Geoff Leo

Senior Investigative Journalist

Geoff Leo is a Michener Award nominated investigative journalist and a Canadian Screen Award winning documentary producer and director. He has been covering Saskatchewan stories since 2001. Email Geoff at geoff.leo@cbc.ca.

Latest from Geoff Leo

People behind Regina election attack billboards won't disclose who they are or who's paying the bill

An organization paying for attack billboards during Regina's municipal election refuses to disclose who is behind it.
CBC Investigates

Minister Jeremy Harrison fired Crown corp board chair who blew the whistle on apparent conflicts of interest

In early 2022, Dennis Fitzpatrick, the board chair of the Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC), raised concerns about possible conflicts of interest involving the organization's president and CEO, Mike Crabtree. Shortly after raising the concerns, Fitzpatrick was fired by SRC minister Jeremy Harrison.

Economists say review of Sask. irrigation megaproject shows cost would exceed return to provincial government

A Saskatchewan government funded report analyzing the costs and benefits of the proposed Lake Diefenbaker Irrigation Project reveals it is a risky venture that offers, at best, modest gains, according to economists who reviewed the report for CBC.

Federal research funder launches pilot aimed at rooting out Indigenous identity fraud

The federal body that funds research in Canada is set to launch a pilot project aimed at ensuring that grants and jobs meant for Indigenous people go to genuine Indigenous people.
In Depth

Sask. 'moving forward' with $1.15B Lake Diefenbaker Irrigation Project despite incomplete feasibility study

The government of Saskatchewan says it is “moving forward with constructing” a $1.15-billion irrigation project, despite never completing a feasibility study that was supposed to examine whether it is a good use of public money. That has critics worried that the government may be launching an ill-thought-out mega-project — spending hundreds of millions of dollars to benefit just a handful of farmers.

Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond says a DNA test backs her ancestry claims. CBC asked experts to weigh in

The DNA test was referenced in an agreed-upon statement issued late last week, in which the Law Society of B.C. reprimanded Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond and fined her $10,000, after she admitted she had made a series of false public claims about her accomplishments and history.

Why the secrecy? Investigation unveils activists targeting the 'radical left' in Regina's municipal election

CBC has confirmed the identities of some of the people behind a secretive organization that says it’s targeting the “radical left” in Regina’s upcoming municipal election — three men with significant ties to the federal Conservative Party and the Saskatchewan Party.
Exclusive

A U.S. scientist experimented on Indigenous kids to cure them of trauma. One critic calls it 'bonkers'

About a decade ago, a U.S. brainwave scientist got permission to experiment on Indigenous children in Canada in an attempt to cure them of their traumas. The project was supported by the Saskatchewan Rivers Public School Division after the study received ethics approval from the University of Regina.

Canada's research funding agencies developing policy to root out Indigenous identity fraud

The federal agencies that fund research in Canada are taking steps to stamp out Indigenous identity fraud in an effort to ensure that funding intended for Indigenous researchers goes to genuine Indigenous people.
CBC Investigates

Buffy Sainte-Marie's claims of Cree ancestry and birth on Sask. First Nation removed from her website

The biography of Buffy Sainte-Marie on her official website no longer claims the famous singer is a Cree woman "likely" born on the Piapot First Nation in Saskatchewan. The singer said she removed the references to protect those who have defended her in the wake of CBC's investigation into her ancestry claims.