listen to my pals @emmaarkell.bsky.social and @davidpball.bsky.social talk about our new co-op, @defacto-ca.bsky.social! we're trying to do things differently in an industry that desperately needs things to be done differently. check out our first story: www.defactomedia.ca/vpd-immigrat...

NEW: On May Day, @defacto-ca.bsky.social publicly launched with a mission to investigate law, justice & systemic issues in Canada. @emmaarkell.bsky.social & @davidpball.bsky.social join The North State to talk about launching a co-op outlet, their mission & how they can fill important reporting gaps

Bombshell investigation by my colleagues @godfrey.bsky.social and @emmaarkell.bsky.social: VPD calls to CBSA to check people's immigration status (even without crime) skyrocketed just after Vancouver's new mayor&council assumed office. Privileged to have edited this file. Please give it a read! 👇

Since the strike in Nova Scotia's long-term care homes started 3+ weeks ago, the province's minister of LTC has said she hears from workers who don't know what's in the gov's offer everyday. “Our workers have seen the deal, and they did vote — they voted to strike,” said a union rep I spoke to.

Our first investigation is nearly two years in the making, as our reporters @godfrey.bsky.social and @emmaarkell.bsky.social began digging into this story in mid-2024, starting with questions about a TransLink fare evasion enforcement blitz. www.defactomedia.ca/vpd-immigrat...

new from me and @emmaarkell.bsky.social: VPD calls to CBSA for immigration status checks skyrocketed in 2023. lawyers and advocates say VPD may check a person's immigration status, regardless of whether the person is accused of a crime — or even a victim of a crime.

EXCLUSIVE: In 2023, Vancouver Police Department calls to border enforcement for immigration status checks increased 80% compared to 2022. Even without a pandemic-related drop in 2020-22, the 476 calls in 2023 mark a 40% increase compared to 2014-19. www.defactomedia.ca/vpd-immigrat...

Today is World Press Freedom Day. True press freedom requires freedom of information. But in recent years, governments have shrunk access to info the public deserves, and cuts to newsrooms have shrunk the time & resources that journalists need to rigorously report that info.

AI produces MORE editorial labor, not less. “[To weed out slop] the journal doubled its deputy editors from 6 to 11 & nearly doubled its sr editors from roughly 30 to 60. All of this is volunteer labor, unpaid academics donating time to maintain scientific quality.“ www.forbes.com/sites/johndr...

Yesterday we unveiled De Facto, a co-op of journalists shining a light on power Within hours a community of supporters stepped up to back our dream In just a day, we passed $2K for hard-hitting journalism, 96% of it in dependable recurring donations. Thank you so much! www.defactomedia.ca/welcome

Israel's main mouthpiece in Canada was literally all over the news influencing Canadian public opinion this week, but ok yeah, China and India are the biggest threats.

A spokesperson for a group trying to break the Israeli navy blockade of Gaza to deliver aid says two Canadians who were detained by Israel in the Mediterranean Sea have been released. 

Cool people doing cool, meaningful, much-needed things! Super psyched to see this co-op launch 🚀

IT'S ALIVE! I'm grateful to be a co-founder of De Facto @defacto-ca.bsky.social, a project born out of how difficult it is to make a living in journalism. Follow us for investigations into law enforcement, prisons, immigration and more. I've got one with @godfrey.bsky.social dropping on Monday!

HI HELLO happy International Workers' Day! i'm so excited to say this is finally happening! After so much time and energy with these wonderful friends, we're launching our non-profit worker-owned co-operative to do journalism the way we want to do journalism.

This has been a long time coming. Join me and this rockstar team of journalists as we take charge of our own workplace. Our 1st article series launches on Monday with an investigation from @godfrey.bsky.social and @emmaarkell.bsky.social that we think will anger you into action. Sign up & follow!

Health research funding in BC has been gutted, and I'm feeling an existential panic about it. Without Michael Smith's Scholar and Health Professional-Investigator programs, I really don't see how early-career health researchers can establish themselves in this province. Truly, truly bleak.

507 dead in 2024, and nearly 1,700 since 2021. Difficult stats to comprehend in a moment when the provincial government is backing off affordable housing investment.

Our newspaper is out tomorrow! Here's where you can pick up a copy in Burnaby, New Westminster and the Tri-Cities, B.C. Thank you to the stores and centres that are distributing our paper — now out every two weeks.

"The agency has reversed the position it held in July 2025, when it categorized drug-checking strips as life-saving overdose prevention tools."

The story isn’t that an #Alberta minister “admitted he was wrong”. It’s that he spread a false claim about supervised consumption sites—despite zero recorded deaths at these facilities—manufacturing consent to shutter life-saving services. #abpoli #cdnpoli edmonton.citynews.ca/2026/04/28/a...

New from me: After threatening to deny politicians access to Sikh spaces, a coalition of Sikh groups finally heard from Pierre Poillievre, the NDP, and the Liberal Sikh caucus on foreign interference. Mark Carney did not respond. Read the exclusive here: pressprogress.ca/sikh-coaliti...

Sikh groups were frustrated by politicians’ responses to the targeting of Canadian Sikhs. So they threatened to bar them from photo ops. It worked. (Mostly.) pressprogress.ca/sikh-coaliti...

Coverage of our paper. Little bit of clarification. “Good” ventilation here is based on the current strategy of air delivery in a modern HVAC hospital. The CO2 never went above mid 800s, even when busy. BUT www.medscape.com/viewarticle/...

“Even as anesthesiologist staffing slightly improves, wait lists for cancer and cardiac surgery do not. The government’s plan to sink another $525 million into private surgical facilities will not reach public hospitals and will only worsen these trends.” calgaryherald.com/opinion/colu...

Incredible investigative journalism here via @ericszeto.bsky.social and CBC's visual investigative unit. They trace the Slopaganda fomenting separatism in Alberta to some greedy operators in The Netherlands. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

After receiving a $175,000 boost to its budget, the Vancouver Police Board has only scheduled four meetings for all of 2026—half the number held last year, the bare minimum required by provincial legislation, and far fewer than other municipalities. www.ctvnews.ca/vancouver/ar...

If only there was a word for “exploitative sexual behavior with a 16-year-old girl when he was 30.”

My coverage of tuberculosis outbreaks in Nunavik, northern Quebec, has been translated into French. Every detail in this article is more outrageous than the last. Silver lining: Inuit have the answers for this crisis. Quebec just needs to listen. Thank you @pivot.quebec for republishing!

Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon kill Lebanese journalist, wound another reut.rs/42nNTlX

The acting head of the CDC has canceled the publication of a study that found that the Covid vaccine sharply cut the odds of hospitalizations and emergency visits last winter, a Health Department spokesman said.

My latest for PressProgress: an interview with the mayor of Fort Erie about how the proposed changes to Niagara Region from the province will affect the people living there.

There’s a #yyj police board meeting tonight at 5:00 pm. Former board member Paul Schachter’s complaint re: VicPD’s “Project Juliet” and more is sort of on the agenda. Agenda: www.vicpd.ca/Police%20Boa... Stream: www.youtube.com/channel/UCKK... #vicpdboard 🧵

Exclusive: A former public health professor and a former provincial health officer have started offering an inhalable form of pharmaceutical heroin for the treatment of opioid use disorder in British Columbia. www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/briti...

I'm about to hit send on this edition of Pulse Check, your #cdn public health newsletter. Feat. 2 provinces with public health emergencies, one marking 10 years, while calls to declare another go ignored. PLUS latest headlines & a satire bit. Hope you signup: pressprogress.ca/pulsecheck/

Perplexity’s CEO is just the latest tech leader to tell the public their jobs will be sacrificed on the altar of the glorious AI future. It’s a compelling narrative, but it distracts us from the real impact of AI: not to take the human out of the loop, but to take away their power and cut their pay

Ending tuberculosis – the world's DEADLIEST infectious disease – needs sustained political will and investment, from research to treatment to prevention. Thank you @pressprogress.ca for shining the light on this urgent issue 👇

“Nunavik, with a population of 14,000, has seen as many cases of tuberculosis in the first three months of 2026 — around 40 — as were diagnosed in the first six months of 2025. According to a statement from the NRBHSS, eight out of the 14 communities in the region have active outbreaks currently”

Canada Post workers start voting on tentative agreements today amidst major changes to the postal service and mixed signals from their union. For @pressprogress.ca I broke down what’s in the agreements and why some CUPW leaders are encouraging workers to vote 'no' pressprogress.ca/canada-post-...

Tuberculosis Outbreaks in Nunavik, Quebec Worsening While Province Ignores Calls to Declare Public Health Emergency New research finds lack of resources, language barriers persist in this Inuit region, where Red Cross has been called to help with TB pressprogress.ca/tuberculosis...

Add your name to the petition for permanent resident status for all! www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjwq...

After the @theijf.org found Edmonton paramedics’ overtime jumped 81% in three years, staff from Premier Danielle Smith’s office messaged reporters and editors, claiming data was omitted and asking the story be rewritten or deleted. At least one news outlet complied. @brettmckay.bsky.social reports.

It's interesting to me that a story about online rape networks doesn't seem to have broken through? The story's inception was instigated in part by Gisèle Pelicot's rapes. Her husband drugged and and raped her and then invited dozens of other men to rape her while she was drugged.

“As of Wednesday afternoon, the Premier has yet to make a statement about the 10-year-anniversary of this public health emergency.” saying nothing says it all maybe someone can ask him about THAT #bcpoli

“I absolutely believe there was political pressure, and it disturbs me immensely to see some of the political rhetoric that was used to demonize people who are most marginalized in our community.” Dr. Bonnie Henry

I'm quoted in this for signing & sharing a testimonial about an incident in which Vancouver Police edited their press release after I'd published an article about it to make it look like I had lied. Anyway, long live the Wayback Machine! www.niemanlab.org/2026/04/jour...

Earlier this year, Lab broke the story that The New York Times, The Guardian, and USA Today Co. had begun limiting the Wayback Machine’s access to their news articles. Now, journalists are pushing for news publishers to lift the restrictions. www.niemanlab.org/2026/04/jour...

Journalists know that losing the Wayback Machine would be a nightmare: www.wired.com/story/the-in...

Two events this week in Victoria marked the 10 year anniversary of the public health emergency of the #toxicdrugcrisis in BC — one inside the Legislature building and one outside. I went to both, and found experts on either side of the wall saying the same things: pressprogress.ca/bc-health-ex...