Global News has been nominated for the Michener Award for meritorious public service journalism, Canada’s most prestigious journalism prize, for its Inadmissible series, which exposed serious flaws in the way Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada handles permanent residency applications for people with disabilities and medical conditions.
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In describing the Global’s nomination, the awards foundation wrote that the multi-platform investigation revealed that immigration officials used faulty and outdated academic research to determine ‘a cost threshold’ and each year rejected as many as 450 viable applicants as medically inadmissible.
“We are very proud to have been named a Michener finalist for 2017”, said Troy Reeb, Senior Vice-President of News, Radio and Station Operations for Corus Entertainment Inc. “It’s a prestigious honour that recognizes the importance of public service journalism in holding governments accountable for policies that may be faulty or outdated. The nomination speaks to the dedication and resolve of our multi-platform investigative team to give voice to people who aren’t being heard.”
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Founded in 1970 by then-Governor General Roland Michener, the Michener Award honours public service journalism.
The nearly year-long investigation, comprised of 14 online articles and multiple TV stories, led directly to several changes in public policy, including the reversal of two immigration cases and a parliamentary study which called for the repeal of the “excessive demand” section of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.
In April, the government responded to the report and to the stories of families profiled by Global News by announcing significant changes to the law, making it far easier for people with disabilities to immigrate to Canada.
Toronto immigration lawyer Adrienne Smith said Global’s reporting gave hope to those who had lost confidence in the government.
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“It makes such a huge difference in the lives of our clients,” Smith said. “They always felt like they’ve been put through an unfair process and they feel like this reporting has validated the difficulties they’ve gone through for the last number of years and how their family should be treated.”
Global joins Cogeco Media, CBC Edmonton, The Globe and Mail, The Toronto Star, and The Vancouver Sun as the finalists for the 2017 Michener Award.
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Gov. Gen. Julie Payette will present the winner of this year’s award at the Michener Awards ceremony at Rideau Hall on June 12.
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