The documentary about electronic waste I helped produce with the UBC Graduate School of Journalism has been nominated for two Emmy Awards. The documentary, which investigated the illegal export of broken computers and other electronics to the developing world, aired last June on PBS Frontline/World. We received nominations for Outstanding Investigative Journalism and Outstanding Research.

I'm still in shock.

Most journalists work their entire careers for this kind of honour. The nominations have received quite a bit of attention, seeing as it's the first time Canadian journalism students have ever been nominated for an Emmy.

Pinch me.

**Update: I got the chance to talk about the nominations on the CBC Radio show All Points West. You can listen to the interview here.

The company headed by National Post chief executive Paul Godfrey that is buying the Canwest newspapers will be called Postmedia Network Inc.

The new company will hold some of Canada’s largest daily newspapers including the National Post, Vancouver Sun, Calgary Herald and Ottawa Citizen.

“Postmedia Network reflects both where we have been and where we are going,” Godfrey said in a statement released Friday.

“From the earliest days of information delivery via post, to the current online world of posting news and information as it happens and looking ahead to the continuous evolution of a post-media universe, our new name reflects both the strong legacy and the exciting future of media as we prepare to emerge as a new Canadian business.”

Last month, an Ontario Superior Court judge gave the green light for Canwest Global Communications Corp. to sell its newspaper division to a group of its creditors led by Godfrey.

My place of employment, the wire service for the chain of papers, is now called Postmedia News (formerly Canwest News Service). It's been a bit of an adjustment learning to use the new name, but I'm sure in a week or so, it will start to feel normal.

Nudists are gearing up for the summer season and have turned to social media to promote their 'nakations.'

A study out of Calgary found that body checking in PeeWee hockey triples the injury rate.
A gay couple from New York city has offered to pay for their AIDS drugs if they get permission to emigrate to Canada.

Residents of Walkerton, Ont., commemorated the ten year anniversary of the water crisis that sickened an entire community.

Splitting into three groups, we filmed the piece, about the illegal export of broken computers and other electronics, in China and Hong Kong, Ghana and India. The documentary was a collaboration by many people, including Doerthe Keilholz, Dan Haves and Ian Bickis (and several other talented folks who don't have websites). Our class was led by producer/professor Peter Klein and CBS News Johannesburg correspondent Sarah Carter.

Ten of us former students have also been nominated for the Livingston Young Journalists Award for International Reporting for our work on the documentary. The winners will be announced June 2.

Fredericton Slide Show from Allison Cross on Vimeo.

"HMCS Fredericton stands watch over Arabian Sea"

"Canadian warship sails to counter terror threats"

"Goods bound for Canada travel through pirate alley"

"Canadian frigate like floating city, but sailors miss comforts of home"

For three years, New Yorkers Ricardo Companioni and Andrew Grover have been eyeing Toronto as their new home.

Of the many things about Canada that appeal to the American couple, who are both HIV positive, the freedom to wed and access to universal health care are paramount.

But the pair has not yet been able to call Canada home.

Generally healthy and never hospitalized, the couple are nonetheless expected to have combined prescription drug costs of about $33,500 per year for the next 10 years.

It’s an expense they have promised to pay themselves if they can’t secure employer-based or private drug coverage when in Canada.

However, because there is nothing to stop the couple from enrolling in an Ontario drug program meant to help residents offset particularly high prescription costs, Citizenship and Immigration Canada rejected the couple’s application for permanent residence status.

Companioni and Grover were told they would place an “excessive demand” on the health-care system.

“It wasn’t denied right away. They kept asking us for more and more documents,” said Companioni, a music programmer who applied in the skilled-worker category for immigration.

“Tax returns. All of our assets. They even went so far as to make us sign a letter promising not to use their social services. And we had to get this letter notarized. Even after all that, they said no.”

But at the urging of their lawyer, the couple — who have amassed a half-million dollars in assets — appealed the decision in federal court and won the right to have a new immigration officer examine their case.

The appeal’s argument borrowed from a 2005 ruling by the Supreme Court of Canada on an immigration case, which set a precedent for ensuring immigration officers take into account plans made by applicants on how they will contribute to their, or their dependent’s, social services costs.

The couple’s lawyer, Michael Battista, argued this consideration should also be extended to something such as prescription drug costs.

The HIV & AIDS Legal Clinic in Ontario also formally intervened in the case on behalf of the couple.

Although Citizenship and Immigration then proceeded to file their own appeal, Battista said he’s confident Companioni and Grover will eventually become permanent residents.

“I am very optimistic about it,” he said. “This decision is really part of an evolution of the law with respect to immigration and health costs. It used to be, in my experience, that people with HIV were automatically refused, and, thankfully, we now have a more nuanced approach that actually looks at their capacity to contribute to their health costs.”

Citizenship and Immigration will not discuss specific immigration cases because of privacy concerns.

Canadian legislation doesn’t explicitly deny entry to people with HIV or AIDS, but it does deny applicants who will place “an excessive demand” on health services.

As HIV/AIDS is a costly, long-term illness, it often falls into this category.

Until its ban was lifted in January, the United States considered HIV/AIDS a communicable disease, and denied entrance to immigrants and travellers who tested positive for the virus.

All potential immigrants to Canada must undergo a medical examination, which includes an HIV test — which happens to be when many people discover they have the disease, said John Norquay, a lawyer for the HIV & AIDS Legal Clinic in Ontario.

Exceptions are made for some immigrants, however, often family members sponsored by relatives already residing in Canada.

Sergio Karas, a Toronto immigration lawyer, said accepting immigration applications on the basis of their ability to pay for any aspect of their health care or social services is problematic, particularly because it can’t be policed.

There is always a chance applicants will renege on their promise to pay for health care, Karas said, and once they’re on Canadian soil, there’s nothing the government can do to stop it.

“The basic problem is that unless there are mechanisms in place that can monitor this, whatever promises they make, can turn out to be meaningless,” he said. “And unfortunately, there are no mechanisms to monitor them. Once you receive residency, it becomes unconditional.”

Despite the hurdles and legal bills, Companioni said he hasn’t been discouraged from becoming a Canadian.

“I’d still like it to work out,” he said. “We want to move to Canada.”

I went to China and Hong Kong to film a documentary. I finished a master's thesis and graduated from journalism school. I spent five months in Sierra Leone, West Africa.

I got a job in Ottawa, and drove across 75% of Canada in five days. My grandmother died from pancreatic cancer. In between these big events, there was time with family and friends.

I've started to notice, with great alarm, how fast time seems to go now that I'm an adult. I don't like it. I don't like it one bit. I love taking photos, so this is just a small sampling of what I took over the year, and some photos by friends and family.

Musical credit is Sweet Disposition by The Temper Trap.

Happy New Year, everyone! Best wishes for 2010.

A Year in Review from Allison Cross on Vimeo.