Last weekend, while most Americans were gathering with their families for Thanksgiving, the National Security Agency, or NSA, quietly wound down one of its most controversial practices.

The U.S. National Security Agency has stopped collecting Americans' domestic call records in bulk. (Reuters/Pawel Kopczynski )

The NSA stopped its practice of collecting bulk data about Americans' phone conversations as a routine matter of course. And that marked the culmination of a battle that began 12 years ago, and which has been led, in part, by a Canadian, Jameel Jaffer.

Jameel Jaffer is the Deputy Legal Director of the American Civil Liberties Union. He's part of the legal team representing whistleblower Edward Snowden. And he's also been at the forefront of legal challenges involving the U.S. Drone program and the so-called "torture documents" surrounding the U.S. government's treatment of prisoners in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba and Abu Ghraib in Iraq.

Tonight, Jameel Jaffer will receive the Vox Libera Award from Canadian Journalists for Free Expression.

There is another Canadian journalist who will be honoured at tonight's CJFE event. His work has also been dedicated to shining light into dark corners.

Ken Rubin an investigative researcher who has spent decades wrestling information from the reluctant hands of governments and corporations. His work has touched on issues ranging from airline safety, to genetically modified food, and pollution concerns in Canada's Arctic waters.

Tonight, Ken Rubin will receive the Canadian Journalists for Free Expressions' inaugural investigative award.



Full Disclosure: Anna Maria Tremonti is a member of Canadian Journalists for Free Expression



This segment was produced by The Current's Gord Westmacott and Pacinthe Mattar.