Save Our Local News

Join the campaign to save local news:

Burnaby, New Westminster and Tri-Cities Residents Deserve OUR Local News

Join the campaign to save our local news
The “Fresh Four” Founding Journalists (Theresa McManus, Mario Bartel, Cornelia Naylor and Janice Cleugh) of the new cooperative along with UCI Managing Director Jonny Sopotiuk

The campaign to Save Our Local News is just getting started. We are united under one central principle: Our Local News Should Be Saved. And it should be accountable to community.

CBC News article. Title: "3 Metro Vancouver community news outlets to close as parent company cites 'financial challenges'".

The end of local news?

On Feb. 21, Glacier Media, the parent company to the Burnaby Now, New Westminster Record and Tri-City News, announced the closure of all three community papers due to “financial challenges.”

These important community services and institutions, which have operated for decades, are scheduled to permanently close their doors by May 21.

News article. Title: "Forming a co-op saved six Canadian newspapers from closing. Here's how they do business now"

Is a Community News Co-Op the answer?

In 2019, residents across Quebec were faced with a mass closure of local news outlets due to corporate cuts. Workers, readers and community members came together, formed a community-accountable news co-operative and saved six local papers. 

This victory provides a road map for our campaign to save local news in British Columbia.

Want to learn more about union cooperatives? Check out www.unioncoopbc.ca to get started.

Screen-capture from the Rideau Hall Foundation website. Title: "New Report Calls for Urgent Action to Save Local News in Canada"

Urgent Action Needed

A report released on Feb. 12, 2025 highlights the critical state of local news in Canada and proposes urgent recommendations to revitalize a key industry that plays an outsized role in Canadian democracy. The report emphasizes that public policy must not seek to preserve the media as we have traditionally known it but rather focus instead on innovations that will help sustain a flow of reliable information.

Help Save Our Local News

Add Your Name to Help

We are currently co-ordinating with the newspaper workers, community leaders, labour unions and funders across the Lower Mainland in British Columbia. Please sign up for our Save Our Local News Campaign form and mailing list. 

We are receiving a significant amount of inquiries, and our priority is supporting the laid off journalists and workers first. We will be responding to to all inquiries and sign-ups individually over the next two weeks. Thank you for your support for the campaign! 

Please e-mail us at [email protected] to get involved or for more information. Sign up to Join the Campaign Here!

We acknowledge our campaign is located on the ancestral and unceded homelands of the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓  and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh speaking peoples. Our campaign is committed to meaningful engagement, dialogue, and solidarity with Indigenous Nations, community organizations, and local residents.

This campaign website has been produced by volunteer and union labour from workers at the Union Cooperative Initiative.