You get patrol data and you get patrol data and you…

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Published on Sunday, 29 November -0001 16:00

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You get patrol data and you get patrol data and you… r1 Saving lives, collecting data, filling conservation gaps, reinforcing sovereignty: on the water with Indigenous guardians along B.C.'s central coast. ... BECOME A MEMBER There isn’t a whole lot of federal or provincial monitoring along parts of B.C.’s thousands upon thousands of square kilometres of coast. Coastlines where people get into life-threatening boating accidents. Where poachers sneak out their crab traps. Where oil spills occur and where some of the world’s most magnificent species hang out.

But know who is there to see all this unfold? Indigenous guardians.

And so, back in 2019, reporter Jimmy Thomson began to wonder: could we get a better sense of just how much of a monitoring and conservation gap these Indigenous land stewards are filling?

Turns out we could — and it’s a heck of a lot. Guardians, who are out on the land and the water on a daily basis, are patrolling massive areas along the coast. Not only that, but these individuals are saving lives, collecting data, filling conservation gaps and reinforcing their sovereignty in the process.

All those details are beautifully captured in this sprawling feature we published over the weekend, a kind of visual journalism we’ve never done before. But before you check it out, let me tell you a little bit about the two-plus-year odyssey to make it all happen.

Jimmy got word in February 2020 that his story pitch, centred on the neighbouring Heiltsuk, Wuikinuxv and Kitasoo/Xai’Xais nations’ guardian programs, had been selected for the inaugural Data Journalism Grant from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting and Humber College’s storyLAB.

We all know what happened next: March 2020. Yeah, that.

The pandemic meant Jimmy had to radically alter his travel plans (no planes to the remote area, for starters), but he managed to eventually get the all-clear to visit Wuikinuxv territory, where the community welcomed him with both strict COVID protocol and open arms. That’s not to mention the generosity of all three nations when it came to sharing their patrol data.

“I knew from previous reporting trips for guardian-related stories, both on the Central Coast and in the North, that Indigenous guardians produce a lot of data in the course of their work,” Jimmy tells me. “I asked the Heiltsuk, Wuikinuxv and Kitasoo/Xai’Xais if they would be willing to share that data, and, incredibly, they all did. I’m still blown away by that openness — try asking the Coast Guard or the Parks people for data sometime. I did, and, well, you didn’t see any in the story, now did you?”

When Jimmy filed the piece, patrol data and all, we knew it was the perfect chance to take The Narwhal’s visual storytelling to new heights. We started thinking: ‘how can we truly transport readers to these patrol waters?’ It was a metric tonne of work for everyone involved — extra resources we were able to pour into this stunning feature thanks to the generosity of the 4,300 members who help fund our journalism.

Looping drone footage to kick things off? ✔️
Layered and interactive maps? ✔️
Video interviews with guardians? ✔️
Satellite imagery? ✔️

“The guardians are covering basically the entire coast within their territories,” Jimmy says. “Every inlet, every island — everywhere. It’s truly amazing the reach they have. No government agency that patrols that coast has anywhere near that penetration into the complex geography of the area.”

Those eyes on the ground and water are so critical — and the federal government is starting to recognize that with increased funding. The Heiltsuk, Wuikinuxv and Kitasoo/Xai’Xais guardians programs are among more than 70 in different stages of development in Canada, mostly in remote regions that would otherwise lack monitoring and first-responder capacity.

We hope you can find a bit of time to read, watch and interact with Jimmy’s story to get a glimpse of the value of the work being done on these lands and waters.

Take care and mind the patrol gap,

Arik Ligeti
Director of audience
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