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!

Special Reports

Trophy hunt, BC bear hunt, grizzly hunt

Trophy Hunt

Ninety percent of B.C. opposes it. The government permits it. Caught in the deadly trap between public opinion and policy are BC's bears. Our award-winning team looks at the personalities and policies behind BC's controversial trophy hunt.

Athabasca tar sands, photographed by Andrew S. Wright

Tar Sands Reporting Project

Our award-winning team's crowd-funded series on the people, places and conflicts associated with Canada's tar sands.

Fraser River

Gravel mining of The Fraser River is a window into how British Columbia's government makes decisions about complex environmental issues.  This Special Report investigates money, power, politics, and more.

Lost Canadians

Canadian children of World War II veterans, war brides, even those once labeled by the law "bastards", and "lunatics".  Many  lived in Canada their whole lives, paid taxes, and carried Canadian passports only to learn that they aren't in fact citizens according to an archaic twist in an old law.  After  four years of reporting on the issue and awards from the Canadian Online Publishing Association and The Canadian Journalism Foundation, the laws are being changed.  But will some be left stateless?

The Great Bear Rainforest agreement

Great Bear Rainforest

British Columbia's Great Bear Rainforest is part of the largest remaining coastal temperate rainforest on Earth. The Vancouver Observer team journeyed there this fall, learned much about its promise, and also about what imperils it. We bring its epic story back home to you.

Energy Future

As part of the Tar Sands Reporting Project , The Vancouver Observer asks supporters to share their thoughts on how to build an energy bridge to the future.

Up in Smoke

A plan by the Metro Vancouver regional authority would have taxpayers spending half a billion public dollars on an incinerator to solve the region’s garbage problem.  Would that send Vancouver's Greenest City aspirations up in smoke?   VO digs  into Metro Vancouver's garbage story.  We find conflicts that can be as epic as petty.  Fascinating characters.  Turf wars. Meetings taking place behind closed doors. Contracts worth millions.  Exciting, new technologies.  International intrigue.  And ordinary people fighting for clean air and healthy children.

 

The Road to Paris

In December the world gathers in Paris for a make-or-break attempt to prevent the most dangerous climate changes from unfolding. The last major attempt, Copenhagen2009, failed. Huge changes have happened since then but will they be enough?

Reports From The Energy Battlegrounds

Hot temperatures.  Raging conflicts. From ground zero of climate change, a crowd-funded series on energy, people, and the environment.