Amanda Follett Hosgood Wins a Truth and Reconciliation Award

We’re in the heady height of awards season for journalists, and it's an honour to be named as a finalist for some of the highest professional accolades in the country.

It’s another thing, however, to win one of the top national prizes for journalists two years in a row. The Tyee’s northern B.C. reporter Amanda Follett Hosgood has done just that.

At an awards gala that closed the annual Canadian Association of Journalists conference this past Saturday night, Follett Hosgood won the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network and the Canadian Association of Journalists Truth and Reconciliation Award for her multi-part, ongoing Tyee series on a Canadian Human Rights Tribunal hearing on the RCMP’s handling of abuse allegations to which she dedicated approximately 400 reporting hours between May and December 2023. The hearing investigated whether the RCMP discriminated against Indigenous complainants while investigating historical abuse allegations at Immaculata Elementary School and Prince George College in northern B.C.

“If I were to choose the Canadian journalism award that is the most meaningful to me, it would be this one,” said Follett Hosgood. “To win it once was huge. To win it two years in a row is a bit overwhelming.”

Follett Hosgood’s coverage exceeded that of other outlets. “I’ve been aware of the story since it first broke in the Georgia Straight in 2012, and the controversy and litigation that followed. I knew that there was an effort to bring the RCMP’s investigation to the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal. When the hearings were about to finally get underway, I thought it was important to be in Burns Lake to hear the survivors’ testimonies,” Follett Hosgood said.

“The hearings marked a turning point in what was previously a huge national news story for two reasons. It was the first time that the First Nations survivors had the chance to publicly share their own stories. That was huge. But just before the hearings started, the powerful person at the centre of their allegations was granted anonymity," said Follett Hosgood.

"Perhaps for that reason, many media outlets that had been covering the story appeared to lose interest. I think that made it especially important that The Tyee be there as a witness. I hope the recognition from this award brings more attention to the survivors’ testimonies and awareness that this story is still continuing.”

Tyee senior editor andrea bennett is Follett Hosgood’s supervising editor. “Working with Amanda is a dream. She’s a diligent, determined reporter who has to seek the truth out once a story has grabbed her,” bennett said. “I’m proud of her for her dedication, her sensitivity with sources, and her ability to distill many hours of testimony into pieces that told survivors’ stories well and with care.”

Follett Hosgood will continue covering this story, as written submissions are due to the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal in July, and the tribunal will then have up to six months to issue a decision.

Congratulations to all the journalists who won CAJ awards on the weekend. And to the Tyee staff and contributors who were named as finalists in the 2024 awards. They are Christopher Cheung, Francesca Fionda, Michelle Gamage, Ben Parfitt and Aldyn Chwelos, Kristen de Jager and Paul Voll of the Climate Disaster Project.

This weekend in Toronto, winners of the 2024 Digital Publishing Awards will be announced at a Friday night banquet, and four Tyee journalists have been nominated across three categories. The week after that on June 12, the 2024 Canadian Journalism Foundation Awards will be celebrated, and The Tyee’s Jen St. Denis and Francesca Fionda are nominees.

All of this work is possible only through the incredible support of Tyee readers. To continue supporting fact-based journalism during a critical election year in B.C., consider signing up as a Tyee Builder today.