The Fifth Estate (TV program)

The Fifth Estate is an English-language Canadian investigative documentary series that airs on the national CBC Television network.

The Fifth Estate
Title card since 2017
Genre	Investigative documentary
Starring	Bob McKeown Mark Kelley Steven D'Souza
Country of origin	Canada
Original language	English
No. of seasons	50
Production
Executive producer	Diana Swain
Running time	60 minutes
Production company	Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Original release
Network	CBC Television CBC News Network
Release	September 15, 1975 (1975-09-15) – present

The name is a reference to the term "Fourth Estate", and was chosen to highlight the program's determination to go beyond everyday news into original journalism. The program has been on the air since 16 September 1975, and its primary focus is on investigative journalism. The show was launched in 1975 by Ron Haggart. It has engaged in co-productions with the BBC, The New York Times, The Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, and often with the PBS program Frontline.

The Fifth Estate is one of two television programs (with The Twilight Zone being the first) to win an Academy Award, a prize presented to theatrical films: Just Another Missing Kid, originally a The Fifth Estate episode, was released in theatres in the United States and won the 1982 Academy Award for Documentary Feature.

Journalists

Journalists associated with the show, past and present, include:

• Theresa Burke
• Marie Caloz
• Stevie Cameron
• Harvey Cashore
• Adrienne Clarkson
• Neil Docherty
• Gillian Findlay
• Declan Hill
• Hana Gartner
• Ron Haggart
• Bob Johnstone
• Mark Kelley
• Joe MacAnthony
• Linden MacIntyre
• Bob McKeown
• Sheila MacVicar
• Victor Malarek
• Eric Malling
• Habiba Nosheen
• Ian Parker
• Francine Pelletier
• Sally Reardon
• Peter Reilly
• Glenn Sarty
• David Studer
• Robin Taylor
• Warner Troyer
• Anna Maria Tremonti
• Jim Williamson
• Trish Wood

Episodes

News reports aired on The Fifth Estate have included investigations into and reports about:

• 9/11 truth movement
• Death of Ashley Smith
• Airbus affair, Brian Mulroney and Karlheinz Schreiber
• William Francis Melchert-Dinkel
• Airport Security
• Al-Qaeda in Europe
• Benny Hinn
• Brendan Burke
• Brandon Crisp
• Chris Benoit ("Wrestler: Fight to the Death")
• Chuckie Akenz
• Charles Manson and the Manson Family
• Scouts Canada
• Communications Security Establishment
• David Frost and Mike Danton
• École Polytechnique massacre ("Montreal Massacre – Legacy of Pain")
• Jian Ghomeshi
• Rob Ford
• Dick Cheney
• MIM-104 Patriot and its ineffectiveness during the Gulf War as a missile defense system
• Guy Paul Morin
• Suicide of Amanda Todd
• Jane and Finch
• Noor Chowdhury
• Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation ("Luck of the Draw")
• Pierre Vallières
• Polygamy in Bountiful, British Columbia
• PROFUNC
• Steven Truscott
• To Sell a War
• Tunagate
• David Russell Williams
• Mark Twitchell
• Donald Trump
• Iglesia ni Cristo
• Julian Assange
• Buffy Sainte-Marie

Season 34 (2008–09)

The 2008–09 television season was the 34th season of The Fifth Estate.

Episode	Title	Original air date	Subject
1	Disappearing Act		Interview with David Reiner, a bookkeeper who turned fugitive after stealing nearly a million dollars from nonprofit day-care centres.
2	Inside Room 222
3	Shadows of Doubt		The death of Royal Military College cadet Joe Grozelle, whose disappearance in October 2003 launched a Canadian Forces National Investigation Service search.
4	The Girl in Saskatoon (Update)		A follow-up on the unsolved murder of Alexandra Wiwcharuk, a former beauty queen in Saskatoon.
5	After the Storm		The 2007 murder of filmmaker Helen Hill in New Orleans.
6	Overboard (Update)		An update on the case of Laura Gainey, who was swept overboard while sailing on the Picton Castle in December 2006.
7	The Gospel of Green		The efforts of German parliamentarian Hermann Scheer to increase his country's reliance on renewable-energy sources.
8	Head Games		The short life expectancy of professional football players in Canada.
9	Where the Women Went
10	The Chess Master
11	A Death in the Family		The case of Bill Mullins-Johnson, who served 12 years in prison after being wrongly convicted of the rape and murder of his 6-year-old niece.
12	Someone Got Away With Murder	January 21, 2009	Double murder of Andrea Scherpf and Bernd Göricke
13	Strangers in Paradise
14	Collateral Damage		Two men who were implicated in the 2005 shootings of four RCMP officers in Mayerthorpe, Alberta.
15	Powerless
16	Black Widow
17	The Code		Hockey's "unwritten law" about fighting.
18	Top Gun		The potential dangers of video-game obsession.
19	Staying Alive
20	The Elephant in the Room		The Airbus affair and Karlheinz Schreiber's dealings.
21	A Fight to the Death
22	Amazing Grace
23	Bad Day in Barrhead
24	Life & Death in Kandahar		The war in Afghanistan through the eyes of the medical professionals serving at Canada's trauma centre at the Kandahar Air Base.

Season 36 (2010–11)

The 2010–11 television season was the 36th season of The Fifth Estate.

Episode	Title	Original air date
1	Enemies of the State	October 15, 2010
2	The Confession	October 22, 2010
3	The Fall and Rise of Theo Fleury	October 29, 2010
4	The Life and Death of Abdinasir Dirie	November 5, 2010
5	Behind the Wall	November 12, 2010
6	The Girl in the Suitcase	November 19, 2010
7	The Legacy of Brendan Burke	November 26, 2010
8	Presumed Dead	December 3, 2010
9	After the Earth Shook	January 7, 2011
10	Justice for Nadia	January 14, 2011
11	Death of the Don	January 28, 2011
12	WikiRebels	February 4, 2011
13	Death at the Olympics	February 11, 2011
14	The Devil You Know	February 18, 2011
15	You Should Have Stayed At Home	February 25, 2011
16	Missing	March 11, 2011
17	Getting Off Easy	March 18, 2011
18	My Friend the Bank Robber	March 25, 2011
19	A Question of Innocence	April 1, 2011

Season 37 (2011–12)

The 2011–12 television season was the 37th season of The Fifth Estate.

Episode	Title	Original air date	CBC viewers
1	Truth and Lies: The Last Days of Osama bin Laden	September 9, 2011	599,000
2	Swissair 111: The Untold Story	September 16, 2011	775,000
3	Gatti-vs-Gatti	September 23, 2011	436,000
4	Mayday	September 30, 2011	482,000
5	Colonel Gadhafi: Palace of Secrets	October 7, 2011	577,000
6	True Confession	October 14, 2011	504,000
7	Scout's Honour	October 21, 2011	567,000
8	'Til Death Do Us Part	October 28, 2011	482,000
9	Stories from the River's Edge	November 4, 2011	509,000
10	Murder, he wrote	November 18, 2011	535,000
11	A Cold Case	November 25, 2011	612,000
12	Holiday Hell	December 2, 2011	722,000
13	Behind the Line	December 9, 2011	568,000
14	Escape From Justice	January 6, 2012	853,000
15	Diagnosis Murder	January 13, 2012	646,000
16	The Lies People Tell	January 20, 2012	752,000
17	Who's Killing the Rizzutos?	January 27, 2012	622,000
18	The Wreck of the Costa Concordia	February 3, 2012	1,317,000
19	The House of Shafia	February 10, 2012	470,000
20	The Lost Boys	February 17, 2012	565,000
21	Fearless	February 24, 2012	298,000
22	Fast Break	March 2, 2012	203,000
23	Time Bomb	March 9, 2012	895,000
24	Lost on the Ice	March 23, 2012	300,400
25	Kidnapped	April 6, 2012	1,200,000

Season 38 (2012–13)

The 2012–13 television season was the 38th season of The Fifth Estate.

Episode	Title	Original air date
1	Into the Death Zone	September 12, 2012	Death of Canadian Shriya Shah-Klorfine on Mt. Everest
2	Kingston Pen: Secrets and Lies	September 21, 2012	Kingston Penitentiary
3	Runaway Fighter	September 28, 2012	Purchase of the F-35 fighter jet
4	The Widow's Web	October 5, 2012	So-called "black widow" Melissa Ann Shepard
5	The Life and Death of Gloria Taylor	October 12, 2012	Gloria Taylor, the first Canadian to have the right to ask for a doctor's assistance in dying
6	Whistleblowers: Moment of Truth	October 19, 2012	The fate of well-known Canadian whistleblowers
7	Lost in the Struggle: The Next Chapter	October 26, 2012	Return to Jane and Finch, Toronto
8	Lucky 7	November 2, 2012	The recovery of the stolen lottery win
9	The Elephant in the Room	November 9, 2012	Retiring zoo elephants
10	Left for Dead	November 16, 2012	Struggle for survival in icy waters near Baffin Island
11	Lance Armstrong: Master of Spin	November 23, 2012	Lance Armstrong
12	Hunting Magnotta	November 30, 2012	Double murderer Luka Magnotta and whether his gruesome crimes could have been prevented
13	Costa Concordia: The Captain's Tale	December 7, 2012	Costa Concordia disaster
14	The Imperfect Spy	April 10, 2017	What Jeffrey Delisle did and why
15	The Last Race	January 18, 2013	Death of Canadian ski cross competitor Nick Zoricic in World Cup competition
16	Death in Paradise	January 25, 2013	Unexplained tourist deaths may be linked to pesticide use
17	_target bin Laden	February 1, 2013	Osama bin Laden
18	Crossfire	February 8, 2013	The National Rifle Association's influence in the United States and Canada
19	The Unrepentant	February 22, 2013	Canadian psychopaths Melbourne "Lightning" Lee, Russell Williams, Karla Homolka, and two young offenders
20	The Vanishing	March 1, 2013	Disappearance of Wendy Ratté
21	Second Wave	March 8, 2013	Debris from 2011 Japanese tsunami begins to reach Canadian coasts
22	Ironman	March 29, 2013	Russ George's massive iron fertilization project off of BC's west coast
23	Mission Improbable	April 5, 2013	Cynthia Vanier, SNC-Lavalin, and an alleged plot to smuggle Saadi Gaddafi and his family into Mexico
24	Rate My Hospital	April 12, 2013

Season 39 (2013–14)

The 2013–14 television season was the 39th season of The Fifth Estate.

Episode	Title	Original air date	Subject
1	The Secrets of Sugar	October 4, 2013
2	Made in Bangladesh	October 11, 2013	Textile industry in Bangladesh, triggered by the 2013 Rana Plaza factory collapse
3	The Murder and the Money Trail	October 18, 2013
4	Elephants on Board: A Journey to Remember	October 25, 2013	PAWS sanctuary
5	The Strange World of Julian Assange	November 1, 2013	Julian Assange
6	The Rob Ford Story	November 8, 2013	Rob Ford, late mayor of Toronto
7	The Sextortion of Amanda Todd	November 15, 2013	Suicide of Amanda Todd
8	The Conspiracy Files: JFK and 9/11	November 22, 2013	Conspiracy theories around John F. Kennedy's assassination and 9/11
9	The Last Great Escape	November 29, 2013
10	Silence of the Labs	January 10, 2013
11	The Man Who Hears Voices	January 17, 2014
12	Walk the Line	January 22, 2014	A prominent biker cop who was accused of selling secrets to the Hell's Angels
13	Voyage of the Black Dragon	January 31, 2014	A voyage attempted by 600 Chinese migrants to sneak into Canada in 1999.
14	Rabbi of the Pure Hearts: Inside Lev Tahor	February 28, 2014	Lev Tahor and alleged child abuse within a Jewish community.
15	The Rise and Fall of Mike Duffy	March 7, 2014	Mike Duffy and the Canadian Senate expenses scandal
16	Return to Paradise	March 14, 2014	Pesticides used in a tropical resort hotel room may have killed guests in Asia.
17	Dead Enough	March 21, 2014	Canada's varying standards for declaring death affects organ transplants
18	Your Tips, Our Stories	March 28, 2014	Stories from viewer tips: a man deceives Canadian women into supporting him financially; the Halifax death of a young blind woman is re-examined; the worst case of small-town corruption
19	Love and the Perfect Stranger	March 28, 2014	Markus Vuorinen, a Finnish former gameshow host who promised love to at least 10 women across Canada before being arrested on assault charges
20	The Long Way Home	March 28, 2014	The Halifax death of a young blind woman, Holly Bartlett
21	Small Town Shakedown	March 28, 2014	The worst case of small-town corruption: Rita Crundwell stealing millions from the town coffers in Dixon, Illinois.

Season 43 (2017–18)

The 2017–18 television season was the 43rd season of The Fifth Estate.

Episode	Title	Broadcast Date	Subject
1	Murder in Cottage Country	September 15, 2017	Decades-old mystery over the disappearance of 4 elderly people in the Muskoka region of Ontario
2	Pit Bulls Unleashed: Should They Be Banned	September 22, 2017
3	The Truth Smugglers	September 29, 2017	People in Syria who smuggle out photographs and pages of secret official documents
4	Jagmeet Singh: The Colour of Politics	October 13, 2017	Jagmeet Singh
5	Motherisk: Tainted Tests & Broken Families	October 20, 2017	Motherisk
6	Via Rail Terror Plot : The Inside Man	October 27, 2017
7	TransCanada and Keystone XL : The Money Pipeline	November 3, 2017	TransCanada and Keystone XL Pipelines
8	The Super Scalpersh	November 10, 2017	A Canadian super scalper, as revealed in the Paradise Papers
9	The JFK Files: The Murder of a President	November 17, 2017	Assassination of John F. Kennedy
10	Basil Borutski and the Wilno Murders: Circle of Fear	November 24, 2017	An investigation into the murders of three women in Wilno, Renfrew County, Ontario, and Basil Borutski, the man on trial for those crimes.

Season 45 (2019–20)

The 2019–20 television season is the 45th season of The Fifth Estate. (Where two episodes appear in one program, a "/" is included between the episodes.)

Episode	Title	Broadcast Date	Subject
1	_targeted / Is Murder In Your DNA?	September 22, 2019	Gun lobby's fight to save assault weapons in Canada / DNA detective technique
2	When Terror Comes Home	September 29, 2019	Plan for de-radicalizing returning ISIS fighters
3	The Forgotten / Havana Syndrome		Stories from several women who grew up in Quebec's youth protection system / A new Canadian study into the Havana syndrome, looking into why an increasing number of Canadian and American diplomats have gotten sick in Cuba.
4	The Hood: Cops, Gangs, and a community in the crossfire		Indigenous gangs in Regina, in one of Canada's most dangerous neighbourhoods.
5	Dear Mr. Bissonnette		Alexandre Bissonnette, the man behind the 2017 Quebec City mosque shooting
6	My Father's Killer: Murder Mystery on Cortes Island / Wronged: Did Ashley Smith"s death end solitary confinement?		A man's search for his father's killer and the problematic police investigation surrounding it. / The Ashley Smith inquest
7	Muskoka Murders: Closing in on the Killers		The disappearance and presumed killing of four senior citizens—including Joan Lawrence, John Semple, John Crofts, and Ralph Grant—in Ontario's Muskoka cottage country
8	Captive: Caitlan Coleman vs. Joshua Boyle		Kidnapping of Canadian-American couple Joshua Boyle and Caitlan Coleman in Ghazni Province, Afghanistan
9	The List: The Search For Church Secrets / Vintage Grapes: Revisiting a famous Don Cherry interview		Survivors of clergy abuse demanding that the Roman Catholic church release secret lists of credibly-accused abusers / Revisiting an interview with Don Cherry that took place almost 3 decades ago.
10	Hockey Fight: Wives Reveal the Cost of Concussions / Sexism in Science: The Woman Who Pioneered Giraffe Research		The wives of retired hockey enforcers demanding change from the NHL / Anne Innis Dagg, a Canadian pioneer for women's rights and a groundbreaking scientist on the behavior of giraffes.
11	Passport Babies: The Growing Shadow Industry of Birth Tourism / Confronting Hate: How Antifa Is Tracking the Extreme Right		Birth tourism / The world of Antifa
12	The Autopsy Part One: What If Justice Got It Wrong? / The Insider: Tales From Inside the Benny Hinn Ministries		Autopsy results in criminal cases in Alberta that may have led to miscarriages of justice, including wrongful convictions. / The worldwide influence of American-Canadian evangelist Benny Hinn
13	How Boeing Crashed: The Inside Story of the 737 Max		The Boeing 737 MAX groundings
14	Runaway Train: Investigating a CP Rail Crash / Who Are They? Reconstructing Faces of the Dead	January 26, 2020	The derailment of a Canadian Pacific train into the Kicking Horse River / How 15 students, 1 instructor, and an RCMP officer use forensic sculpture in an effort to identify the remains of 15 men found in Canada.
15	The Priest's Confession: What the Catholic Bishops Knew / John Connelly's Death: Family Fights for Answers		Allegations of sexual assault among Catholic clergy in Canada / The death of University of Toronto pharmacy student John Connelly in 2001.

Season 46 (2020–21)

The 2020–21 television season is the 46th season of The Fifth Estate. (Where two episodes appear in one program, a "/" is included between the episodes.)

Episode	Title	Broadcast Date	Subject
1	Thirteen Deadly Hours: The Nova Scotia Shooting		The April 2020 mass shooting in Nova Scotia by a man who went on a 13-hour crime spree in which he killed 22 people
2	Bitter Harvest: The Story of the Pandemic and the People Who Pick Our Food		Government policies for protecting farm workers that Canada imports each year from abroad to grow and harvest fruits and vegetables.
	The Smartest Guy in the Room: Cameron Ortis and the RCMP Secrets Scandal		How the RCMP charged Cameron Ortis, one of their own, with leaking confidential police secrets.
4	Nygard: The Secret Videos		The December 2020 arrest of Peter Nygard, a Canadian fashion tycoon who faced charges involving sex trafficking and racketeering.
5	The Price WE Paid		The political WE Charity scandal involving Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the WE Charity. The episode includes an interview with WE's cofounders, Craig and Marc Kielburger.
6	Policing the Police	February 11, 2021	How police are investigated in Canada; following the aftermath of a shooting in a small Ontario town, after one police officer shoots another.
7	Fatal Care / Sexism Within Ottawa Police		A tragedy in an Ontario foster home, revealing problems in the for-profit child care system / Charges of sexual misconduct in the Ottawa Police Service
8	The Missing Millions / Black on Campus	February 25, 2021	A massive case of financial fraud that cost investors and pensioners millions of dollars Three Black Canadians who claim anti-Black racism to be plaguing the hallways of higher learning.
9	Treatment or Torture / No More Tears: The Essure Legacy		Canada's Oak Ridge institution, where mentally-ill prisoners are treated each other, and other human experiments were performed. / The fight for justice by Canadian women after having endured medical complications from Essure.
10	When Police Don't Knock / Broken Honour		The issues with a controversial police tactic known as "dynamic entry," which is used in search of drugs, guns, and suspects / The Canadian military's attempts to combat sexual violence in its ranks.
11	The Gene Hunters / Recipe for Genius		The Toronto Police's mining of genetic genealogy to find the killer behind cold cases, some of which are over 2 decades old / The renewed interest in the game of chess, as well as a fascination with children who show early genius for the game.

Awards

The Fifth Estate has won many awards, including Gemini Awards—among them ten for Best Information Series—numerous domestic investigative journalism awards, many New York and Columbus awards, International Emmys, and in 2000 and 2010 the Michener Award, Canada's top journalism prize, which is open to all media and has only one annual winner. A 2003 co-production with The New York Times and PBS's Frontline was recognized with the Pulitzer, Peabody, Polk, and other awards.

The Fifth Estate is one of two television programs (with The Twilight Zone being the first) to win an Academy Award, a prize presented to theatrical films: Just Another Missing Kid, originally a The Fifth Estate episode, was released in theatres in the United States and won the 1982 Academy Award for Documentary Feature.

Award	Year	Category	Recipient	Result
Academy Awards	1983	Best Documentary, Features	John Zaritsky Episode: The Fifth Estate: Just Another Missing Kid (1981)	Winner
Gemini Awards	1998	Best Photography in an Information Program or Series	Colin Allison	Nominee
	1999	Best News Information Series	David Studer and Susan Teskey	Winner
		Best Photography in an Information Program or Series	Colin Allison	Nominee
	2002			Winner
	2003	Best Picture Editing in an Information Program or Series	Kelly A. Morris	Nominee
	2004	Best News Information Series	David Studer and Sally Reardon	Winner
		Best Writing in an Information Program or Series	Bob McKeown Segment: "Run For Your Life"
		Best Photography in an Information Program or Series	Colin Allison Segment: "Run For Your Life"
		Best Picture Editing in an Information Program or Series	Loretta Hicks Segment: "No Way Home"
		Best Direction in a News Information Program or Series	Marie Caloz Segment: "No Way Home"	Nominee
			Neil Docherty Segment: "Dead in the Water"
		Best Direction in a News Information Program or Series	Claude Vickery Segment: "Run For Your Life"
		Best Writing in an Information Program or Series	Linden MacIntyre Segment: "Death of a Beauty Queen"
		Best Picture Editing in an Information Program or Series	Leslie Steven Onody Segment: "Dead in the Water"
			Kelly A. Morris Segment: "Run For Your Life"
		Best Sound in an Information/Documentary Program or Series	Joe Passeretti and Damian Kearns Segment: "Dead in the Water"
	2005	Best Direction in a News Information Program or Series	Oleh Rumak Episode: "Do You Believe in Miracles?"	Winner
		Best Writing in an Information Program or Series	Linden MacIntyre Episode: "War Without Borders"
		Best Picture Editing in an Information Program or Series	Loretta Hicks Episode: "Sticks and Stones"
		Best News Information Series	David Studer and Sally Reardon	Nominee
		Best Direction in a News Information Program or Series	Marie Caloz Episode: "First, Do No Harm"
			Episode: "Sticks and Stones"
			Kit Melamed Episode: "Mister Nobody"
			Claude Vickery Episode: "The Girl in the Suitcase"
		Best Writing in an Information Program or Series	Hana Gartner Episode: "The Canadian"
			Bob McKeown Episode: "Sticks and Stones"
		Best Photography in an Information Program or Series	Paul Seeler Episode: "First, Do No Harm"
		Best Picture Editing in an Information Program or Series	Leslie Steven Onody Episode: "War Without Borders"
			Episode: "Do You Believe in Miracles?"
		Best Host or Interviewer in a News Information Program or Series	Bob McKeown Episodes: "Bio of Dick Cheney", "Do You Believe in Miracles", and "Sticks and Stones"
			Gillian Findlay Episode: "First, Do No Harm"
	2006	Best News Information Series	David Studer, Jane Mingay, Sally Reardon, and Jim Williamson	Winner
		Best Writing in an Information Program or Series	Linden MacIntyre Episode: "Hail of Bullets"
		Best Science, Technology, Nature, Environment or Adventure Documentary Program	David Studer, Douglas Arrowsmith, Jane Mingay, and Jim Williamson Episode: "Black Dawn"	Nominee
		Best Sports Program or Series	David Studer, Caroline Harvey, Jane Mingay, and Jim Williamson Episode: "On the Edge of Glory"
		Best Host or Interviewer in a News Information Program or Series	Gillian Findlay Episode: "Failing Jeffrey"
			Bob McKeown Episode: "Rogue Agent"
		Best Writing in an Information Program or Series
			Gillian Findlay Episode: "Failing Jeffrey"
	2007	Best News Information Series	David Studer and Sally Reardon	Winner
		Best Host or Interviewer in a News Information Program or Series	Gillian Findlay Episode: "Luck of the Draw"
		Best Picture Editing in an Information Program or Series	Tania White Episode: "The Good Father"
		Best Host or Interviewer in a News Information Program or Series	Hana Gartner Episode: "The Good Father"	Nominee
		Best Direction in a News Information Program or Series	Catherine Annau Episode: "The Good Father"
			Tamar Weinstein Episode: "Lost in the Struggle"
		Best Writing in an Information Program or Series	Gillian Findlay Episode: "Luck of the Draw"
		Best Photography in an Information Program or Series	Colin Allison and Jeff Cole Episode: "Crime Pays"
		Best Picture Editing in an Information Program or Series	Loretta Hicks Episode: "Lost in the Struggle"
		Best Sound in an Information/Documentary Program or Series	Larry Kent, Damian Kearns, and Joe Passaretti Episode: "Road Warriors"
	2008	Best News Information Series	David Studer and Sally Reardon	Winner
		Best Host or Interviewer in a News Information Program or Series	Hana Gartner Episode: "The Lady Vanishes"
		Best Picture Editing in an Information Program or Series	Avi Lev Episode: "Overboard"
		Best Host or Interviewer in a News Information Program or Series	Gillian Findlay Episode: "Overboard"	Nominee
			Linden MacIntyre Episode: "Bad Day in Barrhead"
		Best Direction in a News Information Program or Series	Marie Caloz Episode: "Teacher's Pet"
			Claude Vickery Episode: "Overboard"
		Best Writing in an Information Program or Series	Gillian Findlay Episode: "Overboard"
			Linden MacIntyre Episode: "Brian Mulroney: The Unauthorized Chapter"
		Best Photography in an Information Program or Series	Paul Seeler Episode: "Life and Death in Kandahar"
		Best Sound in an Information/Documentary Program or Series	Joe Passaretti and Damian Kearns Episode: "Life and Death in Kandahar"
	2010	Best Editorial Research	Lynette Fortune (researcher) Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (production company)	Winner
Canadian Screen Awards	2013	Best Direction in a News Information Program or Series	Carmen Merrifield and Claude Vickery Episode: "Truth & Lies: The Last Days of Osama bin Laden"	Winner
		Barbara Sears Award for Best Editorial Research	Angela Gilbert Episode: "Scout's Honour"
		Best Direction in a News Information Program or Series	Timothy Sawa Episode: "Scout's Honour"	Nominee
	2015	Best News or Information Program	Tarannum Kamlani, Mark Kelley, Lysanne Louter, and Aileen McBride Episode: "Made in Bangladesh"	Winner
		Best News or Information Series	Julian Sher and Jim Williamson
		Best Photography in a News or Information Program, Series or Segment	John Badcock Episode: "Made in Bangladesh"	Nominee
		Best Host or Interviewer in a News or Information Program or Series	Gillian Findlay
	2018	Best Picture Editing, Documentary	Liz Rosch Episode: "The Disruptors"	Nominee
	2019	Barbara Sears Award for Best Visual Research	Leslie Morrison	Winner
		Barbara Sears Award for Best Editorial Research	Timothy Sawa, Lisa Mayor, and Zander Sherman	Nominee
Mindset Awards		Mindset Award for Workplace Mental Health Reporting	Mark Kelley (reporter), Timothy Sawa (producer), and Kimberly Ivany (associate producer) Episode: "Officer Down"	Winner
The Hillman Prize		2019 Canadian Hillman Prize	Harvey Cashore, Bob McKeown, Kimberly Ivany, Aileen McBride, Saman Malik, Doug Husby, and Lisa Mayor The Fifth Estate	Winner
Canadian Association of Journalists Awards	2020	Best Broadcast Feature	Gillian Findlay, Linda Guerriero, Elizabeth McMillan, Lisa Mayor, and Liz Rosch Episode: "13 Deadly Hours"	Finalist
		JHR / CAJ Award for Human Rights Reporting	Mark Kelley, Virginia Smart, Karen Wirsig, Aileen Mcbride, and Andy Hincenbergs Episode: "Bitter Harvest"
Canadian Screen Awards		Best Picture Editing, Factual	Aileen McBride
	2021		Liz Rosch	Nominee

Controversies

The Savoie scandal

In 1992, The Fifth Estate aired an expose of Inspector Claude Savoie of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, accusing him of being corrupt. On 21 December 1992, Savoie shot himself in his office at the RCMP's headquarters. Many felt that The Fifth Estate bore some responsibility for Savoie's suicide. Julian Sher of The Fifth Estate who worked on the Savoie story stated in 2022: "I didn't kill him, I didn't load the gun, I didn't put the gun to his head. He made his choices. I'm not responsible but if Dan and I had decided not to do the story, if we had not covered this stuff, would he be alive? He might have decided to kill himself when the RCMP (investigated him)...The lesson I learned from that is the consequences of our work. For many of the people we tell stories about, it's their lives and sometimes their deaths."

Libel suit

The CBC was successfully sued for libel over an episode that aired on 27 February 1996. Two doctors were interviewed for an episode about prescription drugs. Both doctors alleged their interviews were unfairly edited to give the false impression they were involved in kickbacks, cover-ups of patient deaths and other disreputable activities. Cardiologist Martin Myers asked for an apology plus $25,000, while researcher Frans Leenen asked for an apology plus $10,000. The CBC opted to fight the charges in court. The doctors ultimately prevailed. Myers was awarded $200,000, plus interest and costs, while Leenen won $950,000, plus interest and costs that could total over $2 million, a record for Canadian libel. The CBC has no libel insurance. Judges in both cases ruled that journalists at The Fifth Estate had twisted the facts and acted with malice, with one writing in his decision; "this was sensationalistic journalism of the worst sort and should serve as an embarrassment to this so-called 'flagship' investigative programme." The episode's host Trish Wood, producer Nicholas Regush, the researcher and executive producer David Studer were assessed punitive and aggravated damages.

Iglesia ni Cristo

The CBC and The Fifth Estate were sued in February 2019 by the Iglesia Ni Cristo after officials said one of the show's broadcasts defamed their church, calling the show "slanderous" and acting "without evidence." CBC News responded by stating they stand behind the story.

The episode in question, "Church of Secrets", which aired on 11 November 2018 and was hosted by Bob McKeown, detailed the controversies surrounding the church, including accusations of financial irregularities, kidnapping, and the murder of a Canadian man. In particular, McKeown interviewed the widow of a murder victim allegedly killed by INC members after a series of verbal altercations, as well as following the story of excommunicated ministerial worker Lowell Menorca II, who sought refugee status in Canada. The news crew also attempted for and were denied an interview with Eduardo V. Manalo after an event in Sacramento. During the attempt for an interview, their vehicle's tires were slashed, which McKeown suspected was an act of intimidation by INC, though an INC member denied the allegation.

External links

• Official website
• The Fifth Estate at IMDb
• The Fifth Estate's channel on YouTube