justice canada

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Eleventh Annual Justicia Awards Presented for Legal Reporting

NIAGARA – A team from the Victoria Times Colonist and a team from Radio-Canada’s Enquête are the winners of the eleventh annual Justicia Awards for Excellence in Journalism.

The Justicia Awards are sponsored by the Canadian Bar Association (CBA) and the Department of Justice Canada. The awards recognize outstanding journalism that fosters public awareness and understanding of any aspect of the Canadian justice system and the roles played by institutions and participants in the legal system.

A team from Radio-Canada’s Enquête, including journalist Pasquale Turbide and producer Johanne Bonneau, is the winner in the broadcast category for a February 2010 show “Délateurs en liberté” on the practice of paying informants.

The program follows the stories of three paid informants with criminal pasts who received shortened prison terms for their testimony during the 1994-to-2006 biker wars in Quebec. The result is a gritty exposé of the secretive world of informants and the officers of justice who work with them.

Pasquale Turbide and Johanne Bonneau receive Justicia Award from Donald Piragoff, Senior Assistant Deputy Minister of Justice (Policy) and CBA President Kevin Carroll.
Photo : Tony Ricciuto

“The reportage raises legal and moral issues surrounding the payment of informers, and provides insight on a topic not well understood by the public, but of critical importance to the principles of justice and the preservation of a safe society,” the Justicia jury said.

Victoria Times-Colonist reporter Rob Shaw (centre) accepts Justicia Award from Kathryn Berge, chair of the CBA Awards Committee, and CBA president Kevin Carroll.

A team from the Victoria Times Colonist – including reporters Louise Dickson, Lindsay Kines and Rob Shaw, editorial writer Dave Obee, columnist Les Leyne, and city editor Stephanie Coombs – is the winner in the print category for a series on access to information in British Columbia’s courts, published in February 2010.

The series revealed many inconsistencies, sparking a reaction of concern from the B.C. Supreme and Provincial courts, which resulted in dramatic changes to justice policy in the province.

The Justicia jury said this investigative series best fulfilled the role that the Justicia Awards were created to encourage. “The series exemplifies professional investigative journalism at its best, and the conclusions it draws are flawless.”

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