Veteran Star reporter Peter Edwards wins Tracey Tyler Award from Innocence Canada - Toronto Star

Organization that advocates for the wrongfully convicted honours Toronto Star crime reporter with award named after colleague who died in 2012. 

Peter Edwards, a veteran Toronto Star crime reporter, is this year’s recipient of the prestigious award. 

Veteran Toronto Star crime reporter Peter Edwards is this year’s recipient of Innocence Canada’s Tracey Tyler Award. 

The award is named after former Toronto Star reporter Tracey Tyler, a dogged advocate for the wrongfully convicted who died in 2012. Edwards credited his honour to a number of pieces over his career, such as his coverage of the shooting of Indigenous activist Dudley George during a protest in 1995, as well as his reporting on David Milgaard, who was wrongfully convicted of murder and spent 22 years in prison before being released. 

Edwards didn’t take all the credit, thanking his colleagues at the Star, in particular former Star reporter Harold Levy, who worked with him on a number of pieces, he said. 

The award is named after an apt figure, Edwards said.

“Tracey embodied what we should be doing. She reminded you that you’ve got a platform that other people don’t and you should be doing something with it,” he said. 

Innocence Canada is an organization (originally known as the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted, or AIDWYC) that advocates for the rights of the wrongfully convicted in Canada. It emerged from the Justice for Guy Paul Morin Committee, a group dedicated to advocating for the Queensville, Ont. man, wrongfully convicted in 1992 for the murder of nine-year-old Christine Jessop. Morin was exonerated in 1995; a different man, by then deceased, was identified by police in 2020 as the killer based on DNA evidence.

“Tracey Tyler reminded us that journalism must advocate for those without a voice, and Peter has carried that standard across nearly four decades in our newsroom. His unwavering commitment to justice and accountability makes this honour so deeply deserved,” the Star’s editor-in-chief Nicole MacIntyre said. 

Past recipients of the award include former Star reporter Rachel Mendleson and Canadian Press reporter Hina Alam. Edwards will receive the prize on Oct. 8 as part of International Wrongful Conviction Day events to be held at the Law Society of Ontario in downtown Toronto.

Jake Ross is a staff reporter with the Toronto Star. Reach him via email: jross@thestar.ca