Investigations

One in five bank directors also serves on the board of a fossil fuel company, reveals an investigation by Canada's National Observer.

In December 2020, the government challenged Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau's ministry to reduce emissions from artificial nitrogen fertilizers by 30 per cent by 2030. Soon after, Canada's $23-billion fertilizer industry jumped into action to make sure the new rules won't hurt its bottom line.

Helping Canadians protect themselves from misinformation will require stricter transparency rules for political advertisers on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram, experts say. 

A Canada's National Observer investigation has uncovered a network of at least a half-dozen self-professed grassroots Facebook pages linked to one of Canada's top right-wing communications strategists and his associates. Here's how.

A Canada’s National Observer investigation has found ads run by at least a half-dozen supposedly local Facebook pages are linked to one of Canada's top right-wing communications strategists and his associates.

As the number of apprehensions of youth in mental health crisis spike across Canada, concern is growing over their impact on vulnerable young minds, an Investigative Journalism Bureau investigation has found.

Between 1962 and 1970, 10 tonnes of untreated mercury were dumped into the water near Asubpeeschoseewagong Netum-Anishinabek (Grassy Narrows First Nation). Decades later, the community is still suffering from the poisoning.

Contaminated water in the English-Wabigoon river system has impacted the people of Grassy Narrows and Wabauskang First Nations for generations. Today, elders are still fighting for the government to acknowledge its ongoing impact.

For decades, the Ontario government suspected a pulp and paper mill in Dryden was polluting the English-Wabigoon river system. The contamination became public knowledge in 1970, but First Nations communities in the area are still living with the impacts today.

The premier’s office says the 413 is needed to serve a growing population and relieve pressure on highways that will soon be over capacity. National Observer and Torstar took an inside look at the money, power and influence behind Ontario's push to build the highway.

Christian Roman alleges a six-year saga of insufficient support for his disability. The university says it gave him all the help it could, but it wasn’t enough to keep him in school.

A Quebec-based engineer is using microwave technology to recycle plastic waste. Could his approach help cut down on the production of new plastic?

Emerging research on microplastics suggests they can leak harmful chemicals into the environment. On the East Coast, one researcher is working to understand the impact of these tiny particles — and reckoning with science's colonial legacy at the same time.

The federal government is calling for a new “circular economy” that would rely on massively scaling up existing recycling facilities and still-nascent recycling technologies to keep disposable plastic ubiquitous in our daily lives. But can recycling really save us?

Canada's $28-billion plastics industry has always resisted efforts to curtail production. But with the federal government proposing a ban on certain single-use items and looking to classify plastic as toxic, the pushback has grown even greater.