Saskatchewan-born journalist wins Pulitzer Prize for podcast exploring residential school

New podcast explores residential school abuse Journalist Connie Walker opens up about her new podcast and recounts her family's experiences with Canada's residential school system.

A Saskatchewan-born journalist was awarded a Pulitzer Prize on Monday for her podcast exploring her father’s experience at a residential school.

Connie Walker won the Pulitzer Prize for audio reporting for her series Stolen: Surviving St. Michael’s, released through New York-based Gimlet Media in May, 2022. Today the series also earned a Peabody Award.

Spotify, which owns Gimlet Media, says Stolen is the first podcast to win both awards.

The Pulitzer jury described the series as an example of “revelatory reporting and illuminating storytelling.”

“[Walker’s] investigation into her father’s troubled past revealed a larger story of abuse of hundreds of Indigenous children at an Indian residential school in Canada, including other members of Walker’s extended family, a personal search for answers expertly blended with rigorous investigative reporting,” an announcement on the Pulitzer website says.

Walker grew up on Okanese First Nation, located about 118 kilometres northeast of Regina.

In an interview with CTV Your Morning in June, Walker described hearing about her father's experience at St. Michael's Residential School, which was located near Duck Lake, Sask. She said her father was one of 15 children in his family to attend.

"Last May, I heard a story about my dad's experience there. I learned that my father had been sexually abused by a priest at this school, and when I learned that, you know, it made me understand my dad in a new way," she said.

"But, as an investigative journalist, it made me want to shine a light on the school to see if I could try to find the priest who abused my dad, and what I uncovered in our investigation became much bigger than only my father's experience."

Walker and her team were able to access over 400 lawsuits filed by former St. Michael's students prior to the residential schools settlement. Through those documents, they discovered 15 staff members, 13 nuns and 17 oblate priests who were accused of sexually abusing students over the course of decades. There were 200 separate sexual abuse allegations in total, she said.

"What we found in those documents was really the most comprehensive view of what life was like at this school," Walker said.

Saskatoon-based journalist Betty Ann Adam was also a contributor on Stolen.

Adam was brought on board to conduct interviews for the series. She said interviewing survivors of the school was personal to her because her mother also went to residential school, Holy Angels Mission in Fort Chipewyan, Alberta.

By following the thread of her father’s life, Walker touched on a broader story that needed to be told, Adam said.

“We just honoured the survivors,” she said.

“[People] need to understand just how harmful colonization is, in its practice … In the day to day … What does that look like, in in terms of human beings and their lives? This is what it looks like. It's not a gentle thing. It's dehumanizing. And, it can be cruel.”

Adam says she never considered the work might one day win awards, but it felt like they were doing something important.

“And I spoke with some of the survivors that I interviewed yesterday, and they were so, so pleased.”