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Photo: Ryan Wilkes / The Narwhal

How narwhals change the ecosystem

Our readers power journalism about the natural world that goes the extra mile to embrace complexity. Will you become a member of The Narwhal today to help us reach our September goal?

Wanna know a secret? The dream for The Narwhal grew out of frustration. A lot of frustration. 

Why were there so many business reporters in Canada and so few environment reporters? Why did so much media coverage of the natural world fail to foster greater understanding of issues, instead further polarizing Canadians? Why were the voices of people impacted the most by changes to the natural world so often left out of stories?

We believed journalism about the natural world could be riveting, beautiful and embrace complexity. And, as it turns out, so did you — and hundreds of thousands of other readers. But we’re 182 members short of our budget target for September — and we need you to join us.

I’m reminded of the impact our members make as we mark the one-year anniversary of The Narwhal’s crackerjack Ontario bureau. Our team has produced more than 100 stories and filed nearly as many access to information requests this past year, resulting in the release of previously secret documents that revealed risks to wetlands, waterways and endangered species. The most notable thing though might be how the mere introduction of The Narwhal to the Ontario media world has changed the ecosystem. 

“At first, we were often the only journalists in the room to really press ministers about the environment,” reporter Emma McIntosh told me. “Over time I’ve noticed that just by being there, we spark interest from other outlets — those reporters see the importance of the questions we’re asking and start following up on them as well, resulting in more environmental and energy coverage than we saw before.”

And it’s not just in Ontario: our reporters across the Prairies and B.C. are bringing climate and environment issues to the forefront — and we need your support to keep moving the needle.

In the past few months alone, we’ve collaborated with The Guardian, the Toronto Star, the Winnipeg Free Press and The Local for in-depth and investigative pieces, while our work has been referenced by outlets including CBC, The Globe and Mail and Politico.

The power of The Narwhal is to expand the boundaries of what’s possible — and what’s expected of all news organizations. 

We can only do this work because roughly one in 30 readers makes the leap to give what they can to support our work, and we need 182 of you to join us this month.

Thanks for helping us change what’s possible.

Emma Gilchrist
Editor-in-chief

Headshot of Emma Gilchrist

P.S. We’re running up against a September deadline to make our budget numbers add up. Will you be one of 182 who step up today to chip in what you can to support independent journalism?

Another year of keeping a close watch
Here at The Narwhal, we don’t use profit, awards or pageviews to measure success. The thing that matters most is real-world impact — evidence that our reporting influenced citizens to hold power to account and pushed policymakers to do better.

And in 2024, our stories were raised in parliaments across the country and cited by citizens in their petitions and letters to politicians.

In Alberta, our reporting revealed Premier Danielle Smith made false statements about the controversial renewables pause. In Manitoba, we proved that officials failed to formally inspect a leaky pipeline for years. And our investigations on a leaked recording of TC Energy executives were called “the most important Canadian political story of the year.”

As the year draws to a close, we’d like to thank you for paying attention. And if you’re able to donate anything at all to help us keep doing this work in 2025 — which will bring a whole lot we can’t predict — thank you so very much.

Will you help us hold the powerful accountable in the year to come by giving what you can today?
Another year of keeping a close watch
Here at The Narwhal, we don’t use profit, awards or pageviews to measure success. The thing that matters most is real-world impact — evidence that our reporting influenced citizens to hold power to account and pushed policymakers to do better.

And in 2024, our stories were raised in parliaments across the country and cited by citizens in their petitions and letters to politicians.

In Alberta, our reporting revealed Premier Danielle Smith made false statements about the controversial renewables pause. In Manitoba, we proved that officials failed to formally inspect a leaky pipeline for years. And our investigations on a leaked recording of TC Energy executives were called “the most important Canadian political story of the year.”

As the year draws to a close, we’d like to thank you for paying attention. And if you’re able to donate anything at all to help us keep doing this work in 2025 — which will bring a whole lot we can’t predict — thank you so very much.

Will you help us hold the powerful accountable in the year to come by giving what you can today?

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Cartoon title: Risks of reading The Narwhal. Illustration of a woman sitting with a computer that has a Narwhal sticker on a park bench. A narwhal sitting next to her reads her computer screen over the shoulder. Text reads: "Wait — the government did WHAT?"
More than 800 readers have already stepped up in December to support our investigative journalism. Will you help us break big stories in 2025 by making a donation this holiday season?
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Every new member between now and midnight Friday will have their contributions doubled by two generous donors.
Let’s match
Cartoon title: Risks of reading The Narwhal. Illustration of a woman sitting with a computer that has a Narwhal sticker on a park bench. A narwhal sitting next to her reads her computer screen over the shoulder. Text reads: "Wait — the government did WHAT?"
More than 800 readers have already stepped up in December to support our investigative journalism. Will you help us break big stories in 2025 by making a donation this holiday season?