It’s probably no secret that we care a lot about making our visual journalism shine at The Narwhal. When someone lands on one of our stories, we want them to really soak in the experience — and keep coming back for more.

But how could we take our website experience to the next level? Well, the more we thought about it, the more the answer became clear: we needed an in-house web developer. And not just anyone: we needed someone capable of sitting at the crossroads of journalism and code who could make our best-in-class digital experience shine. 

Lucky for us, we found the perfect match. Andrew Munroe has joined our team as our very first staff web developer! He comes to The Narwhal with a long track record of working on some pretty interesting stuff, from his time at the Global Reporting Centre to projects for organizations like The Tyee, Disability Alliance BC and the Stanley Park Ecology Society.

Andrew’s already been busy making a million things happen at The Narwhal, from helping us transition to a speedier site to designing some pretty cool new features we’re excited to share with you very soon (he whipped up this interactive federal party platforms explainer in no time). It’s only been a few months and I think I can speak for our whole pod when I say: how did we get by without him?

Read on for Andrew’s thoughts on the secret to a good website — “a good platform gets out of the way” — and a book recommendation for new fathers (did I mention he’s been doing all this work with a newborn at home?).

Tell us a little bit about yourself! What led you into web development work?

I was born in the Toronto suburbs but grew up mostly in Kelowna. After school I moved to Vancouver to pursue my passion for paying a lot of money for housing.

My first job after university was managing tech-related projects at an environmental education non-profit. But then I started to gradually get into the actual design and development side of things, both by teaching myself and by learning from some very smart colleagues. I started doing freelance work in a bunch of different fields, from writing and editing to design and development. I got to work on some interactive museum exhibits, content management system overhauls and interactive journalistic pieces.

How did that translate into journalism?

From that freelance work I got a job at the Global Reporting Centre, where I still work part-time as the digital producer. We do long-form global journalism in collaboration with media partners, as well as journalism education and research, and it’s based at the University of British Columbia.

What’s a project you’ve worked on that you’re particularly proud of, and why?!

One Global Reporting Centre project I remember fondly is called How to Conceal Your Money Offshore (spoiler: don’t do this). I took creative lead on that project, and designed and developed the website. It consisted of a feature story co-published by Mother Jones and a four-part podcast. The tone of it was something I connected with, and it was fun to work with such a great team.

What do you think good journalism platforms look like? Who’s doing good work on that front in your opinion?

A good platform gets out of the way. It’s one that people don’t think about too much while they’re using it. It’s intuitive and simple for people on the producing side, and makes your content enjoyable and accessible for the people engaging it. But it’s easier said than done. There are so many moving parts and different technologies that all need to work together. I think the Guardian and the New York Times do great work on integrating all aspects of their platforms. They also publish stuff about their tech stack and contribute a lot to open-source projects, which I always enjoy learning about.

How do you want to bring that to The Narwhal?

I want to start by finding out what’s working well for people with the current setup — and what’s working less well. From there we can think through how we might improve things. Fortunately for me, in my first couple months here my fellow Narwhals (is that what we call ourselves?) have been very helpful and enthusiastic about sharing their visions.

What was the last book you read that you loved?

Most recently I re-read The World According to Garp because I remember John Irving saying he supposed the book was about a father’s fears — and I was soon to be a father myself. So I thought reading it would ease those fears. So far, it has not. But it was still a good and very funny book.

What’s something about you that people would be surprised to learn?

Despite my advancing age, I only recently performed live music for the first time. I played passable guitar in an emo cover band and was happy to see a fair few younger people lose their minds when our piano player hit that opening note of My Chemical Romance’s Welcome to the Black Parade.

The Narwhal’s reporters are telling environment stories you won’t read about anywhere else. Stay in the loop by signing up for our free weekly dose of independent journalism.

The first time Manuel Baechlin and I met over Zoom, he couldn’t stop talking about how much he loves Vox explainer videos — no, seriously, he talked about them a lot. I decided I’d interject and ask him why he loved Fox so much, and watched as the panic crept up on his face. Totally cruel, yes, yes, I know … but we spent the rest of the conversation talking about just how much we both appreciate a well-produced video that meets the moment. Now, I’m happy to say we’re colleagues: Manuel joins The Narwhal’s growing audience team as our first-ever video producer!

He’s a big coffee snob nerd drinker, and I lovingly chirp him every chance I get, given he’s replaced me as the youngest staff member. He joins our pod after producing some damn good journalism and other videos for CBS Mornings, Deloitte, United Way, Rowing Canada and more. How has he accomplished so much at such a young age? Well, he’s had his own production company since … high school. He’s keen on figuring out how to sustainably expand The Narwhal’s reach on our YouTube and TikTok channels, and meet new audiences where they’re at. What’s more? We’ve just published the first assignment Manuel worked on — the muddy history of the carbon tax and how it became so controversial across political stripes — today. Take a look below!

I chatted with him about his thoughts on video storytelling — and the film he finds “therapeutic in times of global turmoil.” Read on to get to know him, and if you have any thoughts on what kind of videos — explainers, news, nerdy-climate stuff — you’d want to see The Narwhal produce, drop him a note.

You’ve had a video production company since high school?! Tell me more about that.

I was very fortunate to attend a high school that offered special courses in video production, journalism and marketing alongside the typical Ontario provincial curriculum. Basically it meant I produced weekly mini films for the school and one episode per month for a local TV show. It was a lot, and yet I found myself intrigued by the stories I got to hear and the impact that sharing them had on the people around me. It seemed more exciting and tangible to me than, say, learning calculus. 

Sometime before graduation I was told about a film festival out in Vancouver, focused on climate change stories. I made a film with the stuff I had lying around, and happened to win. Perhaps that was the moment when I realized I could (maybe) do this thing. With the prize money, I bought my first computer and really started freelancing video and photo projects.

I started editing videos for YouTube, occasionally photographing events, and filming short documentary interviews. That quickly snowballed into more sustainable jobs with bigger clients.

How did that translate into your love for journalism?

Video stories can be excellent ways of bringing people together — but they can also be an excellent way of driving people apart … I lose sleep over how videos can be used to intentionally spread lies, disinformation and create chaos. I therefore felt it was very important to learn about the values (and shortcomings) of traditional journalism in order to respectfully, accurately and fairly do my work. Not to mention, videos are basically everywhere nowadays.

I discovered that darn good journalism is a great ingredient for making darn good videos and avoiding pitfalls. And I love making darn good videos. The two things go hand in hand. 

What’s a project you’ve worked on that you’re particularly proud of?

I spent most of my time last year growing my own company, Mabek Productions, which meant working with a number of different people who come from vastly different industries and have vastly different stories to share. 

Out of all of these projects, the one that comes to mind is a video edit I cut together for United Way East Ontario. It was about trauma and counseling. It was a privilege to get to hear the story, and be trusted with turning it into a video. 

What do you think good video journalism looks like? Who’s doing good work on that front in your opinion?

Good video journalism is not oversensationalized, it’s down to the point, it’s recognizing that not every story needs to be a video story, it’s filled with empathy, it uses animations to explain abstract things, it is transparent about facts and clearly identifies sources, and above all else it shows rather than tells (whenever possible). 

I’d be lying if I didn’t come clean about my love for Vox explainers. They were perhaps my single biggest source of inspiration for how to a) listen to an audience, b) structure narratives in video format, and c) animate stories beautifully.

There are dozens of amazing video journalists out there these days and I regularly find new things that pique my interest. I’m a big proponent of the idea that you can never learn it all — there are always new interpretations of how to use a specific video tool, how to structure a video story, how to navigate online interviews during a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic, etc. — and in my opinion it’s important to diversify and also keep an eye out for new trends. 

How do you want to bring that to The Narwhal?

At The Narwhal there are always important and interesting stories on the go, many of which are incredible opportunities for video. One of the big focuses for me will be ensuring that the stories we tell using video are consistent with the stories we tell in our amazing newsletter and on the website. One of the ideas I’m already thinking about is “how do we juice the orange” so to speak — how do we take something you all enjoyed reading, and dive deeper into areas that we might not have had an opportunity to unwrap yet. 

Think explainer videos, think key takeaway videos (where we might sit down with the reporter who did the research and ask some follow up questions), and think show-don’t-tell pieces like dynamically mapping a new pipeline project.

I’ve already begun working closely with our Creative Director, Shawn Parkinson, to brainstorm and animate key brand elements like our logo in videos. 

What was the last film you watched?

I (re)watched Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone the other day. I guess there’s something relaxing about childhood films that can be quite therapeutic in times of global turmoil.

What’s something about you that people would be surprised to learn?

I didn’t play traditional video games growing up, so I don’t know how to use video game controllers … I’ve tried to learn, but it seems totally hopeless. It’s a cool-not-so-cool fact that still surprises people on a daily basis. What does the X button do? O? That triangle thing? I seriously couldn’t tell you.

The Narwhal’s reporters are telling environment stories you won’t read about anywhere else. Stay in the loop by signing up for our free weekly dose of independent journalism.

It’s that time of the year — you’ll have to excuse the chipper Narwhal staff for the incoming good vibes: Ontario reporter Emma McIntosh’s big, beautiful Lake Superior caribou feature has been nominated for a National Newspaper Award! 

“This story snuggled into my heart in a way few of them can. From the wonderfully thoughtful people to the enchanting landscapes to the caribou at the centre, every piece of it has stuck with me,” Emma told me. “We heard from so many readers who were struck by it too. Which is fitting because support from our readers was what made it possible for us to do this reporting.”

The awards celebrate some of the best journalism in the country and The Narwhal is proud to see Emma’s reporting recognized among such esteemed nominees.

Last July, Emma and photographer Christopher Katsarov Luna spent four days in northwestern Ontario, making their way to the Slate Islands (and white-knuckling their way through some rough waters), where a few of Lake Superior’s last caribou remain.

Before colonization drew settlers toward extractive industries like logging and mining, caribou from different sorts of herds weren’t uncommon sightings. As the forcible displacement of Indigenous communities began, the harm to the natural world and all that lived in it — caribou included — began to unfold.

“There’s something so deeply tragic about what’s happened to the Lake Superior caribou,” Emma told me back then.

The story highlighted the tension of saving the last remaining caribou — something First Nations in the region have long planned for — who like to live in places rife with interest from extractive industries like logging and mining. It’s why Emma, whose family is also from northern Ontario, wanted to write this love letter to the last remaining Lake Superior caribou. 

“Every single little thing that allowed my family to prosper came from chipping away at their habitat — and that felt important to sit with,” she told me last fall, reflecting on her reporting trip. “It has made me wonder: what do we owe them? Once we start messing with the natural world — when it’s not really natural anymore — what do we owe the creatures that inhabit it?”

(You can read her award-nominated feature, with some stunning photography from Chris over here.)

The Narwhal will be competing with finalists from the Regina Leader-Post and La Presse in the long feature category. Congratulations also to Terry Pender of the Waterloo Region Record who is nominated in the investigations category, and with whom The Narwhal collaborated on a story about farmland development in Wilmot Township. Winners will be announced at a National Newspaper Awards gala in Montreal on April 25.

The Narwhal’s reporters are telling environment stories you won’t read about anywhere else. Stay in the loop by signing up for our free weekly dose of independent journalism.

Get the inside scoop on The Narwhal’s environment and climate reporting by signing up for our free newsletter.

When Prairies reporter Drew Anderson got his hands on some pretty damning documents about Alberta’s surprise pause on renewable energy projects, he became a kid in a candy store — one with many sweet treats to choose from. This week, his reporting won him a Sidney Hillman Foundation award in the local news category, which also happens to be a first for The Narwhal!

“I’m so grateful for the recognition of this work, particularly as it comes at a time when the provincial government is rewriting its freedom of information laws to prevent this kind of work from ever seeing the light of day,” Anderson said. 

“Drew recently told me how much he loves to be an annoyance to government and powerful industries when they try to keep secrets from the public,” Denise Balkissoon, executive editor of The Narwhal, said. “I’m so happy the Hillman jury is rewarding that energy.”

The Hillman Prize aims to honour and foster investigative reporting and deep storytelling in service of the common good, and Drew’s stories on the renewables pause certainly fit the bill. His work began in August 2023, when Alberta Premier Danielle Smith first said her government’s decision to pause renewable energy developments was, in part, a response to a request made by the province’s independent electricity grid operator. In May last year, after months of digging and filing freedom of information requests, Drew obtained internal emails that told a different story.

The documents showed senior officials were pressured to support the government’s decision “without reservation” — and that some staff at Alberta’s independent grid operator resisted, saying “We will not lie.” They set off a slew of breaking stories from Drew, supported along the way by Prairies bureau chief Sharon J. Riley.

The resulting articles uncovered what Hillman judges described as a “political landmine” — and earned Anderson the prestigious 2025 Canadian Hillman Prize in local journalism.

Hillman Prizes have been awarded since 1950 in the U.S. and since 2011 in Canada. Drew’s work is recognized in the local news category, with the print/digital award going to the The Globe and Mail for reporting on a listeria outbreak at a major food processing facility and the broadcast award going to the team at CTV’s W5 for “Narco Jungle: The Darién Gap.” 

Awards will be officially handed out at a ceremony on April 3 in Toronto.

Anderson began filing freedom of information requests as soon as the Alberta government announced a “pause” on new renewable energy developments in the summer of 2023. In the end, after 25 requests and months of waiting for the first files to land, hundreds of heavily redacted pages trickled in.

The resulting coverage was shared widely as many major media outlets picked up the story — CBC, CTV, Postmedia and more — and ran with it, citing The Narwhal. 

“By uncovering the truth and holding the powerful to account, these journalists are demonstrating the importance of investigative reporting,” Alex Dagg, Canadian board member of the Sidney Hillman Foundation, said on Tuesday in a press release announcing Anderson’s prize. “Their courage and dedication exemplify the very essence of journalistic integrity, and we are honored to celebrate their outstanding contributions.”

The Narwhal’s reporters are telling environment stories you won’t read about anywhere else. Stay in the loop by signing up for our free weekly dose of independent journalism.

Editor’s note: Zain Haq was deported on Jan. 26. On Jan. 23, Haq and his wife Sophia Papp told The Narwhal that Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada denied their spousal sponsorship application for permanent residency, without giving them a substantive explanation — which they say the department is legally required to provide. In a statement, the department said: “Every individual facing removal is entitled to due process, but once all avenues to appeal are exhausted, they are removed from Canada in accordance with Canadian law.”

Federal officials should intervene to halt the imminent deportation of climate activist Zain Haq from Canada, federal Green Party Leader Elizabeth May said on Monday.

“It’s globally precedent-setting,” May told The Narwhal. “No climate activist has been deported for so-called crimes that amount to non-violent civil disobedience in defence of the climate.”

Haq, a 24-year-old Pakistani national, has been arrested about a dozen times in British Columbia since 2020 for participating in non-violent acts of civil disobedience, including protesting fossil fuel subsidies and the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion. 

The Canada Border Services Agency revoked Haq’s student permit in 2022, making him inadmissible to Canada, alleging he wasn’t making progress on his degree at Simon Fraser University. (Haq has said the university supported him and that he was on track to complete his studies.) The border agency’s initial intervention happened before Haq pleaded guilty in 2023 to five counts of mischief, criminal convictions that Haq said were later included as part of the deportation order. 

A spokesperson with the Canada Border Services Agency told The Narwhal the agency can’t comment on Haq’s case, citing privacy reasons. The spokesperson noted foreign nationals must comply with study permit conditions, adding that “being engaged in lawful protest activities would not, in and of itself, render an individual inadmissible to Canada.”

Haq was set to be deported on April 22, 2024 — on Earth Day — when a federal judge denied his deportation appeal. Following community pressure, and more than 2,600 signatures on a petition urging the government to let Haq stay in the country, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Marc Miller stepped in to cancel Haq’s deportation.

May urged the minister to again intervene before Haq is forced to leave the country on Jan. 25. “Zain Haq is a wonderful human being and I would trust him with my life,” May said, noting her own arrest for a similar protest against the Trans Mountain pipeline in 2018.

May joined Haq, his lawyer and his wife Sophia Papp for a press conference in Vancouver on Monday, at which they also called on Miller and Public Safety Minister David McGuinty to act before it’s too late. 

“Let’s stand up for justice, for human rights, for democracy, and for climate justice,” May said at the press conference.

Haq and Papp, a Canadian citizen, are awaiting a decision by the immigration department on a May 2023 spousal application they made for Haq’s permanent residency. Haq said he has a ticket booked for Jan. 25, from Toronto to Karachi, Pakistan, but remains hopeful he won’t have to use it if Miller intervenes again.

“The thing that the government has to decide on is that if my deportation goes through, the kind of message that sends to my generation,” Haq told The Narwhal. He said it would signal “a lack of realization that the government can be convinced to take action on climate change.”

Neither Miller’s office nor the immigration department responded to questions by the original publication time.

Who is Haq, why is he being deported and how did he get where he is today? Read on.

Who is Zain Haq, and why is he being deported?

Haq, a Pakistani national and former university student, co-founded Save Old Growth, a campaign calling for B.C. to end old-growth forest logging. He has been arrested for actions including blocking a road in 2021 to the Vancouver International Airport, with the environmental group Extinction Rebellion, to protest government fossil fuel subsidies. He pleaded guilty to five counts of mischief, served a seven-day jail sentence and was under house arrest for 30 days in 2023. (Papp told The Narwhal she also was arrested for similar actions, but the stakes weren’t as high for her: “I got off with a slap on the wrist and paying a fine, and no criminal record.”) 

Haq also went on a hunger strike in 2021 to support protests against old-growth forest logging in the Fairy Creek watershed on southwest Vancouver Island, becoming part of the largest act of civil disobedience in Canadian history. He also made headlines when he went on another hunger strike to support ultimately successful efforts to persuade Simon Fraser University to divest from fossil fuels. 

Haq said his actions are no different than those of Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault, who was arrested in 2001 and charged with mischief for scaling Toronto’s CN Tower to raise awareness about climate change.

“I mean, there’s a sitting cabinet minister, the minister of environment, who was charged and jailed for the same criminal offenses as I have been,” Haq said.

Speaking to The Narwhal, May said Canada could be the first country to deport an individual for climate activism — which would also spell bad news for the environment. “So far Canada’s record, especially in this province of British Columbia, is not good,” she said.

“Holding on to Zain Haq … is an essential message to young people, climate activists and land defenders everywhere.”

Haq’s status in Canada has been in limbo

Haq and Papp married in the spring of 2023, and applied for a spousal sponsorship in May 2023. If the application is successful, Haq will become a permanent resident — but he needs to be in Canada to see it through.

When Miller stopped Haq’s deportation last year, he gave Haq a temporary resident permit. Haq has applied to extend the permit, which expired last October, so he can complete the spousal application process. In early January, the federal immigration department interviewed Haq and Papp about their spousal application, giving Haq hope. But then the immigration department couldn’t locate his temporary resident permit, and the border agency told him it would proceed with the initial deportation order.

If Haq is deported, his application for permanent residency under spousal sponsorship will be cancelled — meaning he will have to apply from Pakistan, a process he says could take three to five years.

Randall Cohn, Haq’s lawyer, told The Narwhal he’s requested a deferral multiple times — “just asking for time to figure out what’s going on with the missing application” — which the border agency denied. 

“I think that if it weren’t for the political context, this is exactly the sort of circumstance where [Canada Border Services Agency] would not bother to act,” Cohn said.

Cohn said there’s a strong precedent for foreign nationals who become inadmissible to Canada but who are living in the country with their spouses to request permanent residency under humanitarian considerations — which is what Haq has done.

Both Haq’s sentencing judge and a Canadian Border Services Agency officer said they don’t have any concerns that Haq poses a risk to public safety, Cohn said. “The idea that we have to get the minister, for the second time, to pay attention to this one person and give an order, especially when obviously he’s got other things to deal with, you know is, I think, unfortunate.”

Speaking to the press on Monday, May called Haq’s situation “a miscarriage of justice that looks to me like a pile of bureaucratic errors that allowed a deportation order to be revived at all.”

What’s next for Zain Haq?

Haq said he understands the debate about acceptable actions in the context of the climate crisis — but ultimately believes his activism was in line with Canadian values to protect the natural world. Pointing to the raging wildfires in Los Angeles and southern California, he said, “We can all agree that we are in a state of emergency.”

“And I think if we were deporting climate activists, despite their establishment and assembly in Canada, I think the message we’re sending is that it doesn’t matter how bad things get, we’re going to do what we’re going to do, and we don’t care how the world changes,” he said. 

May said she’s confident Miller and McGuinty will step in and stop Haq’s deportation again.

“I know and respect David McGuinty and Marc Miller and I love them,” May said at the press conference. “They are good men of integrity.”

“For God’s sake, Marc and David, stop this deportation,” she said. “I beg you.”

The Narwhal’s reporters are telling environment stories you won’t read about anywhere else. Stay in the loop by signing up for our free weekly dose of independent journalism.

Whether it’s her viral “Garlic Essay,” daily October rat cartoons, or witty queer ramblings (sorry, not sorry), the algorithm gods have always found a way to bring cartoonist and writer Gabrielle Drolet onto my social media feed. Ever since I was gifted her beautiful illustration of the Palestine sunbird, I also get to see her work offline. Gabrielle’s debut book, Look Ma, No Hands: A Chronic Pain Memoir, will be published in 2025  — and I can’t wait to get my hands on that too.

So when The Narwhal’s creative director Shawn Parkinson happened to mention that he’d commissioned some cartoons from her for our end-of-year fundraising drive, I was beyond thrilled to see them. 

I asked Gabrielle what it was like working with Shawn, and she said they ran into only one problem: the pair dreamt up more ideas than they knew what to do with. 

“Narwhals are such inherently silly and cartoonable creatures, and there are so many jokes to be made about investigative reporting that lend themselves well to narwhal characters,” she told me. “They dive deep! They expose dark underbellies! They spearhead stories! They’re swimming through a sea of sources! They look at more than just the tip of the iceberg! You get it.”

It seemed like a waste to only use these cute cartoons in our fundraising efforts — which you can chip in to support here! — so we put them all in one place for you to enjoy:

The Narwhal’s reporters are telling environment stories you won’t read about anywhere else. Stay in the loop by signing up for our free weekly dose of independent journalism.

Get the inside scoop on The Narwhal’s environment and climate reporting by signing up for our free newsletter.

Born into an army family in the south of India, Kevin Ilango got used to moving around a lot. He now recalls his young life as a bit of blur, a montage of scenes that add up to the extraordinary life of a normal army kid. 

“Some of the bits and bobs I actually remember are chasing snakes in the intense Coimbatore summers, learning to swim in Faridabad, shooting an AK-47 at the age of four and losing my way back from school in the Delhi fog,” Kevin recalls.

In a life of snapshots that tell a bigger story, it’s perhaps not surprising that young Kevin found himself drawn to creative pursuits. Luckily for us here at The Narwhal, Kevin’s family nurtured their young artist, who has joined our team for a three-month art and design fellowship.

Already, Kevin’s talents have brought a new dimension to our storytelling, including through dynamic illustrations of transmission lines snaking across northern Ontario and Okanagan apples blown from a tree in a gust of wind. 

I sat down with Kevin to learn more about the winding path that brought him to our pod.

What drew you to the world of art and design?

My mother’s youngest sister Vimla, a self-taught artist and educator, introduced me to arts and crafts when I was around five. She somehow figured out I would rather make drawings and paper flutes for the school play than spend the evenings kicking a ball around. 

We weren’t a family that really belonged in the arts, as my father went into the army life at a very young age and my mother’s dad was also in the army. Yet, from drawing pictures to braiding hair to writing a 250-page profanity-laden fan-follow-up to Pulp Fiction when I was 12, my folks were always encouraging me to be creative.

You’ve mentioned spending a good chunk of your formative years in the Czech Republic. How did that come about?

The location-inconsistency of my childhood came to a halt when I was 10 because of an unpredictable eight-year stay in the Czech Republic (now Czechia). The first three years were due to my father’s tenure as the defence attaché at the Indian embassy, and the remaining five were due to my mother’s role as an educator at the international school I attended and would eventually graduate from.

While my folks kept a strong relationship with India to make sure we don’t lose touch with our roots, experiencing a foreign land for almost a decade straight while having moved to different cities in my own country almost every year prior was a very abrupt shift, and I think one that turned me into a history geek that was always curious to know by comparing. It was a big deal for me to realize that the entire population of the Czech Republic was still just under that of the city of Delhi.

Of all the privileges that an international educational experience gave me (this includes getting to come out as a queer brown kid at a time when that was no doubt far more difficult for any of my friends in India), the one from Prague that still has ripples in my life and career was the presence of my history teacher, from Vancouver, who not only flooded me with extra credit assignments but also cultivated in me a love for film. Her knowledge of the city and general curiosity somehow over the years percolated into me through her teaching methods, and she always left me with the value of “challenging the assumptions of the question.”

When did you first see art and design as a career path?

I didn’t get to interact with art and design seriously until after my undergraduate degree in history, when I pursued a career in filmmaking and found myself assisting a film curator at South Asia’s largest film market, Film Bazaar. Getting to work on film catalogs, website content, marketing graphics and a film library viewing software, somehow reshuffled my goals for a creative career and I figured I found more purpose in graphic design. This led to studying art direction at a communications institute, followed by a stint in a marketing-comms firm, and eventually leading to a role as a graphic designer at a long-form narrative journalism magazine.

You worked at my favourite Indian magazine of all time — The Caravan. Can you tell me about some of the most fulfilling work you did there?

Working at The Caravan brought a number of fulfilling experiences, and some of which I hadn’t imagined would have a place in the world of journalism. For example, in my very first month I created four graphite portraits for a profile on leading figures of Tamil New Poetry, an underrepresented regional-language literary movement located in my father’s native Tamil Nadu. This was huge for me because I had never imagined this random skill (that I always felt belonged solely in the fine arts) would have a role to play in journalism, and yet simply because Tamil poetry and its makers had been so consistently disregarded in the national discourse of arts and aesthetics, a lack of photographs led to an opportunity to illustrate.

Being able to draw also allowed for a lot of rapid iterating for cover designs, preliminary sketches which helped in art directing commissioned illustrators, and also creating quick rough drafts for the illustrations I would contribute myself. Of this mix, illustrating Facebook’s shadow ban of Kashmiri activism following the abrogation of Article 370, portraying the Gond leader Heera Markam, animating the July 2019 cover “In Sua Causa,” getting to design experimental layouts for photo essays and creating the interactive web pieces for the “Modi Meter” were some of the most rewarding projects in my time there.

How can design help to elevate journalism, in your view?

I hate pulling from aphorisms to answer big questions like this, but here we go. One of my earliest mentors in advertising once very sharply demarcated art and design by stating that “artists talk to themselves, designers talk to everyone.” I know obviously these categories are blurrier in practice, but seeing the two disciplines as separated helped me understand something about the purpose design serves and what role it could play in journalism.

Not to harken back to my time at The Caravan once again, but because the very first issue I worked on focused on the MeToo movement in India, that is perhaps the clearest example in my head of how design supplemented journalism as it presented a unique challenge in how to design with an ethics of and a sensibility in representation.

The issue carried three long-form stories that detailed the accounts of women who had survived harassment and assault in their respective workplaces. Tanvi Mishra, the creative director at the time, made the unique decision to have only one photograph of the perpetrators in each of the stories, while the spoken words of the survivors would be used as enlarged pull quotes such that text itself would become the imagery. Beyond any beautiful branding project I had ever come across, this was the first time I had seen design go beyond making a thing look good. Design here complemented the ambition of the journalistic endeavour, the powerful were held to account and were the only ones whose faces the readers would come across, and the many individuals who had braved the expected patriarchal backlash, while all mentioned by name, were represented only through their words.

Speaking broadly however, journalism does not always produce solutions but it does the very important work of diagnosing, and it does this by engaging the public through imparting knowledge and inviting it to create knowledge together. It seeks to speak to everyone too, and together with design it does something I find very important: it produces something that is valuable simply because it allows itself to be accessed and understood by the greatest number of people at the time.

What excites you about being able to bring that vision to The Narwhal?

Getting to bring my approach to design to The Narwhal is a practice-shaping opportunity. The ethos of the reporting here prioritizes intelligently communicating critical information, but also life-affirming, uplifting stories. As a web-first news organization, The Narwhal is uniquely positioned to take advantage of new media formats in journalism, which I’m most excited to explore. Additionally, The Narwhal’s reporters really walk the talk with the organization’s tenets for deep dives with their beats, and that these can even look so different from each other. For example, Emma Mcintosh following the money in Ontario’s green economy targets, or Matt Simmons leading an online discussion about the future of B.C. wildfires. The Narwhal encourages both looking again and looking deeper, and I’m excited to see where I can bring elements of design to contribute to that.

Imagine, after a week of making beautiful things, you have a free Friday night. What’s your go-to?

Ramen and a melodramatic film. I don’t know why, because Ramen in Toronto is not the fried Ramen I was used to in India, but a good bowl of soupy noodles with egg, pork and bok choy, and my umpteenth viewing of Gangubai Kathiawadi really hits the spot.

The Narwhal’s reporters are telling environment stories you won’t read about anywhere else. Stay in the loop by signing up for our free weekly dose of independent journalism.

Atenas Contreras hasn’t worked at a library in more than eight years. Her home tells a different story, however: her books are all organized by the Dewey Decimal System. It’s that kind of attention to detail we’ve been blessed with at The Narwhal, with Atenas joining the pod as our director of operations and finance!

Hailing from Mexico City, Atenas moved to the unceded and unsurrendered territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and Səl̓ílwətaʔ (Tsleil-Waututh) nations seven years ago. Her organizational prowess didn’t just better the libraries she worked at, but also spanned the film sector — she comes to The Narwhal after having crunched all the numbers at DOXA, a Vancouver-based non-profit that runs an annual documentary film festival.

I chatted with Atenas to see how many cool and nerdy things I could find out about her — and learned about the celebrity memoir that just wasn’t shady enough for her. Read on to see what Atenas had to say!

What brought you to the journalism industry after working at DOXA?

I wouldn’t say it was journalism — more so The Narwhal. I knew of this outlet because I had been reading it for a few years, and when I saw the job posting, I was like, ‘Oh, I love The Narwhal and it would be pretty cool to work there!’

Answer this honestly: did you ever mistake us for The Walrus?

No I didn’t — they are different animals!

What are you most excited about in this role?

A lot of the job is, yes, numbers and finances. But there’s also operations and human resources. I’m really excited about making sure that this is the best place to work. I was told in the interview: ‘We just want to make The Narwhal the best newsroom for people to work at.’ And I thought, ‘Oh, that’s like, big ego,’ you know. But then it was like, no, that’s actually achievable. I want to make sure that everyone here at the organization is compensated fairly and treated well. And we are definitely on track to achieve that. I want to be part of that. I want to ensure this is a place people want to work at. And yes, the numbers — I’m gonna always make sure they’re in the black, never in the red.

What’s your favourite Narwhal story?

Steph [Kwetásel’wet Wood]’s investigation into Pacific Wild allegations caught my attention … it made me say, ‘Oh, you guys are doing good investigative journalism.’

What’s your relationship with the natural world like?

It was very funny, when I was having my one-on-one with Fatima [Syed], she said, ‘I think there’s two kinds of people that work at The Narwhal: there are the ones that love nature and just want to make you love nature, and then the ones who are like me, who admire it from afar. So which one are you?’ And, I mean, I love nature, but I have environmental allergies all year long. So, I enjoy nature from afar. I like going on hikes — maybe once every six months. Camping … is definitely not my thing.

I’ve heard you’re a board game nerd. Which one was the gateway game — and what are you playing now?

I almost feel ashamed to say the gateway game was Catan — like Settlers of Catan. It’s frowned upon by many people, but it’s also a classic and makes you feel smart — I think it should be respected! I just played Vinhos, a game by Vital Lacerda. He’s a famous game designer. He designs a lot of Euro-style board games. It’s about wineries in Portugal. You build your winery, hire experts and sell your wines — it’s really nice!

What’s a guilty pleasure you indulge in?

The Crown. I love The Crown — definitely a guilty pleasure. I also love celebrity memoirs. Although I haven’t read any amazing memoirs recently. Out of the ones I’ve read in the last couple of years, my favourite has been I’m Glad My Mom Died. One of my biggest book disappointments from 2023 was Britney Spears’ memoir. I was expecting way more shade than what I got.

The Narwhal’s reporters are telling environment stories you won’t read about anywhere else. Stay in the loop by signing up for our free weekly dose of independent journalism.

Pardon the extra chipper Narwhal staff this week — our not-so-little little publication has been nominated for three National Newspaper Awards this year! 

What’s more? They all showcase the potential of teamwork in the media landscape — all three nominations recognize partnerships with other media outlets and freelance journalists.

“We are thrilled to be recognized for our collaborations with many other talented journalists, alongside many more impressive nominations from other media outlets,” managing editor Mike De Souza said. “None of it would be possible without the generous support of over 6,000 Narwhal members who make this journalism possible — and help us tell some of the most important stories of our time.”

The long feature on the rematriation of a stolen totem pole to the Nisg̱a’a Nation, reported by northwest B.C. reporter Matt Simmons, IndigiNews editor Cara McKenna and photojournalist Marty Clemens was recognized in the arts and entertainment category. Matt’s reflection piece on learning from reporting mistakes — especially when it comes to decolonizing journalism — was part of our nominated entry. Their work was nominated alongside reporting from The Globe and Mail and the Hamilton Spectator’s Jon Wells.

Three pieces were included for The Narwhal’s nomination in the presentation/design category: 2023 photojournalism fellow Katherine Cheng’s photo essay on life along Ontario’s proposed Highway 413, freelance photojournalist Amber Bracken and Prairies reporter Drew Anderson’s dizzying bird’s-eye view of Alberta’s oilsands and what Ontario reporter Emma McIntosh had dreamed up to be a complete telling of the Greenbelt saga, brought to life with the help of freelance illustrator Jarett Sitter and Shawn Parkinson, The Narwhal’s art director.

That piece was also nominated as part of a submission from The Narwhal and the Toronto Star, with our combined efforts reporting on the Greenbelt earning a nomination in the sustained news category. Some stellar Toronto Star journalists who worked with Emma to uncover the Greenbelt scandal include Brendan Kennedy, Noor Javed, Sheila Wang and Charlie Pinkerton.

The Narwhal will be competing with finalists from the Toronto Star and The Globe and Mail in the presentation/design category. In the sustained news coverage category, the other finalists were from the Vancouver Sun/The Province and The Globe and Mail.

A huge shoutout to photojournalist Jesse Winter, whose harrowing images from the frontlines of Canada’s most devastating wildfires, published by The Globe and Mail (and The Narwhal!), were finalists in both news photo and photo story categories.

Winners will be announced at a National Newspaper Awards gala in Toronto on April 26.

The Narwhal’s reporters are telling environment stories you won’t read about anywhere else. Stay in the loop by signing up for our free weekly dose of independent journalism.

The Narwhal has picked up three nominations this year from the Webster Awards, which celebrate public-interest journalism across British Columbia.

“It’s such an honour to see this range of stories, from invasive species, to court case coverage, to community-industry tensions, up for awards,” B.C. bureau lead Lindsay Sample said.

“And I love that this kind of reporting is made possible by our members and donors who keep The Narwhal’s journalism ad- and paywall-free for everyone to read.”

Here are the three nominated pieces — make sure to check them out! The winners will be announced at a gala event in Vancouver in November.

Excellence in environment reporting

B.C. biodiversity reporter Ainslie Cruickshank’s feature on invasive-but-tasty green crabs takes a look at the efforts being made by non-profits, governments and First Nations to fight the destruction the crabs have caused and prevent further spread in the province’s waters. She learned that many of the green critters rot in a landfill — even though they’re edible — which is why some of the people she interviewed wonder if we should just eat the crabs, especially when inflation is driving up the cost of groceries.

Ainslie’s piece is in the running along with a series that looks at lessons on bracing for disasters in The Tyee (reporting led by our very own Francesca Fionda!) and a Nelson Star feature on the Kokanee Glacier.

Excellence in legal journalism

Speaking of Francesca: for 14 days, The Narwhal’s mining reporter was often the only journalist present in the B.C. Supreme Court as the Gitxaała Nation and Ehattesaht First Nation brought forward a case that could change the future of mining in the province. 

Her coverage in The Narwhal included four in-depth articles explaining the significance of the case and raising concerns of Indigenous leaders, the exploration industry, mining reform advocates, community groups and environmental advocates.

Francesca’s reporting is nominated along with The Tyee’s look into police violence that resulted in the death of a 27-year-old woman and The Globe and Mail’s examination of B.C.’s broken bail system.

Excellence in multimedia journalism

Breaking down the truth about pipelines crossing Wet’suwet’en territory — and charting their proposed paths — is no easy task. After many months of work (and with the help of our art director Shawn Parkinson) northwest B.C. reporter Matt Simmons explained the conflict surrounding the Coastal GasLink pipeline, visually.

With a comprehensive rundown of Wet’suwet’en governance structure, Matt’s piece challenges a talking point used by both the pipeline’s parent company, TC Energy, and the B.C. government — that all 20 First Nations are on board with the project. It also looks at how Coastal GasLink might be the first in a series of pipelines that will export fracked gas to the rest of the world, setting the stage for Wet’suwet’en territory to become an energy corridor.

Matt’s explainer is up for the award with The Tyee’s detailed overview of global disaster land grabs and The Globe and Mail’s profile of Canada’s surf prodigy.

The Narwhal’s reporters are telling environment stories you won’t read about anywhere else. Stay in the loop by signing up for our free weekly dose of independent journalism.

I can no longer see posts, stories or The Narwhal’s own feed from our Instagram account.

As some of you may know, I’m The Narwhal’s audience engagement editor and it’s part of my job to interact with readers like you about all of our award-winning reporting. So it’s a problem when someone blocks me from doing that job.

It’s not a quandary I’m facing alone; outlets like the CBC, Chatelaine, The Tyee, The Breach and others have recently written about similar experiences. “People in Canada can’t see your content,” a message reads, as part of testing being done by Meta to simulate what the platform would look like without Canadian news.

You’ve read all about it, but here’s the short version: Google and Meta have said they will block Canadian news content for readers in Canada — on Instagram and Google products like Search, Discover and News — in response to the federal government’s Online News Act, a law that requires tech giants to negotiate deals with news outlets and pay for featuring news content on their platforms.

This means all recent stories you might have read — Yukon First Nations adopting a youth climate plan; how an Olympic coach is teaching young racialized women to swim; or what causes wildfires — will no longer be available on apps you use most on your smartphones. 

We know people across Canada are worried. Not only have we heard it firsthand, but a recent poll by Angus Reid Institute suggests about 63 per cent of readers are concerned about what those smartphone apps, that are a part of so many people’s daily routine, will look like once the law comes into effect.

Even if you miss seeing us on your feed, we won’t go anywhere. After all, The Narwhal was born to produce in-depth environmental journalism in Canada — which can often feel dark and hopeless — to find hope and imagine what’s possible for the natural world.

And as this tug-of-war plays out, we haven’t lost that hope.

So how can you make sure you don’t lose sight of The Narwhal’s reporting?

• Sign up for our weekly newsletter (and tell your friends to subscribe, too!)
• Follow us on Twitter, Mastodon and Bluesky
• Follow our channels on Apple News, Flipboard or any other app you get your news from
• Add us to your homepage:

Have more suggestions for The Narwhal’s reporting to reach more people despite threats by social media giants? Email me at karan@thenarwhal.ca.

The Narwhal’s reporters are telling environment stories you won’t read about anywhere else. Stay in the loop by signing up for our free weekly dose of independent journalism.