SEVENTH ANNUAL JUSTICIA AWARDS
PRESENTED FOR LEGAL REPORTING

ST. JOHN’S, August 11, 2006 – Société Radio Canada’s Enjeux and Peter McKnight of the Vancouver Sun are the winners of the seventh annual Justicia Awards for Excellence in Journalism.

The Justicia Awards are sponsored by the Law Commission of Canada, 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.

Special certificates of merit were also awarded to CBC News Investigative Unit, Kirk Makin of the Globe and Mail and Paula Simons of the Edmonton Journal.

The winners will be honoured at a ceremony tomorrow, August 12, at the Canadian Bar Association's annual conference in St. John’s, NL.

Broadcast

Société Radio-Canada’s Enjeux is the winner in the broadcast category for its March 2006 program “Tribunal des Toxicomanes.” It was reported by Frédéric Zalac and produced by Marie Belzil. Georges Laszuk was the cameraperson and Kris Fleerackers was the editor. This original and in-depth look at the groundbreaking Drug Treatment Court in Vancouver was four years in the making and required extensive negotiations to obtain court permission to put television cameras inside the courtroom. It followed the drug addicts in the court for eight months. Stating that the results were well worth the wait, the awards panel praised the report for “the high value it placed on innovation and the very human face it portrayed of the court.”

The judges also awarded a certificate of merit in the broadcast category to CBC News Investigative Unit for its March 2006 investigation “Landslide - World Wide Net”. The report looked at an international Internet porn probe that placed thousands of innocent people under suspicion based on a database of names and credit card information that was never verified. Stories were featured on The Current, World Report, World at Six and Newsworld. The team included Kellie Hudson, Sandra Bartlett, Susanne Reber, Dick Miller and John Nicol.

Print

Peter McKnight of the Vancouver Sun is the winner in the print category for his March 4, 2006 column on judicial activism. The column uses studies from Canada and the United States to explore the difficulty of finding a clear definition of what constitutes judicial activism. The Justicia Awards jury was impressed by McKnight’s “ability to communicate and make complex concepts accessible to the public. The column pulls together relevant information from academic research to support the writer’s conclusion. It is all written in a colloquial style that makes for an engaging read.”

The judges also awarded certificates of merit to:

• Kirk Makin of the Globe and Mail for his June 11, 2005 feature “ Nunavut raises the bar” on the painstaking process of setting up a law school in Nunavut. The awards panel praised the article as “well-researched and in-depth. It shows the Canadian system can adapt to reach an isolated community fearful and resentful of past legal woes.” Makin is a two-time winner of the Justicia Awards.
  
  
• Paula Simons of the Edmonton Journal for her October 2005 column “System didn’t give Roszko a pass, those who bullied did: Social contract works only if citizens do their part.” The jury said this column “contributes to the public debate about violent offenders in an informative and enlightening way.”

Last year's winners were freelance journalist Shannon Rupp writing in the Georgia Straight and CBC News Canada Now/Newsworld.

The entries were judged by Mayland D. McKimm, Q.C., of Victoria, B.C., a former president of the British Columbia Branch of the CBA, Ottawa freelance journalist Huguette Young and Lisa Taylor, a Halifax lawyer, journalist and journalism instructor.

The criteria for judging entries are accuracy, effectiveness in explaining legal issues to the public, informational value, insight and originality. This year's awards cover stories that were published or broadcast between May 16, 2005 and May 15, 2006.

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Ref.:
Hannah Bernstein
Canadian Bar Association
Aug. 11-15, Delta St. John's Hotel and Convention Centre, St. Mary's Room,
(709) 726-7594
E-mail: hannahb@cba.org.