was done represented an enormous public service."
Paul Deacon, President of the Michener Awards Foundation, expressed his thanks to
Governor General Hnatyshyn for hosting the 20th presentation
ceremony at Rideau Hall (full text - Paul Deacon).
The Foundation announced that journalists Gisèle
Lalande of Outremont, Quebec, and Ann Pappert of Toronto
are the recipients of 1990 Michener fellowships.
Gisèle Lalande, a reporter with Radio
Canada and Radio Quebec, proposes to study the limits of
multiculturalism in a multiracial Canada and the controversy such an
examination may elicit in a society where 'multiculturalism' is
synonymous with 'good'. The declining birth rate in Canada makes it
increasingly dependent on immigration for long term growth and Ms
Lalande plans to examine how prepared Canadians are to live in a
society that emphasizes racial differences. She intends to publish
her findings in a book following the four-month fellowship period. (Lalande
Fellowship report)
Ann Pappert is a Toronto free-lance writer whose work on a wide
range of scientific subjects has appeared in the Toronto Star, the
Globe and Mail, The Financial Times, the CBC and public
broadcasting in the united States. Her subject of study will be
reproduction technology - a field she has examined with special
regard to public policy. She will study changes in techniques which
are emerging in scientific
laboratories. Her four-month program financed by the Michener
Fellowship will enable her to spend time with leading scientists in
the field. (Pappert Fellowship report)
Honourable Mention:
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Michael Harris Sunday Express Editor-In-Chief |
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Reporting by publisher and editor-in-chief Michael Harris and reporter Philip Lee, with contributions from virtually every reporter on staff, is deemed partly responsible for the Newfoundland government's decision to establish a Royal Commission to investigate the abuses and the province's criminal justice system. As a result of the investigation, nine Christian Brothers or former Brothers have been charged with sex-related offences at Mount Cashew and several former orphanage residents have brought damage suits against the Brothers and the government.
Beyond this, the story made major news across the country and has affected society and government in Newfoundland. Justice and social service cabinet ministers have promised policy changes and overhauls of the system to prevent future abuses. The subject of child sexual abuse is no longer forbidden, complaints to police have increased and the orphanage itself is closing.
Citations of merit in the 1989 competition were awarded
to:
The Kingston Whig-Standard, for "Rock-a-Bye Baby", the story
of the tragic life and death of MarIene Moore who took her life in
the penitentiary for women at Kingston - ending a life of physical
and mental pain inflicted on her by respected segments of society.
It also described the insensitive and harsh treatment our society
and our legal system can inflict on a female victim of incest and
rape and of male violence, while perpetrators go free. Staff writers
Anne Kershaw and Mary Lasovich initiated the story and spent 10
months researching and writing. Their finished product filled all
but four of the 48 pages in the Whig-Standard’s Saturday Magazine
section Saturday, November 25th, 1989.
Reader's Digest, Montreal, for "The Donald Marshall Case", a
23,000 word exposé on how the white justice system failed the Nova
Scotia Micmac Indian. Reporter Parker Barss Donham worked on the
story from 1986 to 1989, interviewing dozens of witnesses, attended
numerous court hearings and most of the sittings of the Nova Scotia
Royal Commission inquiry into the case and studied more than 30,000
words of documentary evidence. The story was
described by his editor as a “concise but thorough account of the
incompetent, unprofessional and improper acts that led to Marshall’s
conviction for the murder of Sandy Seale, and the equally
incompetent, mean-spirited reaction of politicians, judges and
public officials once the truth became known”.
Southam News for the Southam Environment project, a
monumental report on the state of the environment in Canada from
coast to coast and what can be done about it. In explaining its
project, ‘Our Fragile Future’, the news service said that of all the
vital issues of our time, perhaps only the question of nuclear
disarmament is as crucial to the future of the planet as
environmental degradation.
The Journal, CBC, Toronto for "The Human Tragedy in the
Sudan", a graphic, heart-wrenching two-part television documentary on the
odyssey of children who marched half way across Sudan to seek refuge
in Ethiopia to escape slavery and starvation or death in the civil
war raging in their homeland. The magnitude of the exodus from the
Sudan is staggering. Up to 400,000 are said to have made their way
to refugee camps in Ethiopia. The documentary by reporter Brian
Stewart and producer Tony Burman, brought attention to the shocking
face of a forgotten war.
CKNW Vancouver-New Westminster, for "Drinking, Drugs and
Decisions", a radio documentary on the dangers of substance abuse
broadcast by CKNW and 43 other B.C. radio stations on opening day of
that province's Drug Awareness Week. The program dealt with the
misery and tragedy of substance abuse through the stories of people
who became addicted to alcohol and drugs but succeeded in returning
to a normal life. B.C. faces staggering alcohol and drug abuse
problems that cost taxpayers an estimated $2 billion annualy in
health care and social services and in higher taxes and lost
productivity. Beyond the dollar cost, there is the incalculable cost
in human misery, not only for addicts, but also for their families.
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Judges for the 1989 Michener Award:
Fraser MacDougall, retired, Canadian Press and Ontario Press
council; Emmanuelle Gattuso, vice-president, Canadian Association of
Broadcasters, Ottawa; Pierre Lemieux, Montreal, formerly with CPR
Public Affairs; Peter Mason former president of B.F. Goodrich,
former vice-chairman Ontario Press Council; Gail Scott, Journalism,
Ryerson Polytechnical Institute; Ivor Williams former editor of the
Regina Leader-Post.
Judges for the 1990 Michener Fellowship
Senator Richard Doyle, former editor-in-chief of the Toronto
Globe and Mail and chairman of the judging committee; George Bain,
columnist and journalism teacher; Lise Bissonette, new publisher of
Le Devoir; Guy Rondeau, retired chief of Quebec service for the
Canadian Press; Doris Anderson, former editor of Chatelaine and
former head of the National Council on the Status of Women; and Ted
Chapman, retired Calgary broadcasting executive.
The Michener Award is unique because its criteria do not require judges to take account of journalistic skills. Instead, they must consider each entry on its merit, its freedom from any thought of gaining some personal or corporate advantage, and its service to society.