Gov. Gen. Louise Arbour congratulates Olivier Bernard and colleagues from Radio-Canada, after presenting the Michener Award for their story Derives: le labyrinthe de Lyme, at the Michener Awards Ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa, on Thursday.Justin Tang/The Canadian Press
The Radio-Canada podcast Dérives has won the prestigious Michener Award for its 18-month investigation into the damaging effects of dubious medical claims about chronic Lyme disease.
What began as a deep-dive into a suicide of a young woman who believed she was suffering from a debilitating version of the illness led to the outlet digging deeper into the diagnosis. After extensive research, Radio-Canada found no clinical or scientific evidence that chronic Lyme disease is real.
The podcast’s fourth season exposed a network of for-profit American and Canadian clinics that convinced patients that they had the disease.
As a result of Dérives’ reporting, health authorities overhauled medical training programs and drug oversight committees, and a number of doctors were disciplined.
The Michener Award is the highest honour in Canadian journalism and recognizes work that has had a significant, positive impact on public life and policy.
Governor-General Louise Arbour announced the winner at Rideau Hall in Ottawa Thursday night.
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The Globe and Mail was also a finalist for this year’s award, for its investigation into Alberta’s health care procurement scandal – a controversy that has upended Alberta politics and triggered an investigation by the RCMP.
“Being nominated for the Michener Award is a special moment that allows us to reflect on how central brave, independent journalism is to the democratic process,” The Globe’s editor-in-chief David Walmsley said.
Mr. Walmsley added that The Globe’s investigation required new levels of determination. While reporting the story, journalist Carrie Tait – who is based in The Globe’s Calgary Bureau – was surveilled and repeatedly targeted with online harassment.
“Because of intimidation, one reporter was, for a time, forced into hiding. Every Canadian should be aware of that – of the threats and, equally, of The Globe and Mail’s response to such tactics,” Mr. Walmsley said.
“It is our promise that when we face such assaults in our work, we will respond with a relentlessness commensurate to the threats.”
The Globe’s investigation began with Ms. Tait breaking a series of stories about Athana Mentzelopoulos, the former head of Alberta’s health authority.
Ms. Mentzelopoulos had alleged that she was fired by Premier Danielle Smith’s government after refusing to shut down an internal investigation into the health agency’s contracts with certain private companies.
2025 Investigation: Who is Sam Mraiche? Inside Alberta’s health care controversy
A team of reporters – Ms. Tait, Tom Cardoso, Mark MacKinnon, Stephanie Chambers and Alanna Smith – went on to expose how one of the owners of some of those companies, Edmonton businessman Sam Mraiche, had extensive ties to both Ms. Smith’s government and procurement officials in Alberta Health Services.
Mr. Mraiche’s company, MHCare Medical Inc., secured more than $600-million from Alberta’s health agency during the COVID-19 pandemic, including a $70-million contract for children’s pain and fever medication – only a third of which was ever delivered.
Just days after The Globe published a sweeping investigation of its findings, Alberta’s government announced it would end contract negotiations with a private surgical company that Mr. Mraiche partly owned. And earlier this year, the RCMP executed a search warrant at MHCare’s Edmonton office.
Scott Hutchison, a lawyer for Mr. Mraiche, said at that time that his client and MHCare “have consistently maintained that they have not engaged in any improper conduct.”
The other finalists for the 2025 Michener were:
CTV News for its Sleeping With The Enemy investigation, a harrowing exposé that revealed how men use the internet to share intimate videos of their unsuspecting partners. The reporting has led to more than 60 criminal charges.
La Presse for its Chauffeurs Inc. probe, which investigated troubling practices in the trucking industry. A federal tax loophole had made it possible for trucking companies to employ drivers as subcontractors, sometimes without proper training.
The Trillium’s Skills Development Fund investigation explored the issue of worker-training programs. The small digital news operation in Ontario exposed how some firms well connected to the Ontario government were receiving large grants from the fund – despite poor track records.
Winnipeg Free Press for its Classroom Confidential investigation. The reporting revealed serious flaws with the province’s new teacher oversight system. The investigation also exposed how abusive teachers were being allowed to quietly resign without any real accountability.