IndigiNews

British Columbia, Canada

Overview

IndigiNews is an independent, Indigenous-led digital newsroom covering First Nations, Inuit, and Métis communities in British Columbia. It was founded in May 2020 as a joint venture of The Discourse — the Vancouver-based independent media company founded by Erin Millar — and APTN (Aboriginal Peoples Television Network), with initial Local Journalism Initiative funding supporting a team of Indigenous reporters covering the Okanagan Valley. Since January 2025 it has been owned by tâpwêwin media, an Indigenous-led nonprofit founded and led by Eden Fineday, making it fully Indigenous-governed for the first time in its existence. It continues to publish under the IndigiNews name with the same team and branding.

The newsroom's founding premise was that Indigenous communities in Canada had been poorly served and frequently misrepresented by both national and local mainstream media, and that community-driven, Indigenous-led reporting was necessary to address that gap. Its editorial model centers cultural safety for sources and staff, trauma-informed reporting practices, and what its team describes as "decolonizing" journalism, by deploying Indigenous protocols, relationships, and ways of knowing to shape editorial decisions and subject matter. tâpwêwin, the Cree term adopted as the parent organization's name, means "the act of telling the truth" and is understood to carry an obligation of integrity and witness-bearing.

Institutional History

April–May 2020

Founded as Discourse/APTN joint venture

First IndigiNews journalists hired in April 2020 to cover the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia, with funding from the Local Journalism Initiative. Launched publicly on May 5, 2020 — Giving Tuesday Now — amid the COVID-19 pandemic and a concurrent local news crisis in Canada, with more than 50 local outlets having closed in the preceding six weeks.

Late 2020

Expansion to Vancouver Island

Four additional Indigenous journalists hired to cover Indigenous health, education, and child welfare on Vancouver Island: Catherine (Katłįà) Lafferty, Bayleigh Marelj, Odette Auger, and Anna McKenzie. Inspirit Foundation grant supported the hiring of a full-time Indigenous editor.

November 2021

Eden Fineday joins as managing editor

Fineday, a nêhiyaw (Cree) journalist from Sweetgrass First Nation in Treaty 6 territory, hired as managing editor. She would later become publisher and, in 2025, found tâpwêwin media to acquire IndigiNews.

2022

Fineday named publisher; National Newspaper Award nomination

Fineday promoted to publisher. IndigiNews and The Narwhal's joint feature on the rematriation of a stolen Nisg̱a'a totem pole — reported by Cara McKenna, Matt Simmons, and Marty Clemens — was nominated for and won a National Newspaper Award in 2024 (Arts and Entertainment category), the first NNA won by an Indigenous media outlet since the awards began in 1949.

December 30, 2024

tâpwêwin media incorporated; Indigenous Media Association of Canada founded

Fineday and five First Nations women journalists elected the interim leadership of the Indigenous Media Association of Canada, incorporated January 6, 2025. tâpwêwin media was established as IndigiNews's new parent organization.

January 2025

Full independence under tâpwêwin media

IndigiNews formally transferred from Discourse Community Publishing (formerly The Discourse) to tâpwêwin media, becoming fully Indigenous-governed for the first time. The IndigiNews name, branding, and team remained unchanged. Fineday described the transition as "an act of Indigenous sovereignty."

May 2025

Excluded from Canadian Journalism Collective Online News Act funding

IndigiNews publicly disclosed that it had been excluded from the first cycle of Canadian Journalism Collective funding distributed under the federal Online News Act — a fund totalling approximately $100 million annually from Google. The CJC told IndigiNews it could not "prove" it employed journalists in 2023, the year used as the funding baseline, because IndigiNews's journalists had been employed by Discourse Community Publishing rather than by IndigiNews directly during that period. IndigiNews argued this was a structural consequence of its incubation model, not a reflection of its journalism output, and that the exclusion disadvantaged Indigenous media that had developed under non-Indigenous parent organizations. The CJC indicated the next funding round would be based on 2024 staff hours, which IndigiNews would be able to document directly.

2025

ReFocus Photojournalism Fellowship; Cultural Survival grant

IndigiNews launched the ReFocus Photojournalism Fellowship, pairing Indigenous photojournalism fellows with mentorship and training at the University of King's College in Halifax. The outlet was also named as a Cultural Survival Community Media Fund grant partner, alongside 35 other Indigenous media organizations.

Coverage and Editorial Model

IndigiNews covers a range of topics including land rights and resource extraction, Indigenous governance and self-determination, health and child welfare, housing, environment, language and cultural revitalization, and electoral politics. Its geographic base is British Columbia — particularly the Okanagan Valley, Vancouver Island, and the Lower Mainland — though it publishes national Indigenous affairs coverage as well. Staff reporters are Indigenous; freelance contributors include both Indigenous and non-Indigenous journalists working under cultural safety protocols.

Okanagan Valley, BCVancouver IslandLower Mainland, BCLand and resource rightsIndigenous governanceChild welfareHealthLanguage revitalizationEnvironmentElectoral politicsNational Indigenous affairs.

The newsroom's editorial practices are explicitly shaped by Indigenous protocols and cultural safety frameworks — what staff describe as working in a way that is culturally safe for both the communities being covered and the journalists doing the reporting. This includes considerations around which stories to pursue, how to approach sources in community settings, and how to frame stories in ways that do not reproduce the stereotypes or harm that staff identify as endemic to mainstream coverage of Indigenous communities. IndigiNews has also worked with The Narwhal on collaborative reporting projects, including a 2024 buffalo and grasslands story reported and published in both English and Cree.

Key People

Eden Fineday

Publisher · Founder and CEO, tâpwêwin media · Nêhiyaw (Cree), Sweetgrass First Nation, Treaty 6

Cara McKenna

Editorial Director · formerly managing editor · part-time editor role alongside Narwhal contributions

Aaron Hemens

Reporter · photojournalist · based in Penticton, BC · of mixed Filipino and European heritage

Michelle Cyca

tâpwêwin media board · Cree writer and editor at The Narwhal

Anna McKenzie

tâpwêwin media board · former IndigiNews Indigenous child welfare reporter

kelsie kilawna

tâpwêwin media board · founding IndigiNews storyteller (2020)

IndigiNews · indiginews.com

Parent organization: tâpwêwin media (Indigenous-led nonprofit, founded January 2025) · CEO: Eden Fineday

Founded: May 5, 2020 · Joint venture of The Discourse and APTN · Full Indigenous governance from January 2025

Publisher: Eden Fineday · Editorial Director: Cara McKenna