Our favourite stories from 2023
These are the stories we were most proud to publish this year
Peterborough Currents had a busy year in 2023. We posted more than 60 articles to our website. We released 10 podcast episodes. And we sent 30 email newsletters to our audience of 4,900 subscribers.
By all measures, Peterborough Currents produced more journalism in 2023 than ever before. And we did it on a tiny budget — less than $55,000 for all of our expenses combined. In the new year, we plan to share a transparency report that lays out our whole budget for you. In the meantime, we’ll just say this: our little team is efficient.
And we’re proud of the work we did in 2023! So please take a moment to read through this list. These are the stories we were most proud to publish this year.
We couldn’t have produced this body of work without our supporters. Thank you to the 245 people who give us money on a recurring basis so we can continue to serve the community. It’s a privilege to engage with the community through journalism and storytelling, and we don’t take your support for granted. Thank you!
Do you want to help power more community journalism in 2024? Please sign up as a monthly supporter. It’s never been harder to run a journalism outlet — so we need your help now more than ever.
Okay, on to the stories. We present these in no particular order.
The curious history of 219½ Hunter, Peterborough’s itsy bitsy storefront
Currents publisher Will Pearson loves the idiosyncratic and tiny retail shop at 219½ Hunter Street. Late in 2022, he decided to figure out why it was so tiny and trace all the tenants of the space over the years. It took ten interviews, two visits to local archives, and combing through dozens of historical documents to figure it all out. The result? The definitive history of Peterborough’s itsy bitsy storefront.
“People never thought they’d see it happen”: Peterborough-Nogojiwanong Pride celebrates 20 years
Over the course of 2023, the Currents team has gained a greater appreciation for the importance of looking to history to understand the present. For the twentieth anniversary of Peterborough-Nogojiwanong Pride, reporter Brett Throop interviewed the community leaders who founded the city’s pride parade. Brett’s article captured the excitement of that first parade and the satisfaction that organizers feel having watched the annual event grow into what it is today.
Recent seizure put drug users at greater risk, harm reduction advocates say
When the Peterborough Police announced a massive drug bust in January of this year, we read their press release. But we didn’t just republish it, because we knew there was another perspective that ran counter to how the police were framing things. Instead, we interviewed local harm reduction advocates about their concerns with the drug bust and the broader criminalization of drugs so that their perspective would be highlighted in the local media ecosystem as well.
Who rides the bus? Meet five Peterborough Transit users.
We love connecting the community by introducing Peterborough residents to one another in our publication. When Peterborough Transit was facing potential service cutbacks, we roamed the city talking with bus riders to learn how they use transit and how the cutbacks might have affected them. It was fun getting to know bus riders a little better. And we think it’s important to always pay attention to the real people who face the impacts of public policy decisions.
PHC tenants “shocked” and “worried” about proposed redevelopment
The Peterborough Housing Corporation wants to redevelop its properties to boost their density and provide more “affordable” housing to people. But what happens to the tenants who already live there? Details have been scant, and that’s left some tenants worried. To date, Peterborough Currents is the only local media source that has reported on the concerns of those who currently call the buildings home.
Film photography is popular again — and Peterborough’s only surviving photo lab is at the centre of the local renaissance
Local arts meets local business! For this article, we interviewed local photographers about why they’ve started to shoot film again. And we checked in with the folks at Peterborough Photo Service — the last remaining photo lab in town — to see how the new trend is impacting them.
Al’s Pizza and Yee’s Chinese Food is a legendary late-night food spot. For owner Chris Ho, it’s a living.
In their first article for Peterborough Currents, Cormac Culkeen crafted a beautiful ode to one of their favourite local restaurants: the unsung and enigmatic Al’s Pizza and Yee’s Chinese Food. Cormac’s article perfectly captured the spirit of the business and its friendly owner, Chris Ho. Meanwhile, Currents publisher Will Pearson photographed the restaurant and made a trip to the archives to track down pictures of the original Yee family from nearly 50 years ago.
“So much to be gained from a painful loss”: Lessons for today’s teenagers from two PCVS alumni
This was such a fun conversation to facilitate! When playwright Madeline Brown staged a dramatic retelling of the final year of PCVS starring a cast of local teenagers, we knew we wanted to find a creative way to cover it. We brought together two members of the play’s teen cast with two PCVS alumni who attended the school’s final regular year. Together, these four had an intergenerational conversation about growing up, belonging, and the role of activism in finding a sense of self.
After Ford government flip-flop, Peterborough must quickly decide fate of several proposed subdivisions
As the Ford government’s changes to municipal official plans came under scrutiny this year, reporters from across the province started looking into who owned the properties that stood to benefit from the provincial interventions. But they focussed on Ontario’s bigger cities and ignored Peterborough. So, we rolled up our sleeves and wrote this piece to explain the changes the Ford government imposed on Peterborough’s official plan, including who stood to benefit from them.
City withholds environmental assessments of contaminated Canoe Museum site, citing interests of unnamed “third parties”
One of our jobs at Peterborough Currents is to obtain the most accurate and up-to-date information we can and then share it with you — even when institutional powers try to block that from happening. We’re currently trying to access recent environmental assessments of the Canoe Museum property on Monaghan Road, which is known to be contaminated with cancer-causing chemicals. We haven’t succeeded yet. But we’re still fighting. We’ll keep you updated on how it goes.
Volunteers crucial to resettlement efforts as Peterborough’s refugee numbers increase
The number of refugees assigned to settle in Peterborough is increasing. That means the grassroots effort to welcome them needs more volunteers than ever. For this article, Brett Throop took a look at what it takes to support a refugee as they become established in the community, and what motivates volunteers to help make newcomers feel welcome in Peterborough.
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