As always, the Rat Creek Press continues to be chock-full of stories about local events, people, places, and businesses. We share opinions on local issues and cover the news around development, policing, revitalization, and more.

Every time we get our contributors together, we have a fabulous time learning more about each other and discussing possible topics. We never have any difficulty finding enough content to fill our 16 pages.

Right now, we are exploring how we as a newspaper and as an organization can respond to the action calls from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, so you’ll be seeing more Aboriginal-related content. We are also planning a number of articles on the challenges faced by our local schools. In the spring, we hope to share Northlands’ evolution and transition.

Publishing a non-profit community newspaper is interesting but also has its challenges. The budget is limited, so a lot depends on volunteers. All the staff are part-time contractors who work other jobs. When things go sideways like when our website was hacked, it can take time to get things back up. We would love to do more investigative pieces, projects, and outreach but our resources are limited. If you have time to share, we would love to have you help out.

It’s important that we hear from our readers. You help us stay connected to our seven neighbourhoods. We need your thoughts on local issues. We need to know what kinds of stories you like to read in your local community paper. It’s nice for our contributors to get feedback and know the story they wrote was read and appreciated.

If you are on Facebook, please like our page. We share additional relevant information on our page as well as call for input on various topics. If you take interesting pictures in our neighbourhoods, share them with us on Facebook or Instagram with the hashtag #RCPsnaps or email us. Read individual articles at ratcreek.org and comment on them as well as share them online. Also feel free to email your thoughts, ideas, and pictures to info@ratcreek.org anytime. We love to hear from you!