The Narwhal is celebrating a deluge of award nominations and honours, as our non-profit newsroom is recognized in Canada and the United States for our dogged investigative journalism and our community-first, solutions-focused reporting.

In recent weeks, six journalism award programs have named The Narwhal as either a winner or a nominee, with two dozen honours in total!

Summary

• Canadian Journalism Foundation: The Narwhal, in partnership with the Investigative Journalism Foundation, is up for the prestigious Jackman Award. We also made the shortlist for the award for climate solutions reporting.
• National Magazine Awards: we’re nominated twice — in the investigative journalism and service journalism categories.
• Digital Publishing Awards: The Narwhal earned 11 (!) nominations across nine categories, including the award for general excellence.
• Canadian Association of Journalists: The Narwhal is a finalist for four awards across various categories.
• Nonprofit News Awards: we’re up for awards in two categories, for reporting led by Manitoba reporter Julia-Simone Rutgers, in partnership with the Winnipeg Free Press.
• Society of Environmental Journalists: the judges honoured reporting by The Narwhal with one second-place prize and two honourable mentions.

Two nods from the Canadian Journalism Foundation, including for its prestigious Jackman Award

Notably, the Canadian Journalism Foundation announced on April 17 that The Narwhal is a finalist for its prestigious Jackman Award.

The Jackman Award honours Canadian journalism that makes a social impact through courageous and original reporting, and northwest B.C. reporter Matt Simmons is nominated for his investigation into the BC Energy Regulator’s failure to enforce compliance with environmental and health regulations. Simmons is up for the award alongside peers at the Investigative Journalism Foundation, who collaborated with him on the project.

“Rigorous and fair reporting on oversight bodies such as the BC Energy Regulator is crucial to our democracy,” The Narwhal’s executive editor, Denise Balkissoon, said. “We’re proud that Matt’s efforts to hold the regulator to account have been nominated for one of the highest honours in Canadian journalism.”

We’re also on the shortlist for the Canadian Journalism Foundation’s award for climate solutions reporting. Freelancer Chloe Williams and photographer Gavin John earned that nod for their story about a bold plan to save the melting sea ice around Cambridge Bay, Nunavut.

The Canadian Journalism Foundation will announce the winners in Toronto on June 10.

17 additional nominations across Canada’s top journalism awards

The Narwhal’s work turned heads at the National Magazine Awards, Digital Publishing Awards and Canadian Association of Journalists awards— with a whopping 17 nominations between them.

At the National Magazine Awards, Drew Anderson’s dogged reporting on the owners behind some of the country’s biggest delinquent oil and gas companies scooped a nomination for the best investigative journalism. In the best service journalism category, freelancer Canice Leung’s story, “How to have your period in the woods,” scored a nomination for its informative and creative approach.

Over at the Digital Publishing Awards, we’re up for the top award, which honours general excellence in digital publishing. 2025 Indigenous editorial fellow Savannah Ridley is on the shortlist for emerging excellence. Our journalism is also nominated across seven additional categories:

• Best digital editorial package: Collision course: Animals killed on Canada’s railways, by Ainslie Cruickshank
• Best data journalism: Collision course: Animals killed on Canada’s railways, by Ainslie Cruickshank
• Investigative journalism: Our investigation, in partnership with the Investigative Journalism Foundation, about lax enforcement in B.C.’s oil and gas industry, with reporting led by Matt Simmons
• Best reporting on climate change: On solid ice: the plan to refreeze the Arctic, by Chloe Williams, with photography by Gavin John
• Best reporting on climate change: A new way to fight climate change: cataloguing the DNA of the Arctic Ocean, by Meral Jamal
• Best reporting on climate change: One year the ice is slushy. This year on the Prairies? -35 C with the wind, by Julia-Simone Rutgers, in partnership with the Winnipeg Free Press
• Best feature article: In the Rockies, more and more people are heading to the woods. Are we pushing animals deeper into the night?, by Sara King-Abadi
• Best online mini-documentary: Trouble in the Headwaters, by Daniel J. Pierce
• Best photo storytelling: Tiny birds, and their tiny superfood, could decline due to ‘irreversible’ effects of Vancouver port expansion, with photography by Isabelle Groc

“It’s so rewarding to see such a breadth of our reporting nominated,” said Balkissoon. “From hard-hitting investigations into lax regulatory systems in B.C. and Alberta to a sweeping, photo-rich story on Arctic ice to a practical guide to camping while menstruating — this is testament to the broad talents of The Narwhal’s amazing staff and freelance journalists. So is our Digital Publishing Awards nomination in the general excellence category. It all shows the reality that every story is an environment story.”

And the Canadian Association of Journalists has named The Narwhal a finalist in four award categories:

• Data journalism: Manitoba reporter Julia-Simone Rutgers and Malak Abas, reporter with the Winnipeg Free Press, analyzed and mapped the unequal impacts of a transit overhaul in Winnipeg
• Scoop: Matt and Zak Vescera, reporter with the Investigative Journalism Foundation, revealed that oil and gas giant TC Energy successfully lobbied the federal government to gain access to sensitive information gathered by Canada’s spy agency
• Labour reporting: Matt earned a second nomination for his investigation into sexism and gendered violence in the tree-planting industry
• Emerging Indigenous journalist: Savannah Ridley’s body of work as The Narwhal’s 2025 Indigenous editorial fellow earned her a spot as a finalist

Julia-Simone Rutgers is a finalist at the Nonprofit News Awards — twice!

Meanwhile, across the border, the U.S.-based Institute for Nonprofit News announced earlier this month that The Narwhal’s Manitoba reporter, Julia-Simone Rutgers, is a double-finalist at this year’s Nonprofit News Awards.

Rutgers is nominated in the community champion category for her coverage of Winnipeg’s transit system, which underwent a massive redesign in 2025. Winnipeg’s bus route shakeup was a topic of heated debate in the city last year, and Rutgers used GIS mapping software and other data analysis tools to deepen the civic discourse. Most significantly, her reporting revealed that the drastic route changes were not equitably distributed, and disproportionately impacted low-income neighbourhoods.

The community champion award honours reporting that makes “a significant contribution to the well-being of its community through a journalism-centered project or service,” according to the Institute for Nonprofit News.

Rutgers is also a finalist in the awards’ explanatory category for a piece she wrote making sense of the potential impacts of American tariffs on the agricultural sector. As U.S. President Donald Trump hurled tariff threats over the border last year, Rutgers cogently explained how a trade war would hurt farmers on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border, earning her a nomination for providing “insight and understanding of a significant and complex subject.”

Rutgers’ position is part of an innovative partnership between The Narwhal and the Winnipeg Free Press that sees our two outlets co-assigning, co-editing and collaboratively publishing her stories on environmental topics.

“Today’s realities of journalism funding in Canada mean local markets sometimes struggle to sustain deeply-reported journalism in their communities,” The Narwhal’s managing editor, Sharon J. Riley, noted. “Not so in Winnipeg — we’re thrilled that our partnership with the Winnipeg Free Press is bearing fruit and making in-depth environmental reporting available to audiences in Winnipeg.”

The winners of the Nonprofit News Awards will be announced during a ceremony in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on June 16.

Three honours from the Society of Environmental Journalists

The Society of Environmental Journalists also recently feted Rutgers’ work. The organization awarded her second place in the feature category of its annual awards program.

That prize recognized Rutgers’ on-the-ground look at the devastating impacts of hydro dam flooding in Indigenous territories, and how Cree communities are working to restore their lands in the wake of that damage.

The story was a “standout piece of solutions-focused storytelling [that] treats Indigenous-led conservation with respect and empathy,” judges wrote of Rutgers’ story. “It weaves Traditional Ecological Knowledge and oral history into a narrative that feels grounded and uplifting.”

The Society of Environmental Journalists also awarded a second honourable mention to freelancer Chloe Williams and photographer Gavin John for their story on the attempt to slow the impacts of climate change in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, by artificially thickening sea ice. Judges said their story did “a great job at centering Inuit voices in a conversation about geoengineering to save the Arctic.”

Northwest B.C. reporter Matt Simmons also turned heads at the U.S.-based Society of Environmental Journalists, where judges recently awarded him a first honourable mention in the beat reporting category for his ongoing coverage of energy politics in B.C. “Delivering stories like this requires reporters to go the extra mile,” judges said of Matt’s work covering B.C.’s energy industry. “These stories also had a real-world impact.”

“It’s no secret that journalists across Canada are working under increasingly difficult conditions,” Balkissoon said. “At The Narwhal, we’re lucky to have more than 7,300 members who donate regularly to make our work possible and a stellar team of dedicated journalists who won’t give up. Congratulations to all the nominees and winners.”

Updated April 30, 2026 at 2:00 PT: This article was updated to include recent award nominations from the Digital Publishing Awards, the National Magazine Awards and the Canadian Association of Journalists.

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.

Summary

• Narwhal reporter Leah Borts-Kuperman is one of three finalists in the investigative category at this year’s National Newspaper Awards.
• Borts-Kuperman’s journalism shone a light on environmental contamination issues at Canadian Armed Forces bases in 2025.
• The winners of the National Newspaper Awards will be announced in Toronto on April 24.

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A major investigation by The Narwhal’s newest staff reporter has earned her a nomination at the prestigious National Newspaper Awards.

Leah Borts-Kuperman, who wrote a series of stories about contamination on Canadian military sites for The Narwhal in 2025, is one of three finalists for the George Brown Award for Investigations, the National Newspaper Awards announced on March 20.

“The Narwhal was proud to publish Leah’s ambitious investigation,” managing editor Sharon J. Riley, who edited the stories, said. “And we’re even more proud of Leah now that her work has been recognized as some of the best in the country.”

Leah’s efforts to shine a light on contamination at Canadian Armed Forces bases started in 2024. She was following federal hearings of the Standing Committee on National Defence, and listened as former employees described health conditions they believed were the result of chemical contamination at their workplaces.

Leah knew this would be a challenging story to report, but she pitched the idea to The Narwhal anyway. What followed was almost a year of work. Leah parsed massive government databases, supported anxious sources to speak on the record, obtained government documents from confidential sources and tracked down experts to review the data she compiled.

The result was a deeply researched feature that foregrounded the experiences of Canadian Armed Forces members at CFB Moose Jaw as they fought for answers about their contaminated workplace.

One military employee told Leah she “took an oath that I would risk my life for what Canada stood for.” But she never expected that risk to take the form of carcinogenic contaminants in her office.

A few weeks after the first investigation was published, Leah wrote a follow-up article detailing the Canadian military’s plans to build housing on several of its bases that are known to be contaminated.

“Investigations such as Leah’s are labour-intensive,” Denise Balkissoon, executive editor of The Narwhal, said. “We’re grateful to The Narwhal’s 7,000-plus members, whose donations enable us to report complex stories with care, nuance and rigour.”

Leah wrote these stories as a freelancer. But she recently joined The Narwhal as our first-ever northern Ontario reporter, so you’ll be seeing her byline on The Narwhal a lot more going forward. She was only a few days into her new job when she learned of the nomination.

“I am grateful to the brave people who shared very personal stories to bring awareness to the issue of contamination on military bases,” Leah said. “And I’m determined and excited to tell many, many more important stories with The Narwhal now as a staff reporter.”

Leah is nominated for the award alongside two other finalists. Teams of journalists from Le Journal de Montréal and The Globe and Mail are also up for the prize. The winners of the National Newspaper Awards will be announced in Toronto on April 24.

The Narwhal is a non-profit news outlet that relies on readers to give whatever they can each month or year to make our reporting possible. This March, all new members will receive a Narwhal tote bag as thanks for their support.

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.

Across British Columbia, a growing number of Indigenous communities are developing sustainable power sources that balance local needs with environmental and economic concerns.

Freelance journalist Zoë Yunker, B.C. reporter Steph Kwetásel’wet Wood and Indigenous journalism fellow Santana Dreaver shared insights from their reporting for The Narwhal’s Generating Futures series at a public webinar on March 24. The conversation was moderated by Michelle Cyca, bureau chief, conservation and fellowships.

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.

If you’ve been listening closely lately — to global headlines, to the tone of public debate, to economic threats — you might be feeling a kind of knot in your stomach.

I’ve spent decades in journalism, including 17 years hosting CBC Radio’s The Current, asking questions that cut through noise to get at what really matters. And I can tell you: consequential moments like this demand more than quick hits and simplified answers.

They demand journalism that slows down, digs deep and refuses to lose the plot.

As someone who has spent a career dedicated to the public’s right to know, I am cautious where I place my trust. The Narwhal has earned it — through rigorous, independent reporting, careful, on-the-ground storytelling and a clear commitment to the public interest.

That’s why I recently joined The Narwhal’s board of directors, and why I’m writing to you today. This month, The Narwhal has set an ambitious goal: to welcome 230 new members to help sustain the kind of reporting I’m not seeing anywhere else. I hope you’ll be one of them.

Right now, across Canada, there’s growing pressure to move fast on big decisions: around oil production, critical minerals and the landscapes that shape who we are and what futures we can hope to share. You can hear it in the urgency of the language every day: build, expand, fast-track!

But when it feels like everything is speeding up, that’s when the larger context gets lost and accountability falls behind.

That’s where The Narwhal comes in. This newsroom is doing something increasingly rare: taking the time to report deeply on the natural world — on the land, the water and the communities most affected by decisions made in the halls of power or executive boardrooms. 

It’s why I’ve become a member myself. Will you join me and more than 7,000 others who chip in regularly to sustain this work? The Narwhal needs to add 230 new members this month to keep telling these important stories. And if you join now, at any monthly or yearly amount, you’ll get a Narwhal tote bag as thanks.

The stakes aren’t abstract. They’re all around us: in the ecosystems under pressure, in the watersheds that sustain communities, in the high-impact choices we’re making in the face of a changing climate.

Good journalism doesn’t tell you what to think. It gives you the clarity to understand what’s at stake — and the context to ask better questions and hold power to account.

That’s what The Narwhal provides for me. And it’s what your support makes possible.

If you’re able, I hope you’ll consider becoming a member today — for whatever amount feels right to you. Monthly or yearly, large or small, it all contributes to keeping this kind of journalism strong and independent.

Join this month at any recurring amount and you’ll receive a Narwhal tote bag as a small gift of thanks. But the real value is in helping to ensure high-quality, fact-based reporting continues — especially when it’s needed most.

In disorienting times like these, it matters where we turn for understanding. It matters what we build.

Thank you for being part of what we’re building here.

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 Ontario government wants to keep Premier Doug Ford’s communications a secret.

That’s the news the province squeezed in this past Friday as it revealed plans to “modernize” freedom of information (FOI) laws. The changes would block journalists and members of the public from obtaining documents, emails, call logs and other details from the premier, cabinet ministers and parliamentary assistants.

How significant would these changes be? In a word: massive. The move would slam the door on investigative journalism that was possible in Ontario specifically because these records could be obtained through FOI requests in the province.

Here’s just a sampling of investigative reporting The Narwhal has published that relied on these records:

• Our investigations into the Greenbelt scandal, which eventually prompted the Ontario government to reverse course on its cuts to the protected area (and went on to win the most prestigious journalism prize in Canada)
• Our coverage of Enbridge, which revealed its close relationship with the Ontario government as it pushes a natural gas future
• Our reporting on the inner workings on Ontario’s efforts to push ahead with Ring of Fire mining roads

This moment is a reminder of why investigative journalism matters. And we need your support now more than ever: will you be one of 230 loyal readers who helps us meet our budget by joining as a monthly or yearly member? Every dollar you give goes straight toward paying our investigative journalists.

The Ontario government might not want you to know about how and why decisions are being made. But our journalists are relentless in their quest for the truth. It’s why we give our staff the time to build sources and develop beats so that even when governments try to lock us out, we have the contacts on the inside to allow us to continue holding elected officials accountable.

Freedom of information isn’t just under attack in Ontario. Federally, there’s a proposal to exempt “routine communications” from being subject to FOI requests, which could include all emails.

B.C. is plotting changes that would allow public bodies to reject FOIs they deem too broad or that would “interfere” with the work of government. And last year, the Alberta government passed a law allowing it to suppress more factual information, more often, and to release it more slowly.

I’m here to tell you these government efforts to keep information out of view only strengthen the resolve of The Narwhal’s journalists. But we need your help: we have to add 230 new members this month to make our budget work.

Will you step up today to help us break stories you won’t find anywhere else? Bonus: join at any recurring amount and you’ll get a Narwhal tote bag as our way of saying thanks.

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.

Though she grew up in Saskatchewan, Santana Dreaver stood out when The Narwhal began looking for a B.C.-based Indigenous Journalism Fellow. For one thing, Santana had spent time at CBC learning the fundamentals of journalism through its Indigenous Pathways program, accruing bylines and skills. But she also had a passion for journalism and a clear vision of the kinds of stories she wanted to tell: centring youth, grappling with ecological disasters and industry impacts, and rooted in sovereignty and traditional practices.

Here at The Narwhal, Santana will be spending 2026 learning about in-depth feature writing and reporting, and telling stories from across the province. You’ll see her byline on IndigiNews as well, which is a partner in this fellowship, and she’ll be receiving training and mentorship from the Indigenous Journalists Association. Santana has already racked up a few bylines at The Narwhal — covering B.C.’s critical minerals push and the women leading natural disaster response across Canada — but we’re thrilled to formally introduce her to you. You’ll be seeing a lot of her in the year ahead!

What inspired you to go into journalism? 

There were a few moments growing up that inspired me to be a journalist. I must have been five or six when my photograph and interview made the local newspaper — a group of us from the Kinistin Saulteaux Nation went to the Tisdale, Sask., airport to go on mini-airplane rides. My grandma was the school receptionist and had the newspaper clipping hung up in the staff room. I remember feeling pride seeing it there. 

When I was eleven, I competed in the Saskatchewan First Nation winter games, hosted in Saskatoon that year. I won two gold medals in badminton, in under-12 singles and doubles — my first big competition in the sport. Between matches a news crew came to the courts and my coach told me to go and interview. Being on TV for playing a sport I loved made an impact on me. 

Lastly, I grew up around storytelling my entire childhood. Stories are how culture is passed down from generation to generation. As a Gen Z Saulteaux and Plains Cree person, journalism always felt like a modern way for me to tell stories and practise that aspect of my culture.

You grew up in northern Saskatchewan on Kinistin Saulteaux Nation, and you’re a member of Mistawasis Nêhiyawak. Now that you’re in B.C., what’s something you miss about the Prairies? 

Without stating the obvious that I miss my family, what I often find myself missing is open and quiet spaces. The Lower Mainland can sometimes feel congested for someone who grew up in rural and northern Saskatchewan. 

I miss my connection with the sky — thunderstorms, the bright sunlight nearly everyday, star constellations, moon cycles and the Northern Lights are harder to see with the light and air pollution here. 

Something I never expected to miss is being around bison. My community has had bison since I was a child, housed in the fields behind our house, and my appreciation for these relatives only grew the more I learned about salmon in Coast Salish lands, reflecting on my own values and culture throughout the years. 

You served on former prime minister Justin Trudeau’s youth council — what was that experience like? 

Advising the former prime minister Justin Trudeau and his cabinet for 2.5 years was a rewarding and challenging experience. In my personal life, I was branded as a Liberal when the position was non-partisan, and on the council I can say confidently I was one of the most vocal members to speak about issues affecting Indigenous people in Canada and overseas.

I felt immense pressure to use my access in government to push forward Indigenous Rights, and found myself wanting to quit from time to time. All of that said, I learned how to say the hard things when it mattered and my confidence grew realizing how much knowledge I carried forward to roundtables and consultations. 

Two highlights were attending an online safety symposium, surrounded by journalists and hosted by the Right Honourable Mary Simon, Canada’s first Indigenous Governor General, at Rideau Hall in Ottawa, where I ended up at dinner with people from TikTok Canada. The second was being invited to the Prime Minister’s Office for an invitation-only meeting following ongoing efforts to advocate for Palestine with fellow council member Ganiyat Sadiq.

You have a lot of experience in emergency preparedness work, including as an advisor to the Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness, and a board member for Preparing Our Home, which is focused on emergency readiness for Indigenous youth. What drew you to that work? 

Just before the pandemic I attended Preparing Our Home in Osoyoos, B.C., as a youth participant. I was supposed to fly to New York City after the gathering to attend a conference at the United Nations when the city declared a state of emergency, cancelling what would have been my first time at the U.N. 

While the cancellation was disappointing, I felt grateful to be in Canada during the outbreak of COVID, and it made everything I learned at Preparing Our Home stick with me as one participant spoke about pandemic protocols in her Northern Ontario community.

After moving to B.C. by myself in 2021, disaster after disaster happened in the province. I lived on my own and had no emergency contact at the time, so educating myself about the lands I had moved to and how to prepare for its potential dangers became critical when I realized no one else was going to do it for me. 

What are your favourite stories to report?

My favourite stories to report on are emergency management stories, anything related to the land and Indigenous Rights, governance and policy. As for my favourite story thus far, it changes often, but one that stays top of mind is an Okanagan salmon restoration story that I wrote for CBC. 

I could feel how happy everyone involved was, and it stayed the top story on the CBC B.C. website for a few days. I don’t want to associate ratings with a personal favourite story, but that shows it was a special moment in the province for a lot of people, including myself. 

You spent a year at CBC in the Indigenous Pathways program, but before that, you worked for Sacred Earth, an Indigenous women-led organization focused on climate justice and energy transitions. What did you learn in that role about the challenges of tackling fossil fuel dependency?

Working for Sacred Earth, I learned that governments in Canada subsidize oil and gas companies, not leaving much incentive for corporations to transition to cleaner energy methods. General misinformation about clean energy, and oil and gas being the status quo for a century in the country is also a barrier in tackling fossil fuel dependency. The start-up and maintenance costs of transitioning is also a barrier, especially in rural and remote communities. 

You’re spending all of 2026 at The Narwhal. What’s one story you hope to tell before you leave? 

During my time with The Narwhal I hope to tell stories that matter to B.C. First Nations people. I am always thinking about the land I reside on, how British Columbia obtained it and how I, as a guest, can be back in a way that feels good to me, which I hope to do with my reporting. Early on after moving here I learned about the concept of witnessing in Salish culture, and I hope as a journalist I can be a witness to what local nations are doing and comfortable sharing.

The Narwhal’s 2026 Indigenous Journalism Fellowship is possible with support from the Sitka Foundation. As per The Narwhal’s editorial independence policy, no foundation or outside organization has editorial input into our stories.

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.

Three years ago, our small, independent news organization made a very big decision: we were going to take the RCMP to court.

Now, we’re about to head to trial.

Here’s a quick refresher: photojournalist Amber Bracken was on assignment for The Narwhal in northern British Columbia in November 2021. Amber was documenting tensions over the construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline through Wet’suwet’en territory when she was arrested by the RCMP.

Amber was handcuffed, held in a cell for three nights and had her camera gear and photographs seized — all for doing her job.

We believe her arrest was a clear violation of her Charter rights — and The Narwhal’s. So we sued the RCMP to take a stand for press freedom in Canada.

And in one week, we’ll be in B.C.’s Supreme Court to stand up for what’s right.

This trial is running for five weeks in Vancouver starting Jan. 12. It’s about more than one arrest. It’s about defending the right of every journalist in Canada to report freely, without fear of police interference.

Here’s how you can stay informed and get involved as the case unfolds:

• Go watch our new video where I explain what’s at stake
• Share this page with your friends and tell them to sign up for email updates
• Come to the courtroom in Vancouver any time over the five-week trial
• Make a contribution to our legal fund for this case

Someone else’s rights were violated that day: yours.

Amber and The Narwhal were fulfilling our mandate to report on environmental risk, resource extraction and Indigenous Peoples’ varied approaches to stewarding their lands.

We were documenting issues of broad public interest, including the injunctions granted by Canadian courts that restrict public movement on behalf of private corporations — and how publicly funded police act when enforcing them. 

Much of Canada’s resource extraction happens in remote places like these. When journalists are arrested, it has a chilling effect on your right to know. 

The RCMP and the Attorney General of Canada draw on taxpayer dollars to fund their defence. But our case relies on extraordinary people like you spreading the word and chipping in.

This case has the potential to set a powerful precedent for press freedom across the country, not only for individual journalists, but for publications too. But we are a small, non-profit newsroom — and we can’t do this without you.

Over the course of the trial, we’ll share updates on this page and in our weekly newsletter. We hope you’ll follow along (and come say hi if you’re in Vancouver!). Amber and I are set to take the stand the week of Jan. 12, and there will be plenty of other important witnesses testifying over the next month.

Will you spread the word about our fight for press freedom today? Every single person who subscribes, shares and supports our case means so much to this little publication and our battle for your right to know.

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.

As 2025 nears its end, the team at The Narwhal is taking some time to reflect on the ground we’ve covered this year — and the distance left to travel on the road that’s still ahead. 

We’ve dug up stories about the natural world in all sorts of places, from back rooms in halls of power to fly-in communities in the Far North.

In case there’s a spot left on your holiday reading list, we’ve compiled some of our most popular stories of the year, from coast to coast to coast.

British Columbia

B.C. Premier David Eby recently said at a BC Chamber of Commerce luncheon that his government will amend the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act — a move one legal expert called “extremely offensive.” Reporters Shannon Waters and Matt Simmons told that story, which quickly became one of our most-read articles of the year.

Alberta

Prairies reporter Drew Anderson travelled to the rural community of Warburg, Alta., to learn what really goes down when senior provincial officials roll up their sleeves and speak with Albertans about the growing issue of old oil and gas infrastructure. (Spoiler ahead: one called the problem a “giant stinking pile of shit.”) The story turned a lot of heads — including that of Premier Danielle Smith, which Drew learned when he asked her about it a few days later.

Saskatchewan

Freelance journalist Leah Borts-Kuperman spent eight months investigating environmental contamination on a Canadian Armed Forces base in Moose Jaw, Sask., which staff say is linked to higher rates of cancer and other illnesses. The story was recently named a finalist for the best investigative article at the Canadian Online Publishing Awards.

Manitoba 

Parks Canada fought a costly battle to prevent the westward spread of invasive zebra mussels at Riding Mountain National Park — and lost. Julia-Simone Rutgers reported on what happened, and what comes next; it was our most-read story from the province in 2025.

Ontario 

Most residents of Ontario live fewer than two hours from Wasaga Beach Provincial Park, the province’s “summer playground” and home to the world’s longest freshwater beach. Fatima Syed reported on Premier Doug Ford’s plan to transfer most of the beach to the municipality, with unknown consequences for public access and a tiny, endangered bird. It was The Narwhal’s most-read story of the year.

We’re suing the RCMP to fight for press freedom

In November 2021, photojournalist Amber Bracken was arrested by the RCMP while on assignment for The Narwhal. So we launched a lawsuit to take a stand for press freedom. Now, we’re in the middle of our trial.

Quebec 

Prime Minister Mark Carney is eyeing a Port of Montreal expansion as a possible nation-building project — and the fate of an endangered fish found only in Quebec hangs in the balance. Freelance reporter Caitlin Stall-Paquet made Narwhal history with her story about it, published both in English and in French.

Atlantic Canada

Wildfire fears prompted a ban this summer in Nova Scotia, prohibiting people from hiking, camping or otherwise accessing the woods. Freelancer Jeremy Hull hit the trails to photograph and speak with Nova Scotians as the ban lifted. His photo essay was among our most-read articles from the Atlantic region in 2025.

Yukon 

A multi-generational fight to protect the Porcucine caribou herd entered a new chapter as the U.S. government renews its push for oil and gas drilling on sensitive breeding grounds. Freelance reporter Trina Moyles travelled to Old Crow, Yukon, to tell the story of the urgent race to count the herd as it faces mounting threats.

Northwest Territories 

A landmark Indigenous-led conservation agreement in N.W.T. will protect nearly 380,000 square kilometres of land and water — more than two per cent of Canada’s land area. Michelle Cyca reported that story for The Narwhal in July.

Nunavut 

The community of Cambridge Bay is in the Far North — even by Nunavut standards. Reporter Chloe Williams and photojournalist Gavin John spent five days there to tell the story of an audacious plan to save the melting sea ice and a way of life that depends on it.

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.

“Our team of investigative journalists dives deep to tell stories about the natural world in Canada you can’t find anywhere else.”

That’s how we at The Narwhal introduce ourselves, right at the top of our “about us” page. 

It means, in part, that we peel back the curtains in halls of power — revealing how politicians, corporations and institutions make big decisions impacting natural resources and landscapes. It also means, just as significantly, that we send journalists to the hard-to-reach places where some of the most important stories are unfolding, and would otherwise go untold. 

We take this commitment seriously, and won’t compromise on the stunning photography, immersive storytelling and in-depth reporting it takes to bring them to life. For example: 

Reporter Jimmy Thomson and photojournalist Gavin John travelled across Montana and southern Alberta for three days to tell the story of the Blackfoot Confederacy’s effort to restore free-roaming herds of buffalo on the prairie. It’s this kind of unique, gorgeous storytelling that The Narwhal does so well. This year it won the top prize for the best feature story at the cross-border Indigenous Media Awards, as well as the silver in the same category at Canada’s Digital Publishing Awards.

At the National Magazine Awards, photojournalist Amber Bracken’s compelling portraits of Fort Chipewyan residents in a fight for life downstream of Alberta’s oilsands took silver for the best photo essay and photojournalism. 

This kind of journalism is expensive and time consuming, and it’s the first thing that most newsrooms pull back as purse strings tighten. But as they lean out, we lean in. Our non-profit, reader-supported model requires that we make good on our promises.

Every year, nearly 10,000 people step up to support The Narwhal, each of them casting a vote that says: these stories are worth telling. Will you join them? Every dollar you give today will be matched — donate now to make twice the difference.

This year, we sent Gavin and freelance reporter Chloe Williams to Cambridge Bay, an Inuit community of about 2,000 people in Nunavut. They spent five days with people on the frontlines of the warming Arctic — and returned with an incredible story about an audacious pitch to bring back the disappearing sea ice and a way of life that depends on it.

Photojournalist Paige Taylor White made four trips to Joffre Lakes Provincial Park, north of Whistler, B.C., between April and September. She documented what the famous park looks like when it’s bustling with tourists — and also during a temporary closure, when the land was given a moment to rest and members of the Líl̓wat and N’Quatqua nations had a chance to reconnect. Reporter Steph Kwetásel’wet Wood joined Paige on two of those trips; they were the only journalists invited into the park to witness the reconnection period.

On Blackfoot territory in Alberta, journalist (and Kainai Nation member) Joy SpearChief-Morris reported on the first-ever Indigenous fire guardians program in Canada and Kainai Nation’s effort to restore the landscape in the traditional way, by embracing fire.

Your support means we can invest in more stories like these in the year ahead. We’re two-thirds of the way to our new goal of raising $300,000 this month to keep going. Help us cross the finish line? A donation today makes twice the impact — and qualifies for a 2025 charitable tax receipt.

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.

There’s something freeing about ending the workday and shutting off that professional part of your brain — or so we’ve heard. It’s not exactly our experience at The Narwhal, but many of us also wouldn’t have it any other way.

When your job involves reading, writing and sharing stories of the natural world, you can’t help but find glimpses of it all around you: whether in interacting with nature — The Narwhal team loves a good walk (and more rugged adventures that we won’t get into here, but do in our members newsletter) — or reading about it. 

Over a year of ups and downs in really every way possible, many of us found comfort and entertainment in books and, at times, gravitated toward titles that touch on the topics we cover at The Narwhal.

From toiling in vineyards to unearthing ancient Celtic wisdom on the natural world, these stories captivated us, and were a reminder of why we are so lucky to do what we do.

From our bookshelves to yours, here are a few books we read in 2025.

Wine 

By Meg Bernhard 

American indie press Bloomsbury bills its Object Lessons series as “a book series about the hidden lives of ordinary things.” In her entry on one of humanity’s most beloved libations, journalist Meg Bernhard pens a beautiful, personal meditation on wine and the complex cultural, social and environmental issues underpinning her favourite drink. Framed through her experiences being introduced to wine in her 20s and then working on vineyards in Spain, where she came to appreciate wine as both an agricultural product and an art form, Bernhard offers a fresh and surprisingly moving account of a centuries-old beverage. Weaving seamlessly between the intimate — detailing her family’s relationship to alcohol and the women winemakers who helped develop her palate — and systemic — exploring sexism in the wine industry, migrant agricultural work and the effects of climate change — Bernhard manages to combine memoir, travel writing and journalistic reportage to produce a book that is anything but a stuffy treatise on tasting notes and point scales (it may actually make you rethink the former). It’s the perfect gift for the wine lover in your life who cares about complicating the narrative and good writing. 

-Paloma Pacheco, assistant editor

To Speak for the Trees

By Diana Beresford-Kroeger

Orphaned at a young age, Diana Beresford-Kroeger was raised by her bachelor uncle, whose vast library — and quiet evenings spent reading beside him — formed her school years in County Cork, Ireland. She spent summers with her great aunt and uncle in the Lisheens Valley, learning the language of trees and their fundamental role in our existence, even after so much of Ireland’s forests were logged by the Brits. To Speak for the Trees follows these summers working with her Celtic elders and the earth, gleaning an incredible depth of knowledge from both. It continues as she marries this understanding with academic scientific study to become a highly recognized author, botanist and biochemist, now based outside Ottawa, and a leader in climate change solutions; if each person planted a tree a year for the next six years, we could heal the Earth, she simply notes. She closes the book with the Ogham script, the alphabet of the old Irish language with each letter corresponding to a tree — their essential role in our lives intrinsically written. It’s a retelling of ancient wisdom for a new audience that desperately needs to hear it.

-Elaine Anselmi, bureau chief

Black Bear

By Trina Moyles

Through all of Yukon-based journalist Trina Moyles’ reporting (some of it for The Narwhal), her deep connection to both rural and remote areas and the people and animals that live in them shines through. Black Bear, in a way, explains the roots of that empathy. Moyles grew up in northwestern Alberta in Peace Country, where growing up as a young girl, bears were an ever-present part of reality. But they weren’t the only threat Moyles — and other young women — learned to live with. “Our coming of age in a resource town in northern Alberta would require different survival strategies,” she writes. “I would learn how to fawn and please, but also how to physically fend off an attack and defuse threats — not only from bears, but from boys and men.” Her memoir is a beautiful tangle of interconnected narratives. To learn to survive as a young woman in a “hard-drinking resource town,” Moyles signed up for a self-defence course — taught by a conservation officer with a black belt in karate who had worked for the government to set leg snares for bears. But Moyles doesn’t focus on childhood alone. The book is about “coexistence with bears in the boreal forest,” and a reflection on what she learned from her dad, a bear biologist, along the way. Come for the bears, but stay for the heart-wrenching and personal story.

-Sharon J. Riley, managing editor

The One-straw Revolution

By Masanobu Fukuoka

A microbiologist and plant pathologist, Masanobu Fukuoka (1913-2008) turned away from “modern” agriculture in 1937 and looked instead to nature, learning how to grow food by mimicking natural processes using a method he called shizen nōhō (自然農法) — “Do-Nothing” farming. His 1975 manifesto is a practical guide to farming techniques and principles that helped spur movements like permaculture and regenerative agriculture — and it’s also a philosophical treatise on aligning ourselves to the rhythms of the land. Interspersed between chapters on rice cultivation, how to help soil regenerate its microbiome and the perils of large-scale commercial farming, Fukuoka offers moments of commentary on why he believes a return to nature is necessary. “Human beings are the only animals who have to work,” he writes, “and I think this is the most ridiculous thing in the world.” Instead, he suggests by attuning ourselves to the land to harvest only what we need to live, we are “simply doing what needs to be done.”

-Matt Simmons, reporter

We’re suing the RCMP to fight for press freedom

In November 2021, photojournalist Amber Bracken was arrested by the RCMP while on assignment for The Narwhal. So we launched a lawsuit to take a stand for press freedom. Now, we’re in the middle of our trial.

Gliff 

By Ali Smith

What begins with an homage to fairy tales — siblings named Briar and Rose are abandoned in a cottage by their mother and her boyfriend, and left to fend for themselves — evolves into a strange and lovely story about humanity and collective resistance. The title, Gliff, comes from a Scottish word for a fleeting glance or moment, and is also the name Rose gives to a horse she finds in a pasture behind the house. The siblings exist on the margins of a world like our own — everyone is absorbed in their phones and ruled by algorithms — but the sinister aspects of technological dependence and state surveillance have been cranked up a notch; by the end you’ll want to throw your phone in a lake. Ali Smith has an abiding and empathetic interest in outsiders, and an unparalleled facility for pleasurable wordplay; her sentences romp across vast green fields of meaning, offering an essential template for examining a troubled world clearly — and without losing hope. 

-Michelle Cyca, bureau chief

Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains

By Bethany Brookshire

Bethany Brookshire offers a thoughtful and engaging exploration of the relationships human beings have with the creatures that share our world, whether we want them to or not. What makes an animal a pest? Why are some venerated as wildlife and others pampered as pets? In most cases, those categorizations “aren’t about the animals themselves, they’re about us,” Brookshire writes. From pigeons to pachyderms — yes, some elephants are considered pests! — each chapter examines the histories, misconceptions and contradictions we hold about the animals we love to hate. You’ll learn at least as much about human nature and culture as you will about the critters we’ve branded as vermin for insisting on existing in the spaces we’ve claimed as our own.

-Shannon Waters, reporter

Nerve: A Personal Journey Through the Science of Fear

By Eva Holland 

What does it look like to face your biggest fears? And why do our brains get so scared? These are some of the questions that Whitehorse-based journalist and writer Eva Holland answers through her book Nerve. Eva’s willingness to let you into her brain as she navigates her mother’s death and how it connects to her crippling fear of heights makes for an incredible read. As do her efforts to overcome that fear, including from the tops of mountains. Like any good journalist (and one who has written for The Narwhal before), Eva digs into the facts and presents the science behind fear, making a compelling case for why we need fear in our lives and how to navigate it.

-Lindsay Sample, bureau chief 

The Best of The Raven

By Russ Rutter and Dan Strickland

While visiting Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario this year, I discovered a real gem of environmental science writing. The park’s newsletter, The Raven, has been published fairly regularly since 1960, and The Friends of Algonquin Park has produced anthologies of the newsletter’s best issues. I devoured these anthologies in 2025, drawn in by the accessible science writing, but also by the natural and cultural history captured by these archival newsletters. Read as a whole, they document a changing ecosystem, covering, for example, the collapse of Algonquin’s deer population in the mid-20th century. The newsletters also describe the shifting ways humans have engaged with nature in the park; I was intrigued to learn that before those deer disappeared, they would congregate on the shoulder of Highway 60 and eat from the hands of park visitors. These Raven anthologies are a great read for any lover of Algonquin Park. As for my next discovery, I was recently tipped off to the existence of The Crow, a parody of The Raven produced by park employees in the 1970s and available to view at the Algonquin archives!

-Will Pearson, assistant editor

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.

When Carol Linnitt and Emma Gilchrist founded The Narwhal, seven years ago, they made a (some would say quite risky!) bet. Canada’s non-profit news sector was essentially non-existent, and they took that as a challenge and an opportunity to build something different.

In 2021 The Narwhal became the first English-language registered journalism organization in Canada. As a result, we can issue charitable tax receipts — but our status as an independent non-profit means so much more than that.

In a nutshell: we’re accountable to you, our readers — not advertisers or shareholders.

For that reason, an important way we measure our success is by the impact our journalism makes out in the real world — and it all starts with readers who chip in whatever they can to keep our publication going.

I’m proud to say 2025 was another terrific year for The Narwhal, and how our reporting rippled out across the country.

We helped fill news gaps in small markets, partnered with CBC and saw our work republished in scores of outlets, from Turtle Island News to the Vancouver Sun. We heard from educators who used our articles to explain development and resource extraction to students, or invited our reporters to come speak with them directly.

Most importantly, our journalism was used by communities across the country to demand better from politicians and corporations — equipping citizens with the information they need to hold power to account.

Here’s an example: in September, Carl Meyer reported on the boundaries of a protected area in Ontario being altered to allow development. The story about Port Hope prompted a letter to the Minister of Natural Resources from Alderville First Nation and dozens of other groups and individuals, asking that the decision be reversed. 

One of Carl’s sources wrote to say, “The municipality seems willing to speak to us now, possibly because some electronic media shone a little light on them and politicians prefer darkness.”

Will you help us shine a light in more dark corners in 2026? Join the 760 and counting who have already stepped up to have their donations matched, dollar for dollar, this December.

Over in Manitoba, Julia-Simone Rutgers has written story after story that had a meaningful effect on city politics, published jointly by The Narwhal and the Winnipeg Free Press.

For one of them, Julia-Simone and Free Press reporter Malak Abas produced a data-driven look at how altered bus routes affected the city’s lowest-income residents most. It was used by Coun. Sherri Rollins to ask city staff for a review of the route changes — as well as to “immediately cease communications that dismiss neighbourhood concerns.”  

“Your reporting has been invaluable,” Rollins wrote to us.

And in Alberta, reporter Drew Anderson won the prestigious Hillman Prize for uncovering the truth about how the provincial government decided to pause renewable energy projects. Drew is so insistent, he seemingly spurred the government to tighten its freedom-of-information laws — which hasn’t stopped him from pursuing crucial public-interest stories.

This year, Drew’s stories on Alberta’s decision to allow cougar hunting in parks was included in a request to the ethics commissioner to investigate claims of inappropriate conduct and conflict of interest by Forestry and Parks Minister Todd Loewen. And his consistent focus on old oil and gas wells — left languishing on private property, or cleaned up on the public dime — forced Premier Danielle Smith to respond to questions on the issue at a press conference.

I could go on bragging about the ways Narwhal reporters are making a difference through their work, but we’d be here all day! It’s been a fulfilling year of taking risks, celebrating communities and producing meaningful journalism that holds those in power accountable. 

One last thing that makes The Narwhal different: nearly 80 per cent of our budget goes directly to paying the journalists who do this digging. That’s the inverse of some traditional newspaper businesses, which spend as little as 20 per cent on producing the actual journalism, according to a 2021 report on international press trends.

We can only do this because of the nearly 10,000 of you who support this work every year, allowing us to keep putting people before profit. Will you chip in what you can to help us raise $200,000? This December, your dollar goes twice as far!

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.