Simon Townsley

In Vancouver Simon sought to document the chaos and injustice in the lives of people on the streets and the effect of a government decriminalization experiment on them. He took his time, speaking with dozens of addicts who were willing to be photographed and share their stories. Each had been abandoned, abused or neglected by those they trusted, and now the state seemed to be doing the same to them all over again. Simon saw good people left to their fate under the pretence of having freedom to choose, when in reality they were anything but free. The response to this story was enormous. Simon received threats and a sustained campaign of internet trolling. Pierre Polievre, Canada’s Leader of the Opposition cited the story in a press conference saying, ' the whole world is looking in disbelief'. With over 160,000 page views and a dwell time of nearly two minutes this was one of the year’s most successful global health stories.

Nothing sends a more profound message of powerlessness and injustice than someone taking their own life through self-immolation. The act says, “because of you, I am prepared to suffer the worst death”. In Kurdistan this tragedy has become an almost daily occurrence for women trapped in abusive households. Simon sat with these women and photographed them as they spent their last days in agony. He felt compelled to tell their stories, aware that identifying survivors would add to their shame during recovery. When he met survivor Srwa, her injuries were so shocking and her suffering so immense that the challenge was to create powerful images that protected the woman who trusted him, without allowing viewers to look away. Readers comments displayed a profound sense of sadness and outrage and a call for increased advocacy, with one reader saying “Thank you for writing this article. As a ‘free Western woman’ this type of report horrifies me - so many suffer so much. I know my words don’t do justice to this great article but thank you.”

In Mongolia, the once-in-a-decade phenomenon known as the Dzud is occurring with increasing frequency. Temperatures reaching as low as -50°C and heavy snowfall killed millions of livestock. Simon anticipated an environmental story, but it became clear that the profound impact on families was the real story. He travelled onto the steppe and met a family who invited him for breakfast. As the day warmed, they let the animals out from the pens where they had sheltered. When a cow collapsed in front of him, four-year-old Dorjoo grabbed it, trying desperately to get it to move, instinctively understanding that if it stayed down, it would die. The cow eventually rose to its feet, though it likely had only hours left. No child, especially one as young as four, should bear that kind of responsibility. The article sparked a highly-charged debate amongst our readers about what constitutes and what causes climate change, and generated a great deal of comment about the truthfulness of climate change reporting.