Michelle Cyca
@michellecyca.com
it's "see-sa"
hot takes bureau chief @thenarwhal.ca
writer @thewalrus.ca
adjunct prof @ubcjournalism.bsky.social
journalist, nêhiyaw, mom, roller skater
she/her ✌️michellecyca.com
hot takes bureau chief @thenarwhal.ca
writer @thewalrus.ca
adjunct prof @ubcjournalism.bsky.social
journalist, nêhiyaw, mom, roller skater
she/her ✌️michellecyca.com
one of my favourite books from this past year — honoured to run an excerpt on @thenarwhal.ca today
Writer Julian Brave NoiseCat's new book looks at the ways colonialism has disrupted Indigenous lives, pushing many nations to the brink of annihilation and erasure — as well as the resilience and power of people who continue, writes @michellecyca.com:
thenarwhal.ca/we-survived-...
thenarwhal.ca/we-survived-...
‘We Survived The Night’: the Tlingit fight to protect herring | The Narwhal
An excerpt from “We Survived The Night” by Julian Brave NoiseCat
thenarwhal.ca
December 11, 2025 at 6:03 PM
one of my favourite books from this past year — honoured to run an excerpt on @thenarwhal.ca today
Last December, 82 pedestrians were struck in Vancouver; six people died by car over a three day period this week. There are plenty of proven ways to reduce the risk of injury and death from cars — here's hoping Vancouver takes just one of them!!
Clr Maloney's No Right on Red motion is coming up to council NOW! Will be live-posting here, follow along 🧵
visionzerovancouver.ca/2025/12/04/d...
visionzerovancouver.ca/2025/12/04/d...
Take Action: Restrict Right Turn on Red at High-Risk Intersections
On Wednesday, Vancouver Council will vote on a motion brought by Lucy Maloney to restrict right turn on red at the highest risk intersections for people who walk, bike and roll.
visionzerovancouver.ca
December 11, 2025 at 3:31 AM
Last December, 82 pedestrians were struck in Vancouver; six people died by car over a three day period this week. There are plenty of proven ways to reduce the risk of injury and death from cars — here's hoping Vancouver takes just one of them!!
"When asked if he believed bitcoin is still the greatest human invention, [Mayor Ken Sim] said, “I’m going to get in trouble for saying this, but I do." 💀
I've been wanting to know when the 'Bitcoin Friendly City' report from staff would be presented. It was supposed to happed in the Fall. Now, staff say: "the motion has been deferred until further notice while staff focus their work on other Council priorities."
www.ctvnews.ca/vancouver/ar...
www.ctvnews.ca/vancouver/ar...
Vancouver's 'bitcoin friendly city' plan likely to hit provincial roadblocks
Vancouver city council passed a motion Wednesday to make the city “bitcoin friendly,” but it’s likely to meet provincial roadblocks.
www.ctvnews.ca
December 9, 2025 at 4:33 AM
"When asked if he believed bitcoin is still the greatest human invention, [Mayor Ken Sim] said, “I’m going to get in trouble for saying this, but I do." 💀
if the Justin Trudeau and Katy Perry romance lasts, can you imagine the couples post they’ll make on International Women’s Day
December 8, 2025 at 4:31 AM
if the Justin Trudeau and Katy Perry romance lasts, can you imagine the couples post they’ll make on International Women’s Day
the six-year-olds are organizing for better wages (comparing tooth fairy compensation). we must crush this labour movement.
December 7, 2025 at 7:54 PM
the six-year-olds are organizing for better wages (comparing tooth fairy compensation). we must crush this labour movement.
an important & damning record of the impacts of the toxic drug crisis and persecution of unhoused community members — please read!
On Nov 17, North Cowichan displaced ~75 unhoused residents from Lewis Street encampments to a marsh without the promised Ramada shelter open or toilets available.
NEW substack collab by me & @pearlysalts.bsky.social
open.substack.com/pub/jessicap...
NEW substack collab by me & @pearlysalts.bsky.social
open.substack.com/pub/jessicap...
Swept off Lewis Street and Into North Cowichan’s Wetlands
A street sweep on November 17 during a disease outbreak forced unhoused residents into Cowichan’s wetlands. 80 overdoses followed in the next 24 hours.
open.substack.com
December 5, 2025 at 7:00 PM
an important & damning record of the impacts of the toxic drug crisis and persecution of unhoused community members — please read!
INTERNATIONAL WILDLIFE CRIME! and federal species at risk legislation. two equally thrilling topics, together at last, thanks to @moiradonovan.bsky.social
Canada's most lucrative fishery — and a global black market — rely on American eel. But Canada was among the countries who voted against global trade restrictions on the eel last week, and won't list it under the Species At Risk Act, @moiradonovan.bsky.social reports. thenarwhal.ca/american-eel...
Illegal American eel fishing is big business in Canada. Ottawa just voted against protections | The Narwhal
Federal fisheries department also announced American eel will not be listed as a species at risk, despite illegal fishing pressures
thenarwhal.ca
December 5, 2025 at 6:58 PM
INTERNATIONAL WILDLIFE CRIME! and federal species at risk legislation. two equally thrilling topics, together at last, thanks to @moiradonovan.bsky.social
Reposted by Michelle Cyca
Please click on the story about eels! Help @michellecyca.com continue to support environmental journalism about ugly animals that play vital roles in our ecosystems!
Canada's most lucrative fishery — and a global black market — rely on American eel. But Canada was among the countries who voted against global trade restrictions on the eel last week, and won't list it under the Species At Risk Act, @moiradonovan.bsky.social reports. thenarwhal.ca/american-eel...
Illegal American eel fishing is big business in Canada. Ottawa just voted against protections | The Narwhal
Federal fisheries department also announced American eel will not be listed as a species at risk, despite illegal fishing pressures
thenarwhal.ca
December 5, 2025 at 6:05 PM
Please click on the story about eels! Help @michellecyca.com continue to support environmental journalism about ugly animals that play vital roles in our ecosystems!
great explainer by @michellegamage.bsky.social for @thetyee.ca on the constitutional challenge brought by the Drug User Liberation Front, which is being argued in court now: thetyee.ca/News/2025/12...
What’s at Stake During DULF’s Constitutional Challenge | The Tyee
The case’s outcome could affect the founders’ criminal charges, and Canadian drug laws. A Tyee explainer.
thetyee.ca
December 4, 2025 at 5:59 AM
great explainer by @michellegamage.bsky.social for @thetyee.ca on the constitutional challenge brought by the Drug User Liberation Front, which is being argued in court now: thetyee.ca/News/2025/12...
Reposted by Michelle Cyca
On Dec. 13, Tahltan members plan to vote on an impact benefit agreement for Eskay Creek mine, which promises economic benefits for the nation over a projected 12-year lifespan. But some worry about longer-lasting environmental risks, writes @sevawood.bsky.social: thenarwhal.ca/eskay-creek-...
Eskay Creek mine faces make-or-break vote | The Narwhal
Skeena Resources’ Eskay Creek mine in northern B.C. hinges on an upcoming vote by the Tahltan Central Government’s board
thenarwhal.ca
December 3, 2025 at 3:49 PM
On Dec. 13, Tahltan members plan to vote on an impact benefit agreement for Eskay Creek mine, which promises economic benefits for the nation over a projected 12-year lifespan. But some worry about longer-lasting environmental risks, writes @sevawood.bsky.social: thenarwhal.ca/eskay-creek-...
Reposted by Michelle Cyca
Major projects? Let’s talk about it!
Join us for a free Zoom event on Dec. 2 to unpack the process, politics and potential impacts of Canada’s push to build major projects. Register here:
thenarwhal.ca/major-projects-event
Join us for a free Zoom event on Dec. 2 to unpack the process, politics and potential impacts of Canada’s push to build major projects. Register here:
thenarwhal.ca/major-projects-event
November 26, 2025 at 9:42 PM
Major projects? Let’s talk about it!
Join us for a free Zoom event on Dec. 2 to unpack the process, politics and potential impacts of Canada’s push to build major projects. Register here:
thenarwhal.ca/major-projects-event
Join us for a free Zoom event on Dec. 2 to unpack the process, politics and potential impacts of Canada’s push to build major projects. Register here:
thenarwhal.ca/major-projects-event
for @thewalrus.ca I wrote about birth sovereignty and the decades-long efforts of Indigenous midwives to reclaim the right to give birth in community. honoured to have Amber Bracken's incredible photos accompanying the story:
thewalrus.ca/many-indigen...
thewalrus.ca/many-indigen...
Many Indigenous Mothers Must Travel Hundreds of Kilometres to Give Birth. Meet the Midwives Changing That | The Walrus
A resurgence of traditional midwifery is bringing deliveries back home
thewalrus.ca
December 2, 2025 at 3:16 PM
for @thewalrus.ca I wrote about birth sovereignty and the decades-long efforts of Indigenous midwives to reclaim the right to give birth in community. honoured to have Amber Bracken's incredible photos accompanying the story:
thewalrus.ca/many-indigen...
thewalrus.ca/many-indigen...
if you are thinking lately about how all social media & subscription services are getting worse and more annoying, please enjoy my husband’s blog post about quitting Spotify to curate music again lukecyca.com/2025/listen-...
Listen to music like it’s 2005 : Luke Cyca Dot Calm
Getting off spotify and rediscovering my own music collection
lukecyca.com
December 1, 2025 at 12:46 AM
if you are thinking lately about how all social media & subscription services are getting worse and more annoying, please enjoy my husband’s blog post about quitting Spotify to curate music again lukecyca.com/2025/listen-...
Reposted by Michelle Cyca
Premier David Eby, speaking now, cites PM Carney's comments from earlier this week that pipeline would have to have agreement from B.C. and First Nations.
"This project does not have the support of Coastal First Nations," he says. Adds no proponent, no route, no money.
"This project does not have the support of Coastal First Nations," he says. Adds no proponent, no route, no money.
November 27, 2025 at 8:41 PM
Premier David Eby, speaking now, cites PM Carney's comments from earlier this week that pipeline would have to have agreement from B.C. and First Nations.
"This project does not have the support of Coastal First Nations," he says. Adds no proponent, no route, no money.
"This project does not have the support of Coastal First Nations," he says. Adds no proponent, no route, no money.
the Bow Valley Insider is hiring an “AI-first reporter” to produce ChatGPT articles about Canmore, Alberta, if anyone is looking for a low-paying job that rots your soul ca.indeed.com/m/viewjob?jk...
November 27, 2025 at 3:30 PM
the Bow Valley Insider is hiring an “AI-first reporter” to produce ChatGPT articles about Canmore, Alberta, if anyone is looking for a low-paying job that rots your soul ca.indeed.com/m/viewjob?jk...
Reposted by Michelle Cyca
I think if Canada wants to have a strong cultural identity we need to go back to doing what we're best at, making the weirdest fucking TV shows you've ever seen
November 26, 2025 at 7:33 PM
I think if Canada wants to have a strong cultural identity we need to go back to doing what we're best at, making the weirdest fucking TV shows you've ever seen
Luigi Mangione, the small-town projectionist from the film “Cinema Paradiso”
November 26, 2025 at 6:51 PM
Luigi Mangione, the small-town projectionist from the film “Cinema Paradiso”
I’m on CBC Commotion today talking about this revelation with @kimwheels.bsky.social — thanks @elamin.bsky.social for the conversation
(everyone has known for years — years!! — that Thomas King is not Cherokee) www.theglobeandmail.com/culture/book...
Inconvenient Indian author Thomas King says he is not part Cherokee
Writer ‘still in shock’ after a whistle-blowing organization showed him genealogical evidence that he wasn’t part Indigenous as he originally assumed
www.theglobeandmail.com
November 26, 2025 at 5:31 PM
I’m on CBC Commotion today talking about this revelation with @kimwheels.bsky.social — thanks @elamin.bsky.social for the conversation
if you worry about the decline of media, the rise in AI slop and the rampant misinformation circulating online — one small but meaningful way to do something about it is to support @thenarwhal.ca in reporting factual, original, investigative stories. plus you get a toque & a hand-written note!
We’ve got a better idea for Black Friday…
Will you swim against the consumer current this week? Our independent journalism is made possible by people like you — and we need to add 400 members to meet our 2025 goal.
Join today and we’ll send you a Narwhal toque!
thenarwhal.ca/black-friday/
Will you swim against the consumer current this week? Our independent journalism is made possible by people like you — and we need to add 400 members to meet our 2025 goal.
Join today and we’ll send you a Narwhal toque!
thenarwhal.ca/black-friday/
November 25, 2025 at 11:25 PM
if you worry about the decline of media, the rise in AI slop and the rampant misinformation circulating online — one small but meaningful way to do something about it is to support @thenarwhal.ca in reporting factual, original, investigative stories. plus you get a toque & a hand-written note!
when you hear city councillors like @lisadominato.bsky.social say that this budget reduces the financial pressure on seniors, people with disabilities, and families — remember all of those people can defer their property taxes indefinitely. this is a bad argument I hear too often.
approved despite over 600 speakers signing up to speak to the budget, with all but a tiny number strongly opposed, and following a public engagement survey that found the majority of respondents supported a property tax increase to avoid cuts.
Vancouver's 2026 draft budget has PASSED.
Approved on a 7-4 vote on party lines, with ABC in favour and councillors Fry/Bligh/Orr/Maloney opposed.
Property tax freeze, $50 million more for VPD, and cuts to Arts, Culture, Planning and Sustainability departments, among others.
Full story to come.
Approved on a 7-4 vote on party lines, with ABC in favour and councillors Fry/Bligh/Orr/Maloney opposed.
Property tax freeze, $50 million more for VPD, and cuts to Arts, Culture, Planning and Sustainability departments, among others.
Full story to come.
November 25, 2025 at 10:47 PM
when you hear city councillors like @lisadominato.bsky.social say that this budget reduces the financial pressure on seniors, people with disabilities, and families — remember all of those people can defer their property taxes indefinitely. this is a bad argument I hear too often.
approved despite over 600 speakers signing up to speak to the budget, with all but a tiny number strongly opposed, and following a public engagement survey that found the majority of respondents supported a property tax increase to avoid cuts.
Vancouver's 2026 draft budget has PASSED.
Approved on a 7-4 vote on party lines, with ABC in favour and councillors Fry/Bligh/Orr/Maloney opposed.
Property tax freeze, $50 million more for VPD, and cuts to Arts, Culture, Planning and Sustainability departments, among others.
Full story to come.
Approved on a 7-4 vote on party lines, with ABC in favour and councillors Fry/Bligh/Orr/Maloney opposed.
Property tax freeze, $50 million more for VPD, and cuts to Arts, Culture, Planning and Sustainability departments, among others.
Full story to come.
November 25, 2025 at 10:22 PM
approved despite over 600 speakers signing up to speak to the budget, with all but a tiny number strongly opposed, and following a public engagement survey that found the majority of respondents supported a property tax increase to avoid cuts.
(everyone has known for years — years!! — that Thomas King is not Cherokee) www.theglobeandmail.com/culture/book...
Inconvenient Indian author Thomas King says he is not part Cherokee
Writer ‘still in shock’ after a whistle-blowing organization showed him genealogical evidence that he wasn’t part Indigenous as he originally assumed
www.theglobeandmail.com
November 24, 2025 at 8:33 PM
(everyone has known for years — years!! — that Thomas King is not Cherokee) www.theglobeandmail.com/culture/book...
reminder that B.C. has no budget for flood mitigation or prevention, despite suffering two catastrophic, deadly floods in 2024 and 2021.
Abbotsford’s mayor says the city has completed hundreds of flood recovery projects, four years since a historic flood devastated the city. But he says the city’s not ready for the next big flood yet.
Latest from me:
www.cbc.ca/player/play/...
Latest from me:
www.cbc.ca/player/play/...
After 2021 floods, Abbotsford still waiting on other governments to complete recovery
Four years after parts of Abbotsford were damaged by an enormous flood, the city says it’s almost finished hundreds of recovery projects. But, as Kier Junos reports the city is still waiting on upper ...
www.cbc.ca
November 22, 2025 at 7:49 PM
reminder that B.C. has no budget for flood mitigation or prevention, despite suffering two catastrophic, deadly floods in 2024 and 2021.
Reposted by Michelle Cyca
Massive shoutout out to whoever handles the Royal Canadian Air Force’s social media account. They responded to every single comment on their already very solid Trans Day of Remembrance post and they responded like this…
November 22, 2025 at 1:03 AM
Massive shoutout out to whoever handles the Royal Canadian Air Force’s social media account. They responded to every single comment on their already very solid Trans Day of Remembrance post and they responded like this…
without evidence, the federal government says a law that prohibits fossil fuel companies from lying about the environmental impacts of their products is “creating investment uncertainty”
The Carney government wants to pare back aspects of Canada’s anti-greenwashing law, telling @meyer.bsky.social it prevents the fossil fuel industry and other groups from sharing their environmental claims. Critics say the law might be working as intended. thenarwhal.ca/greenwashing...
Canada says anti-greenwashing rules silence industry | The Narwhal
Carney is moving to nix some of Canada’s rules that restrict how oil and gas companies and other industries advertise environmental claims
thenarwhal.ca
November 21, 2025 at 3:01 PM
without evidence, the federal government says a law that prohibits fossil fuel companies from lying about the environmental impacts of their products is “creating investment uncertainty”