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2001 Michener Award Winner - The
Kitchener-Waterloo Record
Ottawa, April 30th, 2002. The Kitchener-Waterloo Record won the
2001 Michener Award for public service journalism for uncovering
serious misuse of public funds in municipal lease financing.
Pierre Bergeron, President of the Michener Awards Foundation,
said the winning entry represented persistent digging and total
commit- ment by the paper over eight months.
The Vancouver Sun received Honourable Mention for a series about the
disappearance of women from Vancouver’s east side. The Record and
The Sun were among six finalists
honoured in a ceremony at Rideau Hall this evening.
The ceremony was hosted by Her Excellency Adrienne Clarkson, Governor
General of Canada. She praised the work of the finalists and said that "The Michener Awards are
distinguished from other media awards, because they emphasize the
arms-length public benefit that is generated by journalistic
work....it is this emphasis on the public good that is a very
important part of the Michener Award". (the
full text)
Pierre Duchesne |
The Governor General also presented the
2002 Michener-Deacon
Fellowship to Pierre Duchesne, a journalist with the Radio-Canada
Television program, Zone Libre. The Fellowship provides $22,500 to a
mature journalist for a four-month study. Mr. Duchesne will use the
Fellowship to complete the third volume of his unauthorized
biography of former Quebec Premier Jacques Parizeau. This volume
will address the most important period of Parizeau's political life from
1985 to 1995.
The Record began by investigating a too-good-to-be-true financing
deal for a city park. The Record editorial staff, lead by business
reporter Kevin Crowley, persevered in cutting through the
complex web of lease financing.
It turned out that municipal politicians and employees authorized
contracts they didn’t understand. The costs were nearly $500
million more than they expected. The paper entered 11 reports, 12
editorials and an editorial cartoon.
The repercussions were felt in other Ontario municipalities. The
Record’s reports resulted in audits, municipal investigations and
multi-million dollar lawsuits against MFP Financial Services Ltd.
The Ontario government has drafted new legislation to protect
municipal taxpayers.
Mr. Bergeron noted that the Michener Award is presented for
meritorious public service in journalism, with particular reference
to the public benefits generated by the entry and the resources
available to the news organization.
He said there was a tight race this year among several deserving
finalists, particularly between the winner and the runner-up entry,
The Vancouver Sun, which received the Honourable Mention
certificate.
Honourable Mention:
The Vancouver Sun: for an 11-part series
by reporters Lindsay Kines, Kim Bolan and Lori Culbert, published
between September and November 2001, about the
disappearance of women from Vancouver¹s east side. The reports
examined the investigators' lack of progress in solving what may be
Canada's biggest serial murder case and raised the number of women, missing and presumed murdered, from 27
to 45. They described laxness in the Vancouver police department¹s
investigation and disclosure practices, the lack of a compatible
computerized database on sexual predators, and deficiencies in the
storage of DNA. The series resulted in the establishment of a joint RCMP-Vancouver
Police Task Force, with additional staff and resources.
For the first time the police met with the families of the missing
women.
Citations of Merit were presented to:
CBC News, The National: for Trail of a Terrorist, a
detailed story about the life in Canada of convicted terrorist Ahmed Ressam. The Algerian came
to Montreal, was allowed to apply for
refugee status, lived on welfare, obtained a false Canadian
passport, travelled to Afghanistan for terrorist training and
returned to Montreal. All this before he was eventually arrested by
United States Customs trying to enter the U.S. with equipment to
bomb Los Angeles International Airport on the Millennium. Former
Immigration Minister Elinor Caplan said Ressam could not be deported
because the Canadian government could not get "travel
papers" for him. The documentary had significant impact in
Canada and the United States.
The Canadian Press: for a series
of stories on conditions in women¹s prisons. CP reporters
interviewed prisoners, staff, advocates, and experts at prisons in
four provinces. Five years after the critical report of Justice
Louise Arbour on the treatment of women offenders, series
found some of the main recommendations were not implemented. Maximum
security inmates, some with mental problems, were being held in
long-term isolation in men¹s prisons. In some respects conditions
had deteriorated. After the series ran in newspapers across the
country, advocacy groups launched a human rights challenge,
protesting the conditions of women in security. Other media picked
up the story. Improvements in the conditions have been noted.
The Toronto Star: for Medical Secrets which was the theme of a series
about a lax Ontario medical regulatory system that failed to hold
doctors accountable for practices harmful to patients. Finding no
database existed of disciplinary cases since 1994, the paper created
one. There was significant public response. Complaints against
doctors were handled routinely by the College of
Physicians and Surgeons behind closed doors unless they resulted in
discipline. One doctor¹s licence was never revoked after two
disciplinary actions involving the deaths of two patients. Another
doctor was allowed to continue to practice, despite numerous
complaints documented by the Star. A class-action lawsuit has been
launched against the doctor. The series resulted in a shakeup at the
College of Physicians and Surgeons. The established its own database
of disciplinary cases. The Ontario government launched a legislative
review with a view to improved transparency and accountability.
Winnipeg Free Press: for two entries, each a series
about the plight of children on Winnipeg streets. One tackled child
prostitution, a growing problem that has been generally ignored or
unrecognized. In the four-part series, the children, police, school
employees and advocates were interviewed. The result was a police
sweep of child prostitutes and johns, plans for the city¹s first
safe house, and a move to increase the age of consent. The other
series concentrated on young people involved in drug dealing,
panhandling and squeegee activity. The stories shed light on the
kids¹ backgrounds and why they are on the streets.. The series
presented a prescription for remedial action by families and
agencies charged with helping them.
Judges for the 2001 Michener Award:
Senator Joan Fraser, former editor,
The Gazette, Montreal; David Humphreys (chair), former managing
editor, The Albertan and The Ottawa Journal; Arch MacKenzie, former
Ottawa Bureau Chief, The Canadian Press and The Toronto Star; Duncan
McMonagle, former editor-in-chief, Winnipeg Free Press; René
Roseberry, former news editor, Le Nouvelliste, Trois Rivières and
President of the Grands Prix des Hebdos du Quebec.
The Michener Award is presented annually to news organizations whose
work has a major effect on public policy or the lives of Canadians.
The Award is given to a news organization rather an individual.
Print and broadcast and published online media of any size are
eligible. Special consideration is given to the news resources
available to the entry.
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