The Tyee Snags Two CAJ Awards

The Canadian Association of Journalists conference, held this past weekend in Vancouver, provided many great opportunities to reflect on the reporting we do here at The Tyee — why it’s important, how to navigate a challenging and changing ecosystem, and how to keep improving what we do in order to better serve our communities.

It also provided us with reason to celebrate — at the wrap-up gala, our very own Jen St. Denis and Amanda Follett Hosgood each took home CAJ awards. They are coveted because, as the CAJ explains, its prizes “recognize the best in Canadian journalism with a particular focus on investigative work.”

Written News Award

Jen St. Denis, who covers civic issues for The Tyee, won the CAJ’s Written News Award for her reporting on the Winters Fire. She won alongside the Globe and Mail’s Grant Robertson, for his investigation into Hockey Canada’s use of registration fees to fund settlements for sexual assault claims.

On a sunny April morning in downtown Vancouver, thick black smoke suddenly filled the air above Gastown. The 115-year-old Winters Hotel SRO was on fire. Tenants scrambled through smoke-filled halls, trying to alert neighbours. One man jumped out of a fourth storey window, while others had to be rescued by the fire department.

The single-room occupancy housed 71 low-income tenants, with seven businesses on the ground floor. Tenants lost everything they owned in the fire, and business owners were hit hard. Journalists were told that everyone who lived in the building had been accounted for. But 11 days after the fire the bodies of two residents, Mary Ann Garlow and Dennis Guay, were found in the rubble.

Talking with residents and interviewing officials, St. Denis uncovered alarming facts about empty fire extinguishers and non-functioning sprinklers, and conflicting stories about whether or not a fire watch was taking place.

A coroner’s inquest into the deaths of Mary Ann Garlow and Dennis Guay was announced for the two victims of the fire shortly after St. Denis’s report.

The Winters Hotel Burned Down. Are Other SROs at Risk?
Vancouver’s fire department says it responded to over 300 fires at SROs last year.

Inside the Winters Hotel as It Burned
Residents and business owners describe terror and confusion during the fatal Vancouver SRO fire.

Winters Hotel Fire Report Confirms Extinguishers Were Empty
The SRO fire killed two vulnerable tenants. Their families are asking if the tragedy could have been prevented.

Accepting the award, St. Denis thanked the surviving tenants of the Winters Hotel who trusted her with their stories.

“So often marginalized people are not listened to, but in this case, they were absolutely telling the truth,” she said. “Thanks as well to the families of the two tenants who did not survive — Mary Ann Garlow and Dennis Guay. I just wanted to say those names out loud.

“Thanks so much to the Tyee for making it possible to do this work.”

Paul Willcocks, St. Denis’s editor, said the award reflects her sustained, important reporting on problems in Vancouver’s SROs. Premier David Eby described them as “unlivable” after St. Denis reported the dangers and decay faced by tenants and staff.

“Jen took the time to build trust with residents and the community, and dig into the complex issues,” Willcocks said. “And in the process exposed a massive public policy failure.

“The Winters Hotel fire coverage was an important part of that."

APTN/CAJ Reconciliation Award

The Tyee’s northern B.C. reporter, Amanda Follett Hosgood, won the APTN/CAJ Reconciliation Award for her series on the decades-long struggle to repair the devastation wrought by the establishment of the Nechako Reservoir.

The B.C. government’s mid-century drive to build an aluminum smelter in the province’s northwest required cheap electricity. So in 1952 it built a dam that reversed much of the Nechako River’s flow and flooded Cheslatta Nation traditional territories. The nation wasn’t consulted as people were forced from their homes with little notice or compensation, villages were flooded and the resources that sustained the nation were devastated.

Repairing the Devastation of the Nechako Reservoir
The far-reaching impacts on Indigenous communities and ecosystems created by the Nechako Reservoir. And possible solutions.

The APTN/CAJ Reconciliation Award “seeks to recognize the work of a non-Indigenous journalist whose reporting has broadened the understanding of the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples,” according to the CAJ website. The judges for this category are Indigenous journalists.

“I’m genuinely humbled and overwhelmed,” Follett Hosgood said at the ceremony on Saturday night. “I think I’ll spend the rest of my career trying to live up to winning such an award.”

“I need to recognize the people who spoke to me for the series,” she said. “The Cheslatta Carrier Nation, and the Saik’uz First Nation.”

Willcocks said the reporting was remarkable, as Follett Hosgood researched the history of the project and the devastation. She travelled with Chesletta researchers exploring the reservoir and looking for ways to mitigate the damage, and met with leaders and Rio Tinto, the current operators of the dam.

“It’s grim reading at times,” Willcocks said. “But also hopeful, as Amanda reports on the nation’s effort to secure its future, from returning to traditional practices to developing its own businesses related to the dam operations.”

“These awards do genuinely belong to the Builders who support The Tyee,” said Willcocks. “They let us give Jen St. Denis the time to understand the complex issues of the Downtown Eastside, and to let her build trust.

“And they allow us to have Amanda Follett Hosgood as a northern B.C. reporter who lives there and understands the issues and people.”

Tyee editor-in-chief David Beers noted that other Tyee reporters were well represented for accolades, with five more named CAJ finalists. “I am really proud of what the entire Tyee team produces on a daily basis. We published well over 1,000 original pieces of journalism in 2022 with a relentless focus on what the CAJ awards value — investigation and enterprise. We are on a mission to serve the public interest and so this recognition from our peers means a lot.”

Francesca Fionda and Katie Hyslop teamed up on the two-part series on the legacy of Indigenous oppression by B.C.’s Sisters of St. Ann, nominated for the ATPN/CAJ Reconciliation Award.

Revisiting the Record of the Sisters of St. Ann
‘It’s an ugly history.’ Survivors call for accountability, responsibility and transparency. A Tyee special report. By Francesca Fionda

A Colonial Reckoning at Little Flower Academy
A Vancouver Catholic girls school venerated their founders but downplayed their residential school history. Alumnae want answers. Second in a Tyee special investigation. By Katie Hyslop

The team of Moira Wyton and Zak Vescera was nominated in the CAJ category of labour reporting for their coverage of mounting violence against frontline health-care workers.

Health-Care Workers Are Facing an Epidemic of Violence
From ERs to long-term care, workers are dealing with abuse and attacks. They want to see change.

Health Workers Attacked. Investigations Bungled. Will This Spur Change?
Advocates hope WorkSafeBC’s $355,000 judgment against Northern Health leads to protections.

Multimedia journalist and UBC School of Journalism, Writing and Media student Sonal Gupta’s nine-minute documentary about a creative approach to providing spaces for artists, which she created and published as an intern with The Tyee, landed her a nomination for the Student Award of Excellence.

The Artist Motel: Inside a Vancouver Experiment
WATCH: Visit the creative colony carved from a dying motel in a fast gentrifying city. A Tyee mini-documentary.

The Tyee congratulates all CAJ award finalists and winners representing journalism organizations across Canada.

A hearty thank you from us to our readers and our readers who become Tyee Builders by contributing what they can financially — without your support, we wouldn’t be able to do what we do.