The Narwhal

DRIPA, Indigenous Guardians, the second-sunniest province and more: May in review Another month has come and gone. Here’s @lmbaechlin.bsky.social highlighting some of our top stories.

Freelance photographer Tim Smith set out on a mission to document some of nature's hardest working insects — bees. Canada is home to more than 800 species of wild bees, but they're under threat from pesticides, invasive species and climate change.

A malfunctioning LNG terminal, orphan wells, Who Pays? and more: April in review It’s been a busy month for reporters at The Narwhal. Here’s @lmbaechlin.bsky.social highlighting some of our top stories.

A developer is proposing to reopen and expand a shuttered resort in Kananaskis Country — a beloved area of Alberta’s Rocky Mountains. The project faces resistance over its potential to further deplete water resources in the drought-stricken region. Read here: thenarwhal.ca/fortress-mou...

Members of the Blood Tribe, also known as the Kainai Nation, are restoring the land in the traditional way, for the first time in decades: by embracing fire. Freelance journalist Joy SpearChief-Morris and photographer Gavin John visited the nation for four days to witness their cultural burn.

Floods, renewables, endangered species and more: March in review It’s been a busy month for reporters at The Narwhal. Here’s @lmbaechlin.bsky.social highlighting some of our top stories.

The Ontario government is proposing changes that would allow provincial ministers and Premier Doug Ford to evade accountability. It centres on freedom of information (FOI) legislation, and it matters a lot — to us, and to you. @elaineanselmi.bsky.social explains. #onpoli

Alberta is dreaming big. $100-billion big. And developers are keen to build. Prairies reporter @drewanderson.bsky.social explains the push for AI data centres in the province. #ai #abpoli #alberta

The war with Iran is making oil prices fluctuate wildly. What does this all mean for Alberta, a province whose budget sinks or swims on the price of a barrel? What does it mean for Canada as a whole? Could this fresh chaos cause countries to re-evaluate their dependence on oil?

AI data centres, the Ring of Fire and more. It’s been a busy month for reporters at The Narwhal. Here’s @lmbaechlin.bsky.social with our first-ever news summary video, highlighting some of our stories.

LNG Canada’s facility in Kitimat, B.C., burned more than 1.7 million cubic metres of gas on a single day in September. While that day was an outlier, documents obtained through a freedom of information request reveal the facility consistently burned 15 times more gas per day than expected.

Carol Linnitt, co-founder and editor-in-chief, provides an update on The Narwhal’s court case against the RCMP. Amber Bracken finished cross-examination late Jan. 28. It took more than 12 hours. To learn more about the trial visit www.thenarwhal.ca/press-freedom

Ontario’s public service employees are back in the office as of January 2026, a change from a pandemic-era policy that offered flexible workday structures. @fatimabsyed.bsky.social explains:

We’re fighting for our right to report — and your right to know. Learn more as our trial against the RCMP begins Monday.

B.C. is flooding, again. We explain #bcflooding #floods

Trains regularly hit and kill wildlife across Canada. How big of a problem is it? @ainsliecruickshank.bsky.social explains what the data does — and doesn’t — tell us. #wildlife

We’ve got a better idea for Black Friday… Will you swim against the consumer current this week? Our independent journalism is made possible by people like you — and we need to add 400 members to meet our 2025 goal. Join today and we’ll send you a Narwhal toque! thenarwhal.ca/black-friday/

B.C. says 1950s-style clear-cut logging isn’t happening anymore. Is that true? @sobittersosweet.bsky.social explains #clearcutlogging

Piping plovers — tiny, lively and endangered birds — have visited Wasaga Beach every summer since 2007. But things may be changing — and what happens here could be a sign of what’s to come elsewhere in Ontario. #endangeredspecies #wasagabeach

Any Ontario minister in Doug Ford’s government could soon have the power to create law-free zones — and decide what gets built there. Ontario reporter @fatimabsyed.bsky.social explains:

Join @sevawood.bsky.social reporting in the field from Bella Bella, a #Heiltsuk village on the central coast of British Columbia.

Indigenous leaders and youth took the stage at Neil Young’s concert in Burnaby, B.C., on Monday to oppose the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission pipeline. #neilyoung #prgt #bcpoli

Chef Michael Smith once saw “organic” as the shining light on the hill, but now he says it is barely a starting line. Have you read our Moose Questionnaire with Smith yet? Check out the full convo here: thenarwhal.ca/moose-questi...

Chef Michael Smith keeps coming back home to P.E.I. — a place that he finds awe-inspiring not just for its beautiful patchwork quilt, but “through coming to understand the communities within it.” We spoke to him about this and more for our latest Moose Questionnaire!

In May, we headed to Cambridge Bay, Nvt., to speak with community members and researchers from the company Real Ice. The big idea: to drill holes into Arctic ice and pump seawater to the surface to make the sea ice thicker and potentially combat the effects of global warming.

How do you reach people who don’t believe in climate change? ShawtyAstrology wants to try. Read our full Moose Questionnaire over on our website thenarwhal.ca/moose-questi...

Two families of beavers live in Vancouver’s Stanley Park. We wanted to find out more 🦫 #stanleypark #beavers

Some people say Indigenous Rights are “racist” and give one racial group special privileges over another. But rights are based on membership in a nation, not race. @michellecyca.com explains.

“Ducks are very cute,” ShawtyAstrology says. Fish on the other hand … check out our Moose Questionnaire with Maryaam Lewis-Herber! #kissmarrykill #moosequestionnaire

Canada pledged to protect 30 per cent of lands and waters by 2030. Indigenous-led conservation is key to meeting that goal — here’s how #indigenousconservation #indigenoussovereignty

What’s going on around Grand Forks, B.C.? In 2018, devastating floods displaced more than 100 families — and the threat of more floods remains. Trouble in the Headwaters is a short doc exploring the upstream impacts of industrial clearcut logging in the Kettle River watershed. Stay tuned 📽️

The Thunder Bay waterfront is beautiful and expansive — but also deeply polluted. @fatimabsyed.bsky.social‬ got a first-hand look at a massive, decades-long effort to clean up this Great Lake shoreline. #thunderbay #greatlakes

Why are we seeing wildfires already? What causes them? @drewanderson.bsky.social explains:

How can we limit damage from disasters like the 2024 Toronto floods? Well, we could expand our drainage systems … but there’s an even easier solution. #torontofloods #flooding

North of North’s Anna Lambe is open to people growing. She’ll even educate them — as long as they respect her humanity and culture. #annalambe #northofnorth #moosequestionnaire

A beetle, ash trees and basketmaking. We partnered with @duncanmccue.bsky.social's Reporting in Indigenous Communities class at Carleton University for a story about one Mohawk community’s fight to protect black ash trees and a long tradition of basketmaking from the invasive emerald ash borer.

There’s nothing inherently “critical” about critical minerals. #indigenousrights Read more: @zoeyunker.bsky.social on B.C. fast-tracking mining projects: thenarwhal.ca/bc-critical-... @ainsliecruickshank.bsky.social on Gibraltar mine’s expansion plans: thenarwhal.ca/bc-no-enviro...

We asked North of North’s Anna Lambe which animals she would kiss, marry and kill. Here’s what she said: Check out the full story here thenarwhal.ca/moose-questi...

What’s in a name? Well, a lot. We dive into the origin story of the carbon tax a.k.a. the carbon pricing system a.k.a. the fuel charge. #carbontax #cdnpoli #election Watch the full video on YouTube, and our website: thenarwhal.ca/video-carbon...

North of North star Anna Lambe has, uhh, been pretty far north We chatted with her about *all the things* for our latest Moose Questionnaire — check out the full story here: thenarwhal.ca/moose-questi...