Stevie Cameron

{{Short description|Canadian investigative journalist and author (1943–2024)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=June 2014}} {{Use Canadian English|date=September 2024}} {{Infobox writer | image = Photo of Stevie Cameron.jpg | caption = Cameron in 2004 | name = Stevie Cameron | honorific_suffix = CM | birth_name = Stephanie Graham Dahl | birth_date = {{birth date|1943|10|11|mf=y}} | birth_place = Belleville, Ontario, Canada | occupation = Journalist, writer | period = 1977–2012 | notableworks = {{Unbulleted list|''Ottawa Inside Out''|''On the Take: Crime, Corruption and Greed in the Mulroney Years''|''Blue Trust''| ''The Pickton File''}} | spouse = David Cameron | children = 2 (Tassie Cameron) | website = | death_date = {{Death date and age|2024|8|31|1943|10|11}} }}

'''Stevie Cameron''' {{post-nominals|post-noms=CM}} (née '''Dahl'''; October 11, 1943 – August 31, 2024) was a Canadian investigative journalist and author. She worked for various newspapers such as the ''Toronto Star'' and ''The Globe and Mail''. She co-hosted the investigative news television program, ''The Fifth Estate'', on CBC-TV in the 1990s. She was also an author of non-fiction books, including ''On the Take'' (1994) about former prime minister Brian Mulroney. Her exposé on Mulroney and the Airbus Affair led to many legal battles including a judicial hearing to determine if she was an RCMP confidential informant: she was not. The fact that Mulroney did take a substantial amount of money while still in government was confirmed in the 2010 Oliphant report. Her final books dealt with the disappearance and the killing of several Indigenous women in the Vancouver area in the mid-1990s to the turn of this century. These murders were ultimately attributed to convicted serial killer Robert Pickton. She won the 2011 Arthur Ellis Award for best non-fiction crime book for her work on the Pickton case. Besides being a journalist and author, she was also a humanitarian, helping start programs for the underprivileged and homeless such as Second Harvest and the Out of the Cold program. For her lifetime work as a writer and humanitarian, she was invested into the Order of Canada in 2013.

==Early life== '''Stephanie Graham Dahl''', most commonly known as Stevie, even as a child, was born on October 11, 1943, in Belleville, Ontario.<ref name = "Freeman's G&M Obit"> {{Cite news | last1 = Freeman | first1 = Alan | title = Courageous Reporter was a pioneer of investigative journalism in Canada | work = The Globe and Mail | publisher = The Woodbridge Company | location = Toronto | page = O12 | date = September 7, 2024 | url = https://www.proquest.com/docview/3101449455 | access-date = September 14, 2024 | url-access = subscription | issn = 0319-0714 | id = {{ProQuest|3101449455}} }}</ref> Her father was Harold Edward "Whitey" Dahl, a mercenary American pilot who fought in the Spanish Republican Air Force during the Spanish Civil War.<ref name = "Father's Star Obit. 1956">{{Cite news |author = CP Staff |title = Whitey Dahl found dead in Labrador |work = Toronto Daily Star |agency = The Canadian Press |date = February 18, 1956 |page = 3 |url = https://thestar.newspapers.com/article/the-toronto-star-whitey-dahl-found-dead/154524245/ |access-date = September 2, 2024 |via = Newspapers.com |archive-date = September 3, 2024 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20240903071515/https://thestar.newspapers.com/article/the-toronto-star-whitey-dahl-found-dead/154524245/ |url-status = live }}</ref> He came to Canada in 1940, and the next year, married her mother, the former Eleanor Roblin Bone, in Belleville.<ref name = "Franco Wuz Robbed 1941">{{Cite news |author = Star Staff |title = Blonde Not Dahl's Wife Mr. Franco Wuz Robbed |work = Toronto Daily Star |date = August 9, 1941 |page = 1 |url = https://thestar.newspapers.com/article/the-toronto-star-blonde-not-dahls-wife/154525195/ |access-date = September 2, 2024 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20240903071616/https://thestar.newspapers.com/article/the-toronto-star-blonde-not-dahls-wife/154525195/ |archive-date = September 3, 2024 |url-status = live |via = Newspapers.com }}</ref> Eleanor's father, Jameson Bone, was a former mayor of Belleville.<ref name="Father's Star Obit. 1956" /> Post-war, the whole family moved to Switzerland in 1952 because Whitey Dahl was employed as a pilot by Swiss Air.<ref name = "Swiss Seek Dahl 1953">{{Cite news |author = AP & UP Staff |title = Swiss Seek Whitey Dahl RCAF Adventurer |work = Toronto Daily Star |agency = Associated Press & United Press International |date = December 9, 1953 |page = 42 |url = https://thestar.newspapers.com/article/the-toronto-star-swiss-seek-whitey-dahl/154613178/ |access-date = September 4, 2024 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20240904025914/https://thestar.newspapers.com/article/the-toronto-star-swiss-seek-whitey-dahl/154613178/ |archive-date = September 4, 2024 |url-status = live |via = Newspapers.com }}</ref> He was fired in 1953 after he was charged with stealing gold and for having an affair with a Swiss Air hostess.<ref name = "Swiss Seek Dahl 1953"/> Eleanor separated from Whitey because of his affair with the hostess.<ref name="Freeman's G&M Obit" /> The family then moved back to Canada, with Eleanor and the children going to back to Belleville, while Whitey flew as a bush pilot in Canada's north.<ref name="Father's Star Obit. 1956" /> Whitey Dahl died while piloting a bush plane in Labrador on February 14, 1956, leaving Eleanor widowed and the children, including Stephanie, fatherless.<ref name = "Whitey Dahl Dead 1956">{{Cite news |author = CP Staff |title = Whitey Dahl found dead in Labrador |work = Toronto Daily Star |agency = The Canadian Press |date = February 18, 1956 |page = 1 |url = https://thestar.newspapers.com/article/the-toronto-star-whitey-dahl-found-dead/154614771/ |access-date = September 4, 2024 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20240904032031/https://thestar.newspapers.com/article/the-toronto-star-whitey-dahl-found-dead/154614771/ |archive-date = September 4, 2024 |url-status = live |via = Newspapers.com< }}</ref> Eleanor died in 1997 and her ashes were placed in the same grave as her husband's.<ref name = "Lives Lived 1997"> {{Cite news | last1 = Cameron | first1 = Stevie | title = Lives Lived: Elenor Roblin Bone Dahl | work = The Globe and Mail | location = Toronto | publisher =The Thomson Corporation | page = A16 | date = February 18, 1997 | url = https://www.proquest.com/docview/1140488267 | access-date = September 14, 2024 | url-access = subscription | issn = 0319-0714 | id = {{ProQuest|1140488267}} }}</ref>

==Career== After a year at Le Cordon Bleu Cooking School in Paris in 1975, she began working as a food writer and in 1977, became the food editor of the ''Toronto Star''.<ref name="Order of Canada Announcement The Star" /> A year later, she moved to the ''Ottawa Journal'' as Lifestyles editor. She later became the ''Ottawa Citizen''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s Lifestyles and Travel editor. Four years later, she joined a new investigative journalism unit at the ''Citizen'' and also became a national political columnist.<ref name="Obit. CP"> {{cite news | last1 = Drinkwater | first1 = Rob | title = Investigative journalist Stevie Cameron dies at home in Toronto, age 80 | url = https://www.thecanadianpressnews.ca/national/investigative-journalist-stevie-cameron-dies-at-home-in-toronto-age-80/article_48c5d68c-e826-5b21-ac28-29ab3aebc123.html | access-date = September 2, 2024 | work = The Canadian Press | date = September 2, 2024 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20240902191841/https://www.thecanadianpressnews.ca/national/investigative-journalist-stevie-cameron-dies-at-home-in-toronto-age-80/article_48c5d68c-e826-5b21-ac28-29ab3aebc123.html | archive-date = September 2, 2024 | location = Toronto | url-status = live}}</ref>

==Major works== In 1986, Cameron moved to Toronto as a national columnist and reporter for ''The Globe and Mail'', and published her first book, in 1989, called ''Ottawa Inside Out''.<ref>''Ottawa Inside Out'', 1989, Key Porter (HarperCollins paperback 1990); {{ISBN|0-00-637624-X}}</ref> In 1990, she became a host of the CBC Television public affairs program ''The Fifth Estate'' but returned to the ''Globe'' in 1991 as a freelance columnist and feature writer.<ref name="Obit. CP" /> In 1995, Cameron joined ''Maclean's'' magazine as a contributing editor.<ref name="Wrong Side of Law" />

===On the Take=== Her second book, ''On the Take: Crime, Corruption and Greed in the Mulroney Years'', was published in 1994.<ref name =" Cal Harald - On the take"> {{Cite news | last1 = Cunningham | first1 = Jim | title = ON THE TAKE Instructive, readable but not last word on Brian Mulroney | work = The Calgary Herald | publisher = Southam Publications Inc. | page = E7 | date = December 3, 1994 | url = https://www.proquest.com/docview/244359262 | access-date = September 15, 2024 | url-access = subscription | issn = 0828-1815 | id = {{ProQuest|244359262}} }}</ref> The book raised questions about the ethics of former Progressive Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. Some allegations included the following scandals: Karlheinz Schreiber making payments to him to influence Air Canada's $2 billion purchase of Airbus jetliners (Airbus Affair);<ref name ="On the take-Airbus"> {{Cite news | author = Globe Staff | title = Cameron's On the Take beefed up for paperback | work = The Globe and Mail | publisher = The Thomson Corporation | location = Toronto | page = C4 | date = September 2, 1995 | url = https://www.proquest.com/docview/384886931 | access-date = September 15, 2024 | url-access = subscription | issn = 0319-0714 | id = {{ProQuest|384886931}} }}</ref> maintenance contracts for Canada's CF-18; and a computerized communications system for the foreign affairs department that went $200 million over budget.<ref name ="On the take"> {{Cite news | last1 = Davey | first1 = Clark | title = Political post-mortems: Cameron's frightening closeup of the Mulroney era | work = The Globe and Mail | publisher = The Thomson Corporation | location = Toronto | page = C24 | date = November 5, 1994 | url = https://www.proquest.com/docview/1142618948 | access-date = September 15, 2024 | url-access = subscription | issn = 0319-0714 | id = {{ProQuest|1142618948}} }}</ref> The book also documented several other corruption scandals during the period.<ref name ="Windsor Star On the take"> {{Cite news | last1 = Johnson | first1 = William | title = The man people love to hate | work = The Windsor Star | publisher = Southam Publications Inc. | location = Windsor, Ontario | page = A7 | date = January 12, 1995 | url = https://www.proquest.com/docview/254110755 | access-date = September 15, 2024 | url-access = subscription | issn = 0839-2277 | id = {{ProQuest|254110755}} }}</ref>

===Blue Trust=== In 1998, her third book, ''Blue Trust'', was published by Macfarlane Walter & Ross.<ref name = "Blue Trust 1998">{{Cite news |last1 = Hrabluk |first1 = Lisa |title = Sex, lies and secret bank accounts |work = New Brunswick Telegraph Journal |location = Saint John, New Brunswick |publisher = CanWest Digital Media |page = 8 |date = December 19, 1998 |url = https://www.proquest.com/docview/423057533 |access-date = September 3, 2024 |url-access = subscription |id = {{ProQuest|423057533}} }}</ref> The book profiled the bizarre life and death of Bruce Verchere,<ref name = "Blue Trust Whig Review">{{Cite news |last1 = McGran |first1 = Kevin |title = Cameron spins great Canadian yarn |work = The Kingston Whig-Standard |location = Kingston, Ontario |page = 6 |date = December 26, 1998 |url = https://www.proquest.com/docview/353012857 |access-date = September 3, 2024 |url-access = subscription |issn = 1197-4397 |id = {{ProQuest|353012857}} }}</ref> a Montreal tax lawyer and partner in the national law firm Bennett Jones LLP, who had served as private financial advisor to Mulroney, before committing suicide in late summer 1993.<ref name = "Blue Trust Hill Times Review"> {{Cite news |last1 = Dickson |first1 = Rosaleen |title = Blue trust: the author, the lawyers, his wife, & her money |work = The Hill Times |location = Ottawa |page = n/a |date = December 21, 1998 |url = https://www.proquest.com/docview/208531775 |access-date = September 3, 2024 |url-access = subscription |issn = 0848-0427 |id = {{ProQuest|208531775}}}}</ref> Just before his suicide, Verchere had been appointed as chairman of Atomic Energy of Canada Limited.<ref name = "Verchere">{{Cite news |author = CP Staff |title = Bruce Howe named head of nuclear agency |work = Toronto Star |agency = The Canadian Press |page = B1 |date = June 28, 1993 |url = https://thestar.newspapers.com/article/the-toronto-star-bruce-howe-named-head-o/154560171/ |access-date = September 3, 2024 |via = Newspapers.com

}}</ref>

===Elm Street Magazine=== In 1996, Cameron was the founding editor of ''Elm Street'', a national general-interest magazine, aimed at university-educated women.<ref name = "Elm Street RRJ 2004"> {{Cite journal | last1 = Bordeau | first1 = Annette | title = So Long, Elm Street | journal = Ryerson Review of Journalism | publisher = Ryerson University | location = Toronto | issn = 0838-0651 | issue = Winter 2004 | date = March 1, 2004 | url = https://rrj.ca/so-long-elm-street/ | access-date = September 3, 2024 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160406201429/http://rrj.ca/so-long-elm-street/ | archive-date = April 6, 2016 | url-status = live}}</ref> The magazine's mix of serious journalism, recipes, fashion spreads and cheeky tidbits were its main characteristics.<ref name = "Elm Street RRJ 2004"/> Three years later, she resigned as ''Elm Street'''s editor, but continued on as a columnist. She also never stopped writing investigative features for ''Maclean's'' during this time. ''Elm Street'' continued to publish until 2004, publishing over 400,000 copies per issue eight times a year, distributed freely in newspapers, usually ''The Globe and Mail''.<ref name = "Elm Street RRJ 2004"/> But changes to the way the Print Measuring Bureau's (PMB) methodology on how it counted market share for advertisers, and changes to the Canadian Magazine Fund's funding model, purportedly led to its demise.<ref name = "Elm Street G&M 2004">{{cite news |last1=Gray |first1=Jeff |title=Elm Street to stop publishing |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/elm-street-to-stop-publishing/article1125285/ |access-date= September 3, 2024 |work=The Globe and Mail | publisher = Bell Globemedia | location = Toronto|date=January 10, 2004 |archive-date=September 3, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240903072041/https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/elm-street-to-stop-publishing/article1125285/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

===The Last Amigo=== The Airbus Affair continued to be of interest to Cameron. Her next book, ''The Last Amigo: Karlheinz Schreiber and the Anatomy of a Scandal'' (2001) was co-written with CBC-TV's ''The Fifth Estate'' journalist, Harvey Cashore.<ref name ="Gazette Review 2001"> {{Cite news | last1 = Stewart | first1 = Lyle | title = Greasing wheels for deals | work = The Gazette | publisher = Southam Publishing Inc. | location = Montreal | date = April 20, 2001 | page = B3 | url = https://www.proquest.com/docview/433707717 | access-date = September 16, 2024 | url-access = subscription | id = {{ProQuest | 433707717}} | issn = 0384-1294 }}</ref> This top-selling book examined the actions of Schreiber, who was facing extradition, at the time, to his native Germany to explain his role in a scandal involving kickbacks and bribes.<ref name = "Windspeaker Article"> {{Cite news | last1 = Barnsley | first1 = Paul | title = The last amigo: Karlheinz Schreiber & the anatomy of a scandal | work = Windspeaker | publisher = Aboriginal Multi-Media Society | location = Edmonton | date = July 2001 | volume = 19 | issue = 3 | page = 21 | url = https://www.proquest.com/docview/345055790 | access-date = September 16, 2024 | url-access = subscription | id = {{ProQuest | 345055790}} | issn = 0834-177X }}</ref> It also goes into a detailed examination of the Airbus Affair.<ref name = "Globe Review APR 2001"> {{Cite news | last1 = Wood | first1 = Trish | title = The wheels on the Airbus go round and round | work = The Globe and Mail | publisher = Bell Globemedia | location = Toronto | date = April 26, 2001 | page = D8 | url = https://www.proquest.com/docview/384199370 | access-date = September 16, 2024 | url-access = subscription | id = {{ProQuest | 384199370}} | issn = 0319-0714 }}</ref> It won a Crime Writers of Canada award as the Best True Crime Book of the Year.<ref>{{cite web |title=About the CWC Awards of Excellence |url=https://crimewriterscanada.com/index.php/en/page/page-content/awards-of-excellence |website=crimewriterscanada.com |publisher=Crime Writers of Canada |access-date=2 September 2024 |archive-date=April 22, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240422084106/https://crimewriterscanada.com/index.php/en/page/page-content/awards-of-excellence |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Books on Robert Pickton=== Cameron began researching the Robert Pickton murder case in British Columbia in 2002, and published her first book on the case, ''The Pickton File'', in 2007.<ref name="2007 Pickton LRC Book Review">{{cite journal |last1 = Matas |first1 = Robert |title = A History of Invisibility |journal = Literary Review of Canada |date = September 2007 |volume = 15 |issue = 7 |pages = 9–10 |url = https://www.proquest.com/docview/222604863 |access-date = September 3, 2024 |location = Toronto |issn = 1188-7494 |url-access = subscription |id = {{ProQuest|222604863}} }}</ref> Cameron completed her second book about the Pickton case in, ''On the Farm: Robert William Pickton and the Tragic Story of Vancouver's Missing Women''.<ref name="2010 Bestseller List">{{cite journal |last1 = Bethune |first1 = Brian |title = Books: Maclean's Bestsellers |journal = Maclean's |date = October 11, 2010 |volume = 123 |issue = 39 |page = 84 |url = https://www.proquest.com/docview/758411328 |access-date = September 2, 2024 |publisher = Rogers Publishing |location = Toronto |issn = 0024-9262 |url-access = subscription |id = {{ProQuest|758411328}} }}</ref> It was published by Knopf in the summer of 2010 when a publication ban on the case was lifted after an appeal to Supreme Court of Canada upheld the trial jury's guilty verdict.<ref name = "Supreme Court Ruling 2010">{{Cite news |last1 = Levitz |first1 = Stephanie |title = Woman tell tales of escape from serial killer Pickton |work = Prince Albert Daily Herald |location = Prince Albert, Saskatchewan |publisher = TC Transcontinental |agency = The Canadian Press |page = 8 |date = August 14, 2010 |url = https://www.proquest.com/docview/2003084990 |access-date = September 2, 2024 |url-access = subscription |id = {{ProQuest|2003084990}} }}</ref> As well as documenting the botched police investigation that finally led to Pickton's arrest,<ref name = "On the Farm Book Review NatPost">{{Cite news |last1 = Hall |first1 = Neil |title = Book Review: ''On the Farm'', by Stevie Cameron |work = National Post |publisher = Postmedia Network Inc. |location = Toronto |date = September 25, 2010 |page = WP18 |url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/national-post-at-last-an-explanation-fo/155780428/ |access-date = September 22, 2024 |via = Newspapers.com |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20240922142136/https://www.newspapers.com/article/national-post-at-last-an-explanation-fo/155780428/

|archive-date = September 22, 2024 |url-status = live }}</ref> the book contains important insights into why Pickton offered help to some of the woman he picked up as prostitutes, while brutally murdering others, and how he decided who he would kill.<ref name = "Pickkton Book Review CTV"> {{Cite news | author = CP Staff | title = Pickton book explores role of cops, killers in deaths | work =CTV News | url = https://www.ctvnews.ca/pickton-book-explores-role-of-cops-killers-in-deaths-1.542497 | date = August 15, 2010 | agency = The Canadian Press | location = Toronto | access-date = September 2, 2024 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121022064200/https://www.ctvnews.ca/pickton-book-explores-role-of-cops-killers-in-deaths-1.542497 | archive-date = October 22, 2012 | url-status = dead }}</ref> ''On the Farm'' was nominated for the 2011 Charles Taylor Prize.<ref name = "2011 Charles Taylor Prize Nominatee"> {{Cite web | last1 = Woods | first1 = Stuart | title = Charles Taylor Prize announces nominees | work = Quill and Quire | publisher = St. Joseph Media | location = Toronto | date = January 11, 2011 | url = https://quillandquire.com/book-news/2011/01/11/charles-taylor-prize-announces-nominees/ | access-date = September 2, 2024 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20240902092742/https://quillandquire.com/book-news/2011/01/11/charles-taylor-prize-announces-nominees/ | archive-date = September 2, 2024 | url-status = live }}</ref> It won the 2011 Arthur Ellis Award for best non-fiction crime book.<ref name = "2011 Arthur Ellis Award"> {{Cite web | author = CBC Staff | title = Louise Penny nabs crime writing prize | work = CBC News | date = June 3, 2011 | url = https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/louise-penny-nabs-crime-writing-prize-1.1014232 | access-date = September 2, 2024 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180703073136/https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/louise-penny-nabs-crime-writing-prize-1.1014232 | archive-date = July 3, 2018 | url-status = live }}</ref>

===Other works=== Cameron was a monthly columnist and a contributor to the ''Toronto Star'', ''The Ottawa Citizen'', the Southam News Service, ''Saturday Night'' magazine, the ''Financial Post'', ''Chatelaine'', and ''Canadian Living''.<ref name="Freeman's G&M Obit" />

She lectured at journalism schools across the country, and in 2008, she spent the fall term as Irving Chair in Media at St. Thomas University's journalism school in Fredericton.<ref name ="Irving Chair"> {{cite web | author = University Staff | title = Christine Morris Named 2017 Irving Chair in Journalism | work = School of Journalism | publisher = St. Thomas University | location = Fredericton | year = 2017 | url = https://www.stu.ca/news/all-news/2017/christine-morris-named-2017-irving-chair-in-journalism.php | access-date = September 3, 2024 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211202065820/https://www.stu.ca/news/all-news/2017/christine-morris-named-2017-irving-chair-in-journalism.php | archive-date = December 2, 2021 | url-status = live }}</ref> In 2012, she was writing a history of Kingston Penitentiary.<ref name = "Order of Canada Announcement The Star"> {{Cite news |last1 = Ferguson |first1 = Rob |title = Prestigious group nets top honours |work = Toronto Star |date = December 31, 2012 |page = A3 |url = https://thestar.newspapers.com/article/the-toronto-star-prestigious-group-nets/154475222/ |access-date = September 2, 2024 |via = Newspapers.com }}</ref>

==Cameron, Mulroney, Schreiber and the Airbus Affair== Cameron became the focus of a spin campaign by Brian Mulroney's defenders, such as Luc Lavoie, to discredit the allegations against him made in her books.<ref name="Windspeaker Article" /> This included libel lawsuits against the CBC and the RCMP in the late 1990s, but not directly at Cameron.<ref name="Windspeaker Article" /> In late 2003, ''The Globe and Mail'' turned the tables on its former investigative reporter.<ref name = "Globe Goes After Cameron"> {{Cite news | last1 = Zerbisias | first1 = Antonia | title = Paper turns on its own writers | work = Toronto Star | date = November 13, 2003 | page = A27 | url = https://thestar.newspapers.com/article/the-toronto-star-paper-turns-on-one-of-i/155351647/ | access-date = September 15, 2024 | via = Newspapers.com }}</ref> The paper ran a series of three articles by lawyer William Kaplan.<ref name = "Globe Goes After Cameron"/> These articles claimed that Cameron had worked as a confidential informant for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) during its investigation of the Airbus Affair.<ref name ="Claire Hoy 2003"> {{Cite news | last1 = Hoy | first1 = Claire | title = Globe's odd coverage of Stevie | work = The Hill Times | location = Ottawa | date = November 17, 2003 | page = 6 | url = https://www.proquest.com/docview/208542907 | access-date = September 15, 2024 | url-access = subscription | issn = 0848-0427 | id = {{ProQuest | 208542907}} }}</ref> Cameron vigorously denied the allegations, which, if true, would have compromised her credibility as a journalist.<ref name ="Cameron Defends in G&M 2003"> {{Cite news | last1 = Cameron | first1 = Stevie | title = I was not the real story | work = The Globe and Mail | publisher = Bell Globemedia | location = Toronto | page = A21 | date = November 22, 2003 | url = https://www.proquest.com/docview/1366202667 | access-date = September 15, 2024 | url-access = subscription | issn = 0319-0714 | id = {{ProQuest|1366202667}} }}</ref>

=== Eurocopter hearings === In his 2004 book ''A Secret Trial: Brian Mulroney, Stevie Cameron and the Public Trust'', Kaplan outlined evidence that illustrated the RCMP's perception of Cameron as a confidential RCMP informant.<ref name = "Kaplan Book 2004"> {{Cite news | last1 = Wells | first1 = Paul | title = The PM and the payments | work = MacLean's | publisher = Rogers Communications | location = Toronto | date = October 25, 2004 | volume = 117 | issue = 43 | page = 80 | url = https://www.proquest.com/docview/1366202667 | access-date = September 15, 2024 | url-access = subscription | issn = 0024-9262 | id = {{ProQuest|1366202667}} }}</ref> A special juridical hearing convened in spring 2004 to assess Cameron's status as a confidential informant.<ref name = "Then Hearing March 2004"/> This arose out of the Airbus investigation leading to warrants issued in a case against the company Eurocopter and then sealing of documents that mentioned Cameron in 2001.<ref name = "Then Hearing March 2004"> {{Cite news | last1 = Tyler | first1 = Tracey | title = Journalist 'at heart' of probe | work = Toronto Star | date = March 1, 2004 | page = A4 | url = https://thestar.newspapers.com/article/the-toronto-star-journalist-at-heart-o/155376030/ | access-date = September 16, 2024 | via = Newspapers.com }}</ref>

The new hearing was held in Toronto's Osgoode Hall courthouse before justice Edward Then.<ref name = "Then Hearing March 2004"/> Then was the judge that allowed Cameron's name to be sealed from the public back at an evidence hearing for the Eurocopter case in 2001.<ref name = "Then Hearing March 2004"/> Chief Superintendent Allan Matthews, the RCMP officer in charge of the Airbus investigation in 2001, recanted almost all of his previous testimony regarding Cameron's status as a confidential informant at the May 31, 2004 hearing.<ref name = "Matthews Testimony June 1, 2004"> {{Cite news | last1 = Tyler | first1 = Tracey | title = Journalist was labelled 'dangerous,' court told | work = Toronto Star | date = June 1, 2004 | page = A11 | url = https://thestar.newspapers.com/article/the-toronto-star-journalist-was-labelled/155376806/ | access-date = September 16, 2024 | via = Newspapers.com }}</ref> Matthews admitted that Cameron was not considered an RCMP confidential informant, contradicting previous assertions he made in court.<ref name ="Wrong Side of Law">{{cite journal |last1=Zarek |first1=Elysse |title=The Wrong Arm of the Law |journal=Review of Journalism |date=June 1, 2005 |issue=Summer 2005 |url=https://rrj.ca/the-wrong-arm-of-the-law/ |access-date=3 September 2024 |archive-date=September 3, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240903071517/https://rrj.ca/the-wrong-arm-of-the-law/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

The confusion occurred due to the initial investigator, retired Staff Sergeant Fraser Fiegenwald.<ref name = "Matthews Testimony June 2, 2004"> {{Cite news | last1 = Tyler | first1 = Tracey | title = Journalist warned against exposing identity, court told | work = Toronto Star | date = June 2, 2004 | page = A19 | url = https://thestar.newspapers.com/article/the-toronto-star-journalist-warned-again/155375946/ | access-date = September 16, 2024 | via = Newspapers.com }}</ref> It was he that made contact with Cameron in 1995 and obtained documents from her.<ref name = "Matthews Testimony June 2, 2004"/> He considered her a confidential informant and through the RCMP's legal console, told Matthews in 2001 to consider her a confidential informant in his initial testimony.<ref name = "Matthews Testimony June 2, 2004"/> He also admitted that Cameron was telling the truth when she said any information she had shared with the RCMP was already in the public domain, and that the information she shared was of little help to their investigation.<ref name = "Matthews Testimony June 1, 2004"/>

=== Federal inquiries === On February 14, 2007, Cameron appeared before the House of Commons of Canada Ethics Committee in their examination of the Mulroney Airbus Settlement. She confirmed that everything she knows on the subject had been documented in her books. Cameron also made a personal statement that she was not a police informant; any information she had given to the RCMP was already in the public domain at the time.<ref>{{cite news | author = CP & Globe Staff |title=Mulroney-Schreiber affair remains a can of worms |date=February 14, 2008 |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080214.wmulroney0214/BNStory/National/home |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 20, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080220003421/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080214.wmulroney0214/BNStory/National/home | publisher = Bell Globemedia | location = Toronto | work=The Globe and Mail }}</ref>

Prime Minister Stephen Harper appointed Justice Jeffrey Oliphant, a former Associate Chief Justice of the Court of Queen's Bench of Manitoba, to lead an inquiry into former Prime Minister Mulroney and his relationship with Schreiber on June 16, 2008.<ref name ="Olipant Appointed 2008"> {{Cite news | last1 = Brydon | first1 = Joan | title = Judge to head Mulroney inquiry | work = Toronto Star | agency = The Canadian Press | date = June 17, 2008 | page = A23 | url = https://thestar.newspapers.com/article/the-toronto-star-judge-to-head-mulroney/155366491/ | access-date = September 15, 2024 | via = Newspapers.com }}</ref> The inquiry took place in Ottawa, under terms defined by David Lloyd Johnston as an advisor to Prime Minister Harper, that deliberately left out broader terms to investigate the Airbus deal.<ref name ="Olipant Appointed 2008"/> Cameron didn't participate in the inquiry and was barely following it as, in 2009, she was working on her second book about Pickton.<ref name = "Cameron Not Part of Inquiry"> {{Cite news | last1 = Ivison | first1 = John | title = Central fact shines through obfuscations | work = National Post | publisher = Postmedia Network | location = Toronto | date = May 16, 2009 | page = A4 | url = https://www.proquest.com/docview/330790319 | access-date = September 15, 2024 | url-access = subscription | issn = 1486-8008 | id ={{ProQuest | 330790319 }} }}</ref>

When Justice Oliphant's report was released on May 30, 2010, it conclusively demonstrated that Mulroney had received at least $225,000 from Schreiber, in three equal instalments, in cash, shortly after leaving office in mid-1993.<ref name = "Weston on Oliphant Report"> {{Cite news | last1 = Weston | first1 = Greg | title = Mulroney's legacy lost; 'Patently absurd' story about Schreiber cash dissed by judge | work = The Winnipeg Sun | publisher = Postmedia Network Inc. | date = June 1, 2010 | page = 9 | url = https://www.proquest.com/docview/2212826295 | access-date = September 15, 2024 | url-access = subscription | issn = 0711-3773 | id = {{ProQuest|2212826295}} }}</ref> Mulroney had earlier denied any business dealings whatsoever with Schreiber, and had denied receiving any money from him, as a response to questions during his lawsuit testimony given in 1996 in Montreal.<ref name ="The Truth Shows Up"> {{Cite news | last1 = Johnson | first1 = William | title = The scandal that keeps on flying | work = The Globe and Mail | publisher = Bell Globemedia | location = Toronto | page = F13 | date = May 1, 2010 | url = https://www.proquest.com/docview/1444728729 | access-date = September 15, 2024 | url-access = subscription | issn = 0319-0714 | id = {{ProQuest|1444728729}} }}</ref> Mulroney had delayed paying income tax on this money six years after he received it.<ref name ="Schreiber Jailed"> {{Cite news | last1 = Blackwell | first1 = Richard | title = Questions left unanswered as Schreiber jailed | work = The Globe and Mail | publisher = Bell Globemedia | location = Toronto | page = A21 | date = May 6, 2010 | url = https://www.proquest.com/docview/1444733588 | access-date = September 15, 2024 | url-access = subscription | issn = 0319-0714 | id = {{ProQuest|1444733588}} }}</ref>

==Humanitarian work== Cameron served on the board of Second Harvest in Toronto as well as on the board of Portland Place, an assisted housing project for homeless and underhoused people. In 1991, she helped found an Out of the Cold program for the homeless at her church, St. Andrew's, in downtown Toronto, and worked with many churches across Canada to set up similar programs. In 2004, she received an honorary Doctor of Divinity from the Vancouver School of Theology, in part for her work with the homeless.<ref>{{cite journal |title=37th Parliament, 3rd Session |journal=Hansard: Debates of the House of Commons of Canada |date=3 May 2004 |volume=139 |issue=46 |page=1405 |access-date=3 September 2024 |url=https://www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentViewer/en/37-3/house/sitting-46/hansard |archive-date=September 3, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240903180539/https://www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentViewer/en/37-3/house/sitting-46/hansard |url-status=live }}</ref>

In recognition of more than two-decades of humanitarian work and social activism, Cameron was invested into the Order of Canada in the 2013 Canadian honours.<ref name = "Order of Canada Announcement"> {{cite news | last1 = Medley | first1 = Mark | title = Stevie Cameron, Scott Griffin among recipients of Order of Canada | work = National Post | publisher = Postmedia Network | location = Toronto | date = December 31, 2012 | url = https://nationalpost.com/entertainment/books/stevie-cameron-scott-griffin-among-recipients-of-order-of-canada | access-date = September 2, 2024 | archive-url = https://archive.today/20130129173820/http://arts.nationalpost.com/2012/12/31/stevie-cameron-scott-griffin-among-recipients-of-order-of-canada/ | archive-date = January 29, 2013 | url-status = live }}</ref> Her citation reads: "For her achievements in investigative journalism and for her volunteer work on behalf of the disadvantaged."<ref name="OC Citation"> {{Cite web |author=GG Staff |date=December 30, 2012 |title=91 New Appointments to the Order of Canada |url=http://www.gg.ca/document.aspx?id=14904 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924040618/http://www.gg.ca/document.aspx?id=14904 |archive-date=September 24, 2015 |access-date=September 2, 2024 |work=Governor General of Canada Honours |publisher=King's Printer for Canada |location=Ottawa}}</ref>

==Personal life and death== She married David Cameron, a professor at the University of Toronto, and they had two daughters, Amy and Tassie Cameron.<ref name="Obit. CBC News">{{cite news |author1=CBC Staff |title=Canadian journalist, author and philanthropist Stevie Cameron dead at 80 |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/stevie-cameron-obit-1.7311056 |access-date=September 1, 2024 |work=CBC News |publisher=Canadian Broadcasting Corporation |date=September 1, 2024 |location=Toronto |archive-date=September 2, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240902000131/https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/stevie-cameron-obit-1.7311056 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Stevie Cameron died at her home in Toronto on August 31, 2024 at the age of 80.<ref name="Obit. CBC News" /> She had been afflicted by Parkinson's disease and dementia in the final years of her life.<ref name="Obit. CP" />

==Bibliography== ===Non-fiction=== * ''Ottawa Inside Out'' (1989); {{ISBN|0-00-637624-X}} * ''On the Take: Crime, Corruption and Greed in the Mulroney Years'' (1994); {{ISBN|0-921912-73-0}} * ''Blue Trust: The Author, the Lawyer, His Wife and Her Money'' (1998); {{ISBN|155199027X}} * ''The Last Amigo: Karlheinz Schreiber and the Anatomy of a Scandal'' (2001, with Harvey Cashore); {{ISBN|1-55199-051-2}} * ''The Pickton File'' (2007) Knopf Canada;{{ISBN|978-0-676-97953-4}} * ''On the Farm: Robert William Pickton and the Tragic Story of Vancouver's Missing Women'' (2010); {{ISBN|978-0-676-97584-0}}

==Awards== * 2012 Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal<ref name ="Diamond Jubilee Medal"> {{cite web | author = GG Staff | title = Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee Medal (2012): Stevie Cameron | work = The Governor General of Canada | publisher = Queen's Printer for Canada | year = 2012 | url = https://gg.ca/en/honours/recipients/126-264060 | access-date = September 15, 2024 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20240915181320/https://gg.ca/en/honours/recipients/126-264060 | archive-date = September 15, 2024 | url-status = live }}</ref> * 2011 Arthur Ellis Award (Crime Writers' of Canada) for ''On The Farm'', Best Crime Non-Fiction Book of the Year<ref name ="Arthur Ellis Award 2011"> {{Cite news | author = Star Staff | title = Louis Penny wins Arthur Ellis Award | work = Toronto Star | date = June 3, 2011 | page = E9 | url = https://thestar.newspapers.com/article/the-toronto-star-louis-penny-wins-arthur/155347198/ | access-date = September 15, 2024 | via = Newspapers.com }}</ref> * 2008 Irving Chair in Media, St. Thomas University, September–November 2008 * 2004 Honorary Doctorate of Divinity and convocation speaker, Vancouver School of Theology at UBC, for journalism and work with the homeless * 2003 Honorary Diploma & Commencement speaker, Loyalist College of Applied Arts and Technology, Belleville, June 2003, for journalism and community work * 2003 City of Toronto Community Service Award for work with the homeless * 2002 Arthur Ellis Award (Crime Writers' of Canada) for ''The Last Amigo'', Best Crime Non-Fiction Book of the Year (with Harvey Cashore) * 1998 Business Book of the Year Merit Award for ''Blue Trust'' * 1998 Windsor Press Club: Golden Quill Award for journalism * 1995 Periodical Marketers' Awards: Book of the Year & Author of the Year, for ''On the Take''<ref name ="Author of the Year 1995"> {{Cite news | author = CP Staff | title = Cameron named author of the year | work = Toronto Star | agency = The Canadian Press | date = October 22, 1995 | page = B9 | url = https://thestar.newspapers.com/article/the-toronto-star-cameron-named-author-of/155343614/ | access-date = September 15, 2024 | via = Newspapers.com }}</ref> * 1988 Centre for Investigative Journalism Award honorable mention for a 1987 story in ''The Globe and Mail'' about the amounts the PC Canada fund paid for decorating the prime minister's residence.<ref name=OttawaCitizen-19880328>{{Cite news |author=CP Staff |title=Toronto exposé wins major journalism award |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/463088193/ |newspaper=The Ottawa Citizen |date=March 28, 1988 |agency=The Canadian Press |page=A12 |edition=Final |via=Newspapers.org |url-access=subscription |access-date=October 25, 2021 |archive-date=October 21, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211021113759/https://www.newspapers.com/image/463088193/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

==References== {{reflist|2}}

==External links== * [https://twitter.com/stevie_cameron?lang=en Stevie Cameron official Twitter page] * [https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/video/1.3595438 Stevie Cameron on Secret Sources CBC-TV (2003)] * [http://www.thecommentary.ca/ontheline/20070620a.html Stevie Cameron online interview with THECOMMENTARY.CA, June 2007]

{{CIJAward Newspaper}} {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cameron, Stevie}} Category:1943 births Category:2024 deaths Category:Canadian people of American descent Category:Canadian newspaper journalists Category:Canadian Presbyterians Category:University of British Columbia alumni Category:Canadian television journalists Category:Canadian magazine journalists Category:Journalists from Ontario Category:Writers from Belleville, Ontario Category:Canadian women television journalists Category:Canadian investigative journalists Category:Canadian political journalists Category:20th-century Canadian journalists Category:21st-century Canadian journalists Category:Centre for Investigative Journalism Award winners Category:Canadian women non-fiction writers Category:Deaths from Parkinson's disease in Canada Category:Members of the Order of Canada Category:20th-century Canadian women journalists Category:21st-century Canadian women journalists