Save Our Local News Campaign

On April 17, at 5:19 pm Glacier Media closed the New Westminster Record, Tri-City News and Burnaby Now.

Local News Journalists Mario Bartel, Janis Cleugh, Theresa McManus, and Cornelia Naylor received their layoff notices. These reporters have over 100 years of community reporting experience.

Like many communities across Canada, we are now facing a news desert in a region with over 500,000 residents.

Today, June 4, we're launching the Save Our Local News campaign with the Union Cooperative Initiative and Unifor Local 2000. We are inspired by the community campaigns that came together across Québec to save 6 local papers through a new cooperative model.

The first phase of our campaign is to raise $100,000. This fund will be used to support our 4 reporters and community leaders and build towards a fresh new local news paper with both print and online distribution this Fall.

This fund is being stewarded by the Union Cooperative Initiative, a non-profit solidarity cooperative in British Columbia, with the support of Unifor Local 2000. Proceeds will be democratically managed by the 4 founding journalists.

Please join the campaign at www.SaveOurLocalNews.ca or reach out to Jonny Sopotiuk, Managing Director of the Union Cooperative Initiative to get involved.