Introducing: Luc Tremblay, Michener finalist and Concordia Journalism professor
Meet Luc Tremblay. As managing editor of Enquête — Radio-Canada’s award-winning investigative journalism program — he coordinated major French-language investigations across Quebec and Canada.
Now, he’s in the classroom, teaching undergraduates in Concordia’s Department of Journalism and emphasizing the fundamentals of the craft.
“Journalism is about people,” Tremblay says. “I try to bring cutting-edge tricks and techniques to the class. But my main message to my students is, to be good journalists, you need to love being in the present and reaching out to people.”
Last term, Tremblay taught Intermediate Reporting (JOUR 208) to first-year Journalism students. In his class, students covered Montreal borough meetings, learned how to conduct different types of interviews and sharpened their writing and editing skills.
A career of award-winning investigations
Tremblay’s investigative work involves hidden cameras and high-stakes scenarios, covering at times dangerous stories for Enquête.
Past investigative projects include Le système Miller / The Girls around Robert Miller, SNC-Lavalin’s corruption scandals; concussion protocols in the Juvénile Division I of the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec; the Church of Scientology’s approach to mental health disorders; and the Panama and Paradise Papers, where he collaborated with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.
He and his team are the recipients of several accolades, including the prestigious Prix Judith Jasmin from the Fédération professionnelle des journalistes du Québec — an award Tremblay won four times.
Tremblay has also twice been a finalist for the Michener Award, one of the highest distinctions in Canadian journalism.
“Leading Enquête is a dream come true for me,” he says. “Every single story comes with new journalistic challenges. Producing 22 episodes is like climbing Everest each year.”
From cameras to classrooms
Tremblay holds a law degree from the Université de Montréal. While he started out as a trial lawyer, he landed his breakout news gig in 1994 as an associate producer with Radio-Canada’s Le Point, the broadcaster’s former current affairs show.
He says moving from law to breaking news, then to investigative journalism, has allowed him to pass on a variety of approaches to a new generation of reporters.
“Investigative journalism is regular journalism, tackling more difficult and complex stories,” he explains. “At the core of it is work and curiosity.
“We spend a lot of time on our screens now. There is extraordinary data journalism being made. But to me, journalism remains, primarily, the commitment to witness to life as it happens — the great human adventure.”
Find out more about Concordia’s Department of Journalism.
