After 11 years of bringing you local reporting, the team behind the Vancouver Observer has moved on to Canada's National Observer. You can follow Vancouver culture reporting over there from now on. Thank you for all your support over the years!

Andrew Lodge

Andrew Lodge is a physician and faculty member of the University of British Columbia. He recently spent a year teaching at a medical school in Nepal.

The elusive goal of ending violence against women

November 25th is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.  Tragically, in 2018, this remains as urgent a cause as any. According to the United Nations (UN), globally...

Major world news stories of 2017 and how they are related

It is that time of year again when best-of and top-whatever lists abound. The exercise might be a bit arbitrary at the very least—and banal at its worst—but then again, this year certainly had...
Nepal earthquake, Haiti earthquake, Chile earthquake, Nepal poverty

Requiem for Nepal after the earthquake

Just before noon on April 25, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake ripped through the heart of Nepal, shattering buildings and bodies and lives. The images and stories slowly emerging are as heart-wrenching...
Harper's terror bill

Harper's scary new terror bill needs oversight

In this opinion piece, the author argues that the extended powers Harper seeks through Bill C-51 are ripe for abuse.

Opinion: Canada must not abandon Mohamed Fahmy

It should be self-evident that when journalists encounter repression that our response should be to unequivocally fight for their rights.

Stealing medicine from the sick and the poor

If the Canadian government has its way, life saving medication may be soon out of reach for the poorest of the world's citizens. Since 2010, Stephen Harper's government has been quietly negotiating...
Medicine, race, and the right to choose. Makayla Sault, leukemia.

Medicine, race, and the right to choose

This complexity has been further confused by reporting in the media which framed the decision as a choice between conventional biomedicine and traditional Aboriginal healing.
Charlie Hebdo protest, left, Istanbul mosque, right

Cartoons and killing: Clash of civilizations argument serves fundamentalists

Almost two decades ago, US political scientist Samuel Huntington penned The Clash of the Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order where he argued that the West and Islam were...
Suncor mine in oil sands. Photo by Andrew S. Wright

Tar sands make international headlines again, for all the wrong reasons: op-ed

Canada has made international headlines again—and again for all the wrong reasons. It's a pattern that's becoming disconcertingly familiar. A study published on January 8 in the prestigious...

Our world in 2014

10 currents that contoured global society in 2014.