The Globe and Mail won the 2022 and 2021 Michener Award recognizing public-service journalism for its investigation into Hockey Canada’s response to sexual-assault allegations and for reporting on the Catholic Church’s efforts to avoid accepting responsibility for its role in abuses at residential schools.
The Globe received the 2021 award jointly with CBC Saskatchewan for the broadcaster’s separate reporting on the Catholic Church’s role in residential schools. The winners and finalists were recognized at Rideau Hall in Ottawa on Friday at a ceremony hosted by Governor-General Mary Simon. Last year’s ceremony was delayed because of the pandemic.
From left: Colin Freeze, Joe Friesen, Robyn Doolittle, Governor General Mary Simon, Grant Robertson and Susan Krashinsky Robertson receiving the 2022 award for The Globe’s coverage of Hockey Canada’s sexual-assault scandal.Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press
Grant Robertson, Robyn Doolittle, Joe Friesen, Colin Freeze and Susan Krashinsky Robertson received the 2022 award for The Globe’s coverage of Hockey Canada’s sexual-assault scandal. Their investigation found that Hockey Canada was using player registration fees through its National Equity Fund to settle millions of dollars of sexual-assault claims.
Their work prompted Hockey Canada to end the use of the fund for sexual-assault claims. The organization also lost major corporate sponsors, its chief executive retired, the entire board resigned, and the London Police Service renewed its investigation into a sexual-assault claim against members of the 2018 world juniors national team.
Tavia Grant, Tom Cardoso, Tanya Talaga, Patrick White, Kristy Kirkup and David Milstead won the 2021 award for their investigation into of the Catholic Church’s net assets in Canada, revealing the church’s unfulfilled commitments to residential-school survivors and the effect of decades of abuses.
From left: Tom Cardoso, Tavia Grant, Governor General Mary Simon, Kristy Kirkup and Patrick White receiving the 2021 award for their investigation into of the Catholic Church’s net assets in Canada.Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press
Their stories added pressure on Canada’s Catholic bishops, who subsequently apologized for the trauma and suffering caused by the church’s involvement in the residential-school system. Pope Francis visited Canada last year and delivered his own apology.
“We are profoundly moved by the double recognition,” Globe editor-in-chief David Walmsley said. “The Michener Award, going all the way back to His Excellency Roland Michener, presents the gold standard for public-service journalism and we are delighted to be the recipients for both 2021 and 2022.”
The Michener Award was established in 1971 by the former governor-general and is Canada’s highest journalism honour.
The Globe’s Nancy Macdonald and Mike Hager were also nominated for the 2022 Michener Award for an investigation into the failures at an Indigenous-centred group home in Abbotsford, B.C., that led to the death of Traevon Desjarlais-Chalifoux, a Cree teenager. The B.C. government called a public inquest into his death less than a week after The Globe’s investigation was published and later announced that it would phase out group homes in the foster-child system.
Mr. Robertson and Rachel Brady were also named finalists for the 2021 award reporting on a toxic culture within Canadian sport, revealing more than 40 cases of severe eating disorders in Olympians. Their work prompted the Minister of Sport to require national sport organizations to sign onto a new system to handle investigations of athlete abuse.
Also named as finalists for the 2022 award were the Toronto Star, CBC Radio-Canada, The Eastern Graphic and CBC Saskatchewan. Finalists for the 2021 award included Kamloops This Week, Global News and CBC News.
Globe writers also took home top prizes earlier in the week at the Canadian Journalism Foundation Awards.
The Landsberg Award for raising awareness about gender equality and justice issues in Canada was awarded to Molly Hayes, Ms. Grant and Elizabeth Renzetti for their series on intimate-partner violence and coercive control.
Mr. Robertson was also recognized for exemplary journalism with impact with the CJF Jackman Award for Excellence in Journalism in the large-media category for his work on the Hockey Canada sexual-assault scandal.
The Michener event also recognized the winners of its 2023 and 2022 fellowships. Molly Thomas won this year’s Michener-Deacon fellowship for investigative reporting for her work on education in Afghanistan. Sarah Trick and Alanna King won the Michener-L. Richard O’Hagan Fellowship to create a media style guide on disabilities.
The 2022 Michener-Deacon fellowship went to Stéphane Blais of the The Canadian Press for work focusing on the environmental and economic effects of lithium mining, and to freelance journalist Rob Csernyik for an investigation into the relationship between gambling and suicide.