The ''Vancouver Courier'' was a Canadian semi-weekly local newspaper published in
Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
, British Columbia, Canada, by the Van-Net chain owned by
Glacier Media Group
Glacier Media is a Canadian business information and media products company. It provides news, market information and sector-specific data within North America and internationally.
Glacier is headquartered in Vancouver. Its primary operations a ...
. In 2007, it was Canada's largest distributed community newspaper,
with a weekly distribution of 265,000.
The circulation estimate included the ''Vancouver Courier'', the ''Vancouver Courier Downtown'', and the ''Vancouver Courier Westside'', along with the ''Vancouver Courier Eastside'' on Wednesdays.
Delivered to homes, the paper is distributed from
UBC
The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks among the top three ...
to the Vancouver proper boundary at Boundary Road.
The newspaper began as an independent in
1908 as the ''Eburne News''. From the late 90s to 2007, it had several owners: first, the national
Southam Inc. chain, then
Hollinger,
CanWest
Canwest Global Communications Corporation, which operated under the corporate name Canwest, was a major Canadian media conglomerate based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, with its head offices at Canwest Place. It held radio, television broadcasting an ...
,
Postmedia
Postmedia Network Canada Corp. (also known as Postmedia Network, Postmedia News or Postmedia) is a Canadian media conglomerate consisting of the publishing properties of the former Canwest, with primary operations in newspaper publishing, news ...
, and finally
Glacier Media
Glacier Media is a Canadian business information and media products company. It provides news, market information and sector-specific data within North America and internationally.
Glacier is headquartered in Vancouver. Its primary operations a ...
. It expanded from being a neighbourhood newspaper to its current citywide circulation area after acquiring the ''Vancouver Echo'' and the ''West End Times''.
The paper was twice named "Best Community Newspaper in BC" and was the second runner-up in the Canadian Community Newspaper Association's general excellence competition.
Unlike most community newspapers, which feature several news stories on their front pages, the ''Courier''
's Friday front page featured a single, lengthy feature that ran over several pages. The paper also frequently published material on local Vancouver history, usually written by
Lisa Smedman. Columnists included
Geoff Olson,
Allen Garr
Allen Garr is a Canadian journalist who won the Jack Webster City Mike award in 2014. He is also an author and former journalism instructor based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Garr is well known in the city for his editorials covering civic pol ...
, Fiona Hughes, and Keith Baldrey. The poet
Earle Birney
Earle Alfred Birney (13 May 1904 – 3 September 1995) was a Canadian poet and novelist, who twice won the Governor General's Award, Canada's top literary honour, for his poetry.
Life
Born in Calgary, Alberta, and raised on a farm in Eri ...
worked at the paper in the mid-1920s as a summer reporter and editor.
In April 2020, the ''Courier'' announced that they had ceased publication until further notice due to a lack of advertising revenue associated with lower business activity during the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
. In September 2020, this temporary publication halt was made permanent.
See also
* ''
Vancouver Sun
The ''Vancouver Sun'', also known as the ''Sun'', is a daily broadsheet newspaper based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The newspaper is currently published by the Pacific Newspaper Group, a division of Postmedia Network. Published s ...
''
* ''
Vancouver Province
''The Province'' is a daily newspaper published in tabloid format in British Columbia by Pacific Newspaper Group, a division of Postmedia Network, alongside the ''Vancouver Sun'' broadsheet newspaper. Together, they are British Columbia's only ...
''
*
List of newspapers in Canada
This list of newspapers in Canada is a list of newspapers printed and distributed in Canada. Daily newspapers
Local weeklies
Alberta
* Airdrie – ''Airdrie Echo''
* Bashaw – '' Bashaw Star''
* Bassano – ''Bassano Times''
* Beaumont – ...
References
External links
Official website- The Vancouver Courier
- CanWest Global
Newspapers published in Vancouver
Publications established in 1908
1908 establishments in British Columbia
Weekly newspapers published in British Columbia
Biweekly newspapers published in Canada
{{Canada-newspaper-stub