VANCOUVER— Unifor is deeply concerned about the announcement of Glacier Media’s digital community newspaper closures affecting the jobs of Unifor members at Local 2000, in the communities of Burnaby, New Westminster, Port Moody, Anmore Village, Belcarra Village, Coquitlam and Port Coquitlam, contributing to the troubling news deserts in Metro Vancouver.
“In these troubling economic and political times, we cannot let democracy dry up as more news deserts surface in Canada,” said Unifor National President Lana Payne.
“News coverage begins at the local level and closures eliminate community coverage at a time when we need journalists to tell stories that connect us and hold the powerful to account.”
Glacier Media has announced the upcoming closure of three Metro Vancouver community news websites – Burnaby Now and the New Westminster Record will close no later than April 21 and Tri-City News will close by May 21.
Unifor Local 2000 members work as reporters, layout artists, ad builders and sales representatives at these three media outlets.
Glacier Media said it is keeping all non-union websites open and continue to print the non-union North Shore News and Delta Optimist, while shutting down unionized websites, raising alarm from the union. The company decided to cease print publications at Tri-City, Burnaby NOW and the New Westminster Record in August of 2023.
In a townhall meeting in November 2024, the media company told employees that it was going to rebrand and revise its operations in 2025. The company was rebranding its media operations under the name Lodestar Media in February 2025. However, after the closure announcement went out on Feb. 21, 2025, union members were uninvited to the rebrand launch planned for Feb. 26.
Unifor is concerned that local news will be decimated in British Columbia’s New Westminster, Burnaby and tri-city areas including the Villages of Anmore and Belcarra. These closures mean that five city councils will be left without coverage after these papers close their websites.
“These communities have been well served by the members of Local 2000 since the early 1980s and before that, as far back as 1859,” said Unifor Local 2000 President Brian Gibson.
“I am concerned that the residents of these communities will no longer be receiving the local news they need in order to participate in democracy and stay informed on what is happening in their communities ”
Unifor represents more than 10,000 media workers, including journalists in the broadcast and print news industry.
Unifor is Canada’s largest union in the private sector, representing 320,000 workers in every major area of the economy. The union advocates for all working people and their rights, fights for equality and social justice in Canada and abroad and strives to create progressive change for a better future.
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