The Narwhal snags National Newspaper Award nomination for feature on lonely caribou

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.

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We’re investigating Ontario’s environmental cuts

The Narwhal’s Ontario bureau is telling stories you won’t find anywhere else. Keep up with the latest scoops by signing up for a weekly dose of our independent journalism.

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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.