It was at the end of a nearly 400-page document that I finally found what I was looking for: an admission.

In a package of emails released under a federal Access to Information Act request, I found proof that Transport Canada had knowingly — and willingly — tried to hide an obvious truth from our reporter Cloe Logan.

The story Cloe was working on last summer was about major cuts to surveillance flights that monitor North Atlantic right whales , a critically endangered species that Canada has a legal obligation to protect. Those cuts had been revealed through an earlier Access to Information request by Canada’s National Observer , and Cloe, doing her due diligence, had asked the department for more details on why the cuts were made.

She followed up, again and again, throughout July.

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