The Narwhal has earned its first ever nomination for the Michener Award, considered to be Canada’s highest honour in journalism, for its reporting with the Toronto Star on the Ontario Greenbelt scandal.

The reporting by Emma McIntosh from The Narwhal’s Ontario bureau — along with the Toronto Star and journalists Brendan Kennedy, Noor Javed, Sheila Wang and Charlie Pinkerton — triggered a series of investigations by provincial watchdogs that eventually forced the Ontario government to backtrack on a decision to carve out portions of a protected area for new development projects.

Emma is now recounting the saga in Paydirt, a new podcast miniseries featured on The Big Story.

“The Narwhal and the Star stayed on this story for a year because we felt strongly that the truth mattered and the public had the right to know what its government was doing,” said Emma, after hearing about the nomination. “It was an enormous effort powered by so many people in both newsrooms, and it’s immensely humbling to see that collaborative work recognized.”

The year of the Greenbelt: how Doug Ford’s bid to build housing on protected land backfired

The Narwhal’s reporting on the Greenbelt and other topics is made possible thanks to the support of over 6,000 members.

Emma and our colleagues at the Star first broke the story in the fall of 2022, exposing how the Doug Ford government was removing protections on parcels of Greenbelt land that had recently been purchased by well-connected developers. It started when they dug into property records to identify the biggest beneficiaries of the government’s decision.

In a news release, the Michener Awards Foundation noted how the reporting was praised by Ontario’s auditor general, who said it “greatly contributed to public awareness, and ultimately to the provincial government reversing its unsupportable decision to remove specific lands from the Greenbelt.”

The nomination comes only days after Emma and her colleagues won a National Newspaper Award for their dogged reporting on the topic.

The Canadian Press, CBC/Radio-Canada, The Globe and Mail and the Montreal Gazette are the other finalists for the Michener Award this year.

“Each submission revealed an immense amount of passion, dedication and hard work by newsrooms and journalists,” said chief judge Katherine Sedgwick. “These finalists are outstanding examples of public-service journalism.”

Margo Goodhand, president of the Michener Awards Foundation, noted how all the finalists made a “profound impact on their communities” at a time when the industry continues to be ravaged by layoffs and budget cuts.

“In a challenging year for Canadian journalism, these are inspiring bodies of work,” Goodhand said.

The winner will be announced at a Rideau Hall ceremony in Ottawa on June 14, hosted by Governor General Mary Simon.

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