I really appreciate all the love today everyone. I really do. You're all so great.

Here's a little thread about all the things I'm thinking about.

The world of Canadian media is incredibly insular. When you're pushed to the outside, your career can be ruined. All it takes ...

is a few people in high places who decide that you will never work in their organizations. And then, you're done. It's happened many times before and it will get worse as the industry continues to hobble along to its inevitable collapse.

Awards are the way that this industry decides who is great. Award winners then decide future award winners. The entry rules are usually very specific so it's even hard for everyone to be eligible to enter, unless you work for a major newspaper, then someone decides for you.

I didn't start out my research into residential care deaths for notoriety or to break the blacklist that has been in force against me since the Humboldt affaire (ask anyone who would enforce this blacklist, they will deny it exists) but I did think that maybe if I did ...

something that had incredible public urgency, maybe the chill would thaw. And it did to some extent. But it also was reinforced in other ways. I thought that at least one media organization would approach me to use my data. Maybe my local CBC station...

who has a major staffing shortage in a city where no one could work in English media would call and say "hey, can you cover the pandemic for us?" But no, that never happened. I've been interviewed fewer than 20 times and no one has asked me for work or to collaborate.

I started this work on April 13. It was made possible by other journalists -- folks at the Montreal Gazette first and then La Presse. No one was collecting this information nationally.

Then the Ontario Health Coalition posted my work without citing me and made a minor ...

media splash. Then the Toronto Star confirmed what I had already demonstrated. And since, I've continued to do this work.

For free.

Every night.

For free.

Every night.

I have no idea who decides the @NNA_CCJ awards. I've never been in a position where anything I've done would even be eligible for one of their awards.

But it's very clear that it's just another industry instrument to enforce who is in and who is out, even when the work

achieves the same goal. So -- yeah -- for everyone surprised by all of this, I hope you find it useful to know a bit about who is lauded and who is ignored. Media darlings aren't made by accident. Best sellers usually have a lot of help to get there. And it's lonely out here...

but not always. Today you've all been so wonderful and it's all that matters.