Dear Narwhals,
I’m so excited to share with you that The Narwhal just had its best month ever. In October, nearly 250,000 people read our articles and another 125,000 people watched our videos.
Some people like to say it’s not possible for a news outlet to survive without running ads or taking money from big corporate shareholders, but every single day you prove them wrong by supporting our reader-funded journalism.
My colleague Carol Linnitt and I started The Narwhal because we wanted to change the Canadian media landscape for the better. Now we’re 18 months in and The Narwhal has exceeded our wildest expectations: we’ve won national awards, our readership has doubled and every day we hear from people like you saying how grateful they are we exist. And it's all because of you — thank you!
Here’s the thing: for every story you read and share on The Narwhal, there’s a mountain of work going on behind the scenes — from recruiting talented writers and photographers to reviewing hundreds of story pitches to fact-checking, legal review, editing, design and promotion.
Right now, we have just one full-time editor.
We are bursting at the seams and every day we find out about more stories that need to be told. To bring these stories out of the shadows, we urgently need to hire another editor.
To add this new position, we need to sign up 150 new monthly members by Nov. 30. We’re happy to report that we’re already 20 per cent of the way there.
As an existing member or major contributor to The Narwhal, there are two things you can do to help us achieve this goal:
- Share this member sign-up link with anyone you think is well-positioned to become a monthly member.
- If you feel moved to increase your monthly gift, just reply to this email and let us know by how much and we can make that happen.
- If you’d like to make a one-time gift, you can do that here.
Thanks for your tremendous support in making independent, reader-funded journalism a reality!
Emma Gilchrist
Editor-in-Chief
P.S. Keep scrolling for all of the stories we’ve been digging up this week!
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By Sharon J. Riley
Since Justin Trudeau’s government took power in 2015, lobbyists in Ottawa have focused more attention on the nation’s bureaucrats, rather than elected office holders, representing what one researcher calls a troubling 'fusion of private interest and public bodies'. Read more.
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By Judith Lavoie
The project, which will generate enough energy to power 135 homes and $175,000 in annual revenue, is being celebrated as an important milestone in the nation’s economic independence. Read more.
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By Sarah Cox
A mysterious new group claims ‘life is getting back to normal’ at the site of the 2014 Mount Polley tailings pond collapse — one of Canada’s largest-ever environmental disasters — while the growing volume of mine waste in Quesnel Lake and a revealing government inspection report point to continuing concerns on the ground. Read more.
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By Jimmy Thomson
In remote areas from the B.C. coast to Nunavut’s far north, Indigenous guardians and coastal watchmen are increasingly relied on to monitor landscapes, conduct search and rescue, gather environmental samples and document the impacts of climate change. Now these communities are assembling to share best practices for everything from tracking data to supporting traditional ways of life out on the land. Read more.
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As the face of the climate change file, McKenna has endured a torrent of vile abuse. Behind it is a powder keg of anxiety, resentment and a lot of anger. From Shannon Proudfoot ✏️
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Western Alienation
CBC's latest Front Burner episodes explore the growing political anger in Alberta and Saskatchewan. In Part one: déjà vu, Jayme Poisson and political science professor Loleen Berdahl guide you through the history of western alienation. In Part two: collision course, Maclean's Alberta correspondent Jason Markusoff explains how climate change has put Ottawa at odds with Alberta and Saskatchewan. 🎧
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We'll happily risk sounding this cheesy: you are all the wind beneath our wings! Infinite thank yous to everyone who has become a member to support growing our team 🌱 We can't do it without you 💪
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It's high time the size of our team caught up to the power of our reporting. Share around our newsletter signup to help us grow 💕
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