Local news co-op nears online launch in Tri-Cities, Burnaby, and New West

The effort to revive community news in the Tri-Cities, Burnaby, New Westminster, Anmore and Belcarra is nearing an official launch date.

Started by four laid-off Glacier Media employees after the company’s exodus from five cities and two villages, the Save Our Local News Campaign wrapped up its first fundraising phase on Aug. 28.

Co-founder Mario Bartel, a long-time journalist formerly with the Tri-City News, said the new website is being built, the branding has been finalized, and the first online stories are just weeks away.

“We are on the cusp of being operations. We’re starting to have story meetings and thinking ahead,” Bartel said. “It’s starting to feel a lot more real than just an abstract idea.”

While the publication’s name is still tight under wraps, the Union Cooperative Initiative-led (UCI) and Unifor-supported effort aims to create Western Canada’s first newspaper co-op, serving a population of over a quarter-million. 

The fundraising campaign was launched on June 4, and has raised just shy of $42,000 out of an initial $100,000 goal. With the first phase – a GoFundMe-style grassroots drive – wrapping up, the co-op is now shifting into a more structured second phase. 

Professional fundraisers from the UCI are being brought in to expand outreach, build on existing community networks, and secure larger commitments.

A new “founders club” has also launched, offering recognition for donors who contribute $1,000 or more, while a partnership with Vancity Credit Union is being finalized to streamline donations through a community support fund.

Bartel said that the initial $100,000 fundraising target was always “aspirational,” and not a “make-or-break” benchmark. He noted UCI organizers have said the first phase has actually surpassed expectations.

“It’s really heartwarming to see all the people who have given $100 here, $50 there,” Bartel said. “That drives us as well, because that shows people value this and they want it to happen.”

Organizers have staged or attended at least a half dozen community events since June (with more on the way), and sent delegations to municipal councils in search for support. 

This has included a Burger and Beer Night on Aug. 19 at The Taphouse Coquitlam, which drew all three local MPs, an MLA, and several Port Coquitlam councillors. The group has also been visible at festivals like BC Day in Coquitlam.

“Our events this summer have crossed all political lines,” Bartel said. “That’s encouraging, that this is an issue that transcends political boundaries. People realize that they’ve been missing local news for several months now and they’re starting to see the gaps.”

The co-op is also preparing to appear at Unifor’s national convention in Vancouver, Burnaby’s Labour Day Picnic, and Recovery Day in New Westminster.

Bartel added small businesses are increasingly showing interest in the project as future advertisers.

“Businesses are seeing the need for an outlet to be able to tell their stories,” Bartel said. “Sure, they can go on Facebook, but you’re cutting out a whole part of your potential customer base that isn’t there. A lot of small businesses don’t even do social media, and their customers don’t either.”

The official launch date of the newspaper, however, remains fuzzy. Bartel said organizers are still working out a distribution model, noting the need to find their financial footing before putting out a print product.

But he emphasized that although the website will launch first, it will eventually serve as a secondary complement to the publication’s physical newspaper.

“The print product is our primary focus – getting that back into people’s hands,” Bartel said. “We’re not going to be digital players. It’s not going to be like the end of the Tri-City News, where we will pump out four stories a day to get the website rolling.”

He said their editorial team is looking forward to writing more features and more in-depth council coverage.

“We’re pretty keen to get out there,” Bartel said. “We want to get our news legs under us again.”