Journalists from a few major Metro Vancouver news publications that closed earlier this year are now banding together in a fight to save local news.

[…] The three publications that closed were Burnaby Now, New Westminster Record and Tri-City News.

Now, journalists who formerly worked at these publications are hoping to launch a new publication. Daily Hive spoke with Cornelia Naylor, who has over a decade of experience and was part of the Burnaby Now and New Westminster Record teams.

They’ve launched a fundraiser with a goal of $100,000 and hope to launch a new publication later this year. We asked Naylor why Glacier Media shut down the local news publications.

“They cited financial problems or financial challenges, and there was not much more explanation than that.”

Naylor says the end goal is a community-owned, worker-run news cooperative, and the hope is that this publication will fill all the gaps left behind by the shuttered Glacier publications.

“I think this model is already working in Quebec. It would be the first in Western Canada.”

We often hear politicians talk about local news and its importance, and asked Naylor if the government can play a role in this journey to build a new publication. Naylor first expanded on the situation in Quebec, where six daily newspapers were set to be shut down.

“The government, I think, jumped in with interest-free loans, and there was fundraising.”