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 Report: Tar Sands Reporting Project

Athabasca tar sands, photographed by Andrew S. Wright

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

Southern Gateway: An American pipeline giant's plans for Vancouver

On a hot afternoon in July 2007, a worker started digging a new sewer line for the municipality of Burnaby, following instructions crafted from a chain of wrong assumptions. Before long, he punctured...

Alberta's oilsands pipelines promise massive non-stop brand-Canada carbon spills

To stay in business, Enbridge's Northern Gateway pipeline will require a continuous, multi-decade, carbon spill many times larger than BC's current emissions.

Scientists call on BC's Premier Clark to speed protection of Great Bear Rainforest

 Scientists from Canada and the United States are asking British Columbia Premier Christy Clark to speed up protection of the Great Bear Rainforest.  Dominick A. DellaSala, Ph.D. ...

Exxon Valdez lawyer recounts ongoing horrors of oil spill

An attorney from Valdez tells of heartbreak and devastation resulting from one of the world's most notorious oil spills.

Division over Enbridge oil pipeline caused by treaty process flaws, Gitxsan Hereditary Chiefs say

This article can now be found in  Extract: The Pipeline Wars Vol. 1 Enbridge.  Extract contains a year of the Vancouver Observer's powerful reporting on the proposed Enbridge pipeline....

Angry Gitxsan say no to chiefs -- and no to Gateway

Controversial oil sands pipeline splits an "embarrassed and shamed" First Nations community.