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A Vancouver Sun and Province reporter’s work exposing the failures of Canadian security regulators and governments in collecting more than a half-billion dollars in financial penalties is up for national recognition.

Gordon Hoekstra’s 2017 series on financial crime — called Stealing Away — is one of six nominees for the Michener Award, which recognizes “meritorious public service journalism.”

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Using databases created from a decade’s worth of penalty status reports, court records and other reports, the series revealed that more than a half a billion dollars in B.C. Securities Commission penalties had gone unpaid and jail time for fraudsters in B.C. was a rarity.

In response, B.C. Finance Minister Carole James ordered the Securities commission to improve its collections and enforcement and also said she expected a greater focus on criminal prosecution.

The commission also began taking steps to be able to seize property and goods of financial fraudsters who owe nearly $70 million in unpaid penalties from the past decade.