I am an award-winning investigative reporter based in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

I’ve written for the Toronto Star, The Globe and Mail, The Narwhal, the National Observer and CBC News. I contributed reporting and fact-checked the 2022 podcast “Conviction: The Disappearance of Nuseiba Hasan” for Gimlet/Spotify.

I was a staff reporter for CBC News in Hamilton and Voice of San Diego and am now available for freelance assignments.

Have a story tip? Please email me (kelly@kellyrbennett.com) or DM me on X/Twitter: @kellyrbennett.

Previously, I helped build the online nonprofit news organization Voice of San Diego and produced and reported weekly TV packages and live studio hits for NBC7 San Diego.

I contributed early research to the body of work that won a 2006 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting. I grew up in Victoria, B.C.

RECENT WORK

GIMLET MEDIA/SPOTIFY | Conviction: The disappearance of Nuseiba Hasan (2022)

I contributed reporting and fact-checking to this acclaimed eight-part investigative podcast about the disappearance of an Ontario woman who wasn’t declared missing by her family for nine years. The Guardian dubbed it one of the top podcasts of the year.

THE TORONTO STAR/GLOBAL REPORTING CENTRE | Inside the worsening conditions for the workers who sew your clothes (June 2021)

A two-part investigation into the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on garment industry workers in four countries, produced in partnership with the Toronto Star/Global Reporting Centre and researchers from the University of Sheffield.

NATIONAL OBSERVER | Black medical student’s last-ditch crowdfunding campaign sparks calls for change (Feb. 11, 2021)

CBC NEWS | Some Ontario nurses no longer paid during self-isolation if they test negative after COVID-19 exposure (Jan. 19, 2021)

THE GLOBE AND MAIL | St. Catharines Catholic Diocese reaches settlement with witness of her sister’s chronic sex abuse (Sept. 14, 2020)

THE NARWHAL | Lake Ontario ‘aquatic landfill’ to contain 150-year-old toxic blob from industrial pollution (June 6, 2020) A $139-million underwater box the size of six city blocks is being built to contain an underwater contaminated zone in Hamilton’s Randle Reef for some 200 years.

CBC NEWS | Hamilton police tested controversial facial recognition technology Clearview AI (Feb. 20, 2020)

CBC NEWS | Amazon's need for speed creating safety risks, delivery drivers say (Jan. 30, 2020)

TORONTO STAR | 20,000 Hamilton homes have toxic lead pipes carrying water to taps. The city says it will take 40 years to fix the system (Nov. 4, 2019)

Part of a national look at water quality and lead pipes produced in conjunction with the Toronto Star, Global News and partners with the Institute for Investigative Journalism at Concordia University.

CBC HAMILTON | Lawsuit claims disgraced Hamilton cop planted gun that sent man to prison for 4 years (Jan. 30, 2020)

CBC INVESTIGATES

CBC INVESTIGATES | Niagara financier's big money propositions leave entrepreneurs with ruined dreams (March 28, 2018)

> UPDATE: Niagara financier Peter Corbière arrested [by OPP] for fraud charges (May 1, 2019)
> UPDATE: Niagara financier facing more fraud charges (Feb. 14, 2020)

Hamilton, GTA business owners angry over 'cheap locksmith' listings falsely using their addresses (Feb. 2, 2018)

Landlord fought fire department safety orders for years while renting to students (Nov. 24, 2017)

'Hey brother, could you spare a quarter?' A Hamilton panhandler fights the law (Aug. 3, 2017)

Hamilton police said crime would flourish if cellphone surveillance records disclosed (April 18, 2017)

AUDIO/RADIO STORIES

'Hey brother, could you spare a quarter?' A Hamilton panhandler fights the law (Aug. 3, 2017)

POLICE CARDING/STREET CHECKS IN HAMILTON

Organizers of an anti-racism march on Dec. 1, 2014 met with Hamilton Police and heard confirmation the service collects information from people officers stop on the street. Here, Kayonne Christy, read a list of demands the group submitted to the pol…

Organizers of an anti-racism march on Dec. 1, 2014 met with Hamilton Police and heard confirmation the service collects information from people officers stop on the street. Here, Kayonne Christy, read a list of demands the group submitted to the police that day. (Kelly Bennett/CBC)

Winner, 2015 RTDNA Adrienne Clarkson diversity award for Canada's central region.

Hamilton Police carded the same aboriginal man 14 times in 1 year (Nov. 18, 2015)

'Unjustifiable': Human Rights Commission slams Hamilton police on carding (Oct. 29, 2015)

Packed Hamilton forum demands end to police carding (Sept. 15, 2015)

Hamilton Police carding form is 'almost a carbon copy' of Toronto's (Aug. 31, 2015)

Do Hamilton Police actually card black people disproportionately? (Aug. 1, 2015)

Hamilton police collecting information on people not accused of crimes (Feb. 26, 2015)

HOUSING and HOMELESSNESS

'Overcrowded' house near McMaster has 12 bedrooms (Mar. 24, 2017)

Will Hamiltonians be left behind in the city's housing boom? (Jan. 23, 2015) 

San Diego's Share of Homelessness Funding Doesn't Add Up (March 4, 2013)

Emails from a Newly Homeless Woman: ‘I Still Want to Be a Part of Regular Society’ (Feb. 1, 2013)

Armed with Antiquated Maps, Group Allegedly Sold Bogus Foreclosure Fix (May 23, 2008)
(Winner, 2009 Excellence in Journalism Awards, San Diego Society of Professional Journalists)

Ground Zero in San Diego's Mortgage Mess (Aug. 20, 2007) 

PSYCHIATRIC INPATIENT SUICIDES

St. Joe's investigating 'extremely unusual' number of suicides at West 5th campus (Dec. 27, 2016)

Families and friends of 3 who died in psych hospital seek answers (Jan. 11, 2017)

Can all suicides be prevented in an inpatient facility like St. Joe's? (Feb. 14, 2017)

Ontario NDP calls for coroner's inquest into St. Joe's suicide deaths (Sept. 22, 2017)

Photo by Sam Hodgson

Photo by Sam Hodgson

INVESTIGATIVE PROJECTS

A STAGGERING SWINDLE | With my colleague Will Carless, I investigated a mortgage fraud scheme in which a man named Jim McConville bought condos in other people's identities, stealing $13 million from banks in the process. Federal prosecutors indicted McConville and others a year after our stories exposed the swindle. He pleaded guilty to orchestrating the fraud and was sentenced to eight years in prison.

Part 1 | Rented Identities, Extravagant Prices and Foreclosure: A Post-Boom Real Estate Scam (April 11, 2009)

Part 2 | How It Could Happen in 2008 (April 11, 2009) 

Mortgage Fraud Mastermind Pleads Guilty (Jan. 25, 2012)

Awards:
Second place, Best Investigative Report or Series, National Association of Real Estate Editors, 2010; 
Finalist, Investigative Journalism, Small Site: Online News Association 2009 awards; 
Finalist, Livingston Awards for Young Journalists
 

OUT OF REACH | With my colleague Dagny Salas, I investigated gaps in programs meant to serve the needy. 

Part 1 | San Diego's Safety Net Is Riddled with Gaps (Jan. 31, 2010)

Part 2 | San Diego's County Government Resents Bearing Safety Net's Burden (Feb. 1, 2010)

Award: Finalist, Gannett Foundation Award for Innovative Investigative Journalism, Small Site: Online News Association 2010 awards.