Journey for Justice

**This post is a CreComm assignment**

I've never read true crime before, frankly I don't read many books at all. but a couple weeks ago I finished reading Journey for Justice by Mike McIntyre in just two days.

Mike's newest book covers one of Winnipeg's most notorious crimes that happened in the 80's; the abduction of Canadace Derksen. Canadace was a normal kid, 13, very social, just walking home from school one afternoon when her parents were too busy to come pick her up. Unfortunatly Canadace was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. She was picked up by Mark Grant who later tied her up and let her freeze to death in a shed.

It's hard for us to even imagine the horror of losing a child this way. This is pain that I sincerely hope no one else has to endure the way the Derksens did... but what about Mike? The guy who now has the task of writing about the tragedy that they went through. How can a journalism possibly pry into the Derksens' lives to hear their story?

Well Mike sys it's all about trust. He and Wilma Derksen ( Canadace's mother) formed a relationship through the writing of this novel. Wilma was a CreComm herself, and a writer who understands how hard it is to get a story. Journalism is hard. Especially when it gets so personal and painful, but that's what makes great stories right?

Not the "if it bleeds it leads" mentality, but the mentality where the more personal you can get, the more good you can do with your writing. Without the help of journalism over the past 27 years Wilma may ahve never shared her story. No one would know about Candace. The media helped alot during the search for Candace and are now helping keep her memory alive and help support other families who may be going through the same thing. So dig deep when you write these stories.

Mike covers crime in Winnipeg every day. That's his job, he writes about crime for the Free Press. This is different. This is personal. This is something that Winnipeggers have held onto for years, people wanted to see Mark Grant convicted. People needed closure. his story isn't writed like any other crime story. It's really about the people and the emotion. The book gets slow near the middle, but then you get back to these wonderful testimonies that really show how much Winnipeg needed this book.If you have the time definitely pick up Mike's book, worth a read.