A Stain on Our Game
2020
Finalist
Jeff Hamilton
In this gripping six-part series, Winnipeg Free Press reporter Jeff Hamilton reopens the case of disgraced junior hockey coach Graham James, the sexual predator whose first conviction in 1997 never brought about a larger reckoning in the Canadian hockey world. But this investigation brings new evidence to light. Hamilton’s powerful storytelling shows not only how abusers enabled each other, but the complicity of team and league management as they turned a blind eye when it suited them. Hamilton recounts for the first time how a team captain’s attempt to lead a players’ revolt was thwarted. And he allows a new victim of James, unknown even to his own family, to share his lifelong secret. Following publication, Sheldon Kennedy’s Respect Group experienced a surge in survivors reaching out for help, empowering victims to speak out, seek help, and overcome shame; and discussions are underway to include the series in a pending class-action lawsuit.