Fellowship recipient to to examine public policy questions raised by the profits generated by the mining industry in Ontario
The Michener-Deacon Fellowship for Investigative Reporting is awarded to veteran CBC journalist Rita Celli. Since 1991, Ms Celli has held numerous reporting and hosting positions in radio and television with CBC in Sudbury and Ottawa. The Fellowship was presented during the annual Michener Award ceremony held at Rideau Hall in Ottawa on June 11, 2014.
Her project is entitled “Stock Traders, Money Lenders, Companies or Everyday Joe: Who is getting rich from Ontario’s multi-billion dollar mining Industry?”
Read Rita Celli’s report on the the results of her Michener Fellowship for Investigative Reporting
As host of Ontario Today on CBC Radio she has become knowledgeable about how Canadian resources matter to the public good. She plans to examine the public policy questions raised by the profits generated by the mining Industry, providing her research findings to all available platforms, radio, television and online.
In her acceptance speech Ms Celli said it was difficult to determine how much Ontario really earns from non-renewable resources like gold and nickel adding that “Businesses pay taxes – but they also receive tax credits and tax holidays. The question is where does it tip – in favour of business or the province”? Ms Celli hopes to find the answer to some of these questions during her study of the mining industry in Ontario. (the full text of her remarks)
Rita Celli is the host of Ontario Today, heard weekdays across Ontario on CBC Radio One.
Ms Celli began her on-air career with CBC Radio in Sudbury before moving to CBC Ottawa in 1994. A veteran journalist, she has held numerous positions with CBC radio and television. Prior to hosting Ontario Today, she was anchor of the supper-hour newscast, Canada Now, on Ottawa’s CBOT (2001 to 2006). From 1991 – 2001 she was the field host of CBC radio’s local morning program, Ottawa Morning, and was a reporter in both Ottawa (1994 – 1999) and Sudbury (1991 – 1994).
Rita Celli has received many awards in her broadcasting career. In 1999, she and a team of CBC radio journalists won a national investigative award from the Canadian Association of Journalists for an exposé into the sexual abuse of boys in Cornwall, Ontario. In 2008, her show was named International Winner New York Festival’s Silver Medal in the Breaking News Category. In 2009 she won the Sam Ross Award for Editorial Writing/Commentary from RTNDA Canada. Ontario Today has won three Gracie Awards for Outstanding Talk Show.
Ms Celli graduated from Marymount College in Sudbury before enrolling in Carleton University’s Journalism program in Ottawa from which she graduated in 1991.During her studies at Carleton she worked on Parliament Hill as a page and doing communications for a Member of Parliament.
(The Investigative Journalism fellowship is supported by the BMO Financial Group. It allows a journalist to devote up to four months for a reporting project. Applicants are required to undertake a project that aspires to the criteria of the annual Michener Award for journalism with its emphasis on making an impact for the public good.)
Rideau Hall – June 11, 2014
Judges for the 2014 Michener-Deacon Fellowship:
Clinton Archibald, retired professor of public ethics, Saint Paul University, Ottawa; Michael Goldbloom, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Bishop’s University, Lennoxville, Quebec, and former publisher of The Gazette and the Toronto Star; Susan Mitton, former regional director, CBC Maritimes; Ivor Shapiro, chair, Ryerson School of Journalism; Maryse Cardin, instructor, School of Communications, Capilano University, North Vancouver.
The fellowship of the Michener Awards Foundation, introduced in 1987, is known today as the Michener-Deacon Fellowship (named after the late Roland Michener and the late Paul Deacon, a senior media executive and Michener Awards Foundation president). The fellowship is to encourage excellence in investigative print and broadcast journalism that serves the public interest through values that benefit the community. Mature journalists are invited to submit written outlines for studies over four months that will strengthen their competence.