The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "Ontario" ...
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Beaten Down: Fear and Violence in Canada's Nursing Homes; Off Limits
"Beaten Down" takes a look at how seniors are being poorly treated in nursing homes and that violence had increased significantly from 2003 to 2006. There were found to be increases in all types of violence: resident to resident, staff to resident, and resident to staff. In the "Off-Limits" series, prescription medication sales data for a 24-month period were examined after Health Canada warned doctors about prescribing medication that carried an increased risk of heart attack.
Tags: Long Term Care Medical Directors Association of Canada; Ontario; British Columbia; senior citizen; elderly; abuse; mistreatment; rest home;
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Luck of the Draw
This is the story of 82-year-old Bob Edmonds, "who had his ticket stolen and then had to fight the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation for years to get his winnings back." This story also details other issues with the lottery in Ontario, Canada, like the fact clerks "selling lottery tickets were stealing from their customers."
Tags: Lottery; lottery winners; lost lottery tickets; Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation
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The Great Lakes: An Endangered Legacy
A series of stories that invesigate how pollution, sewage and foreign marine animals are helping to destroy the Great Lakes
Tags: Great Lakes; Marine Animals; Lake Michigan; Huron; Ontario; Eerie; Superior
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Smokescreen
"This investigation probed Ontario's Drive Clean emissions testing program." The investigation found that the program forced millions of people to pay for unnecessary tests and achieved very dubious environmental benefits. The program is very flawed and corrupt, and doesn't even accomplish anything; the air quality benefits claimed by the government were based on discredited models.
Tags: environment; clean air act; pollution; auto emissions
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Exotic Invaders
The emerald ash borer, a shiny green beetle from Asia, hitchhiked to Detroit. This beetle could kill every ash tree in North Amercia. According to the story, "fighting the 7000 invasive species documented in the United States costs taxpayers at least $138 billion per year." In fact, the beetle killed a total of 6 million ash trees in Maryland, Michigan, Ohio, and Ontario. This story highlights the damage done, and how the government offers little protection.
Tags: emerald ash borer; beetle; ash tree; Maryland; Michigan; Ohio; Ontario
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Political Donations
The Hamilton Spectator in this series of stories investigates how political parties received donations more than what is legally accepted. As the investigations reveal the parties used various loopholes to maximize the funds from generous supporters. The reporters found that political parties were accepting funds from commonly-owned companies, which went over the maximum - legal gifts that could be given to political parties.
Tags: Political parties; campaign finance; New Democratic Party; left front in Canada; Ontario political parties; Canadian constituencies; Tories; elections in Ontario
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Workers: We Were Cheated Out of Pay. Restaurant Cleaning Company Says Pay Deductions Legal. Labor Experts Not So Sure.
This investigation found that "CanAmera, a Canadian-based company that cleans restaurants in four states and Ontario, violated a host of state and federal labor laws, including laws governing minimum wage, overtime, a day of rest and federal and tax withholdings. The company also illegally withheld money from workers' paychecks. The company hired worked with limited English skills with promises of a good job. But, in fact, the mostly Spanish speaking workers found themselves fighting for money they said was owed to them."
Tags: taxes; pay withholdings; wages; Wal-Mart
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State of Denial
This story looked at the conflict between Californians' consumption of resources and their environmental protection tendencies. The reporters tracked down some of the top exporters of California-bound products-oil, lumber, fish-and followed those products to their sources. They found there was environmental destruction on a scale that would never be allowed in the state of California. In two of the three cases, native indigenous people were those being harmed the most.
Tags: California Building Industry; environmental destruction; oil; lumber; fish; environmental protection; SUV; conservation; preservation; waste; gasoline; wood; paper; forest; Amazon rain forest; Ecuador; rainwater; oil companies; pollution; pipeline; environmental law; Canadian Boreal Trust; Canada's boreal forest; Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources; trees; California's Integrated Waste Management Board; newspaper recycling; California Air Resources board; Canada's rockfish; trawling net; Trout Unlimited; trawl quota
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The Pious Pornographers
CBC reports on how "large corporations are involved in the sale of pornography through the ownership of satellite and cable television systems." The main finding is that Bell ExpressVu, a blue-cheap, well-respected Canadian company, has been breaking the country's broadcasting rules by showing violent hard-core porn. The story reveals that pornography has become a lucrative industry that is seducing also some American giants like General Motors, AT&T and Time-Warner.
Tags: TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; obscenity; Ontario Review Board; violence; rape; torture; film industry; Rob Black; privacy; sex; videos; women; morality; Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission; pay-per-view service
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Slicing through the rules: Genesis of a land deal"
A Toronto Star investigation reveals that "the best friend of Mike Harris, the Premier of Ontario (the political equivalent of a U.S. governor), succeeded in overturning long-standing government policies to pave the way for the building of a luxury golf course and subdivision. The friend and his fellow investors - who also included ranking members of Harris' hometown political machine - stood to make millions as a result of the change."
Tags: FOIA; property records; titles; land; money and politics; business