The CAJ team
For the first time since 2019, the #CAJAwards, which celebrate the best in Canadian investigative journalism, were held in-person on May 28, 2022, in Montreal. Hosted by renowned Québécois journalist Noémi Mercier, this year’s awards gala was completely sold out. It was, without question, a night to remember!
The CAJ’s McGillivray Award, recognizing the program’s best investigative journalism, was awarded to APTN News’ Brittany Guyot and Kathleen Martens. The team’s Surviving Day Schools entry used freedom-of-information and other investigative techniques to confirm that Indian Day Schools have also seen student deaths echoing the tragedy of these fatalities that had its reckoning moment in 2021 at residential schools across Canada. Earlier in the evening, Surviving Day Schools was named the inaugural recipient in the Freedom of Information Journalism category.
The CAJ also acknowledged the legions of Canadian lawyers, who have generously provided pro-bono legal services, with the prestigious Charles Bury Award. We wanted to acknowledge the incredible work of these lawyers to help uphold journalists’ rights to report on matters of significant public interest. Sean Hern, who represented the CAJ and a coalition of independent news organizations and press freedom groups in the Fairy Creek case last summer, was present to accept the award.
We’d like to thank our many award sponsors who helped make this year’s ceremony a resounding success. A round of applause for the ongoing support from CWA-Canada, Journalists for Human Rights, and APTN.
Thank you to our new sponsors for this year’s awards program: The Ken and Debbie Rubin Public Interest Advocacy Fund and the Science Media Centre of Canada. We couldn’t do it without you!