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Will Pearson

@quillpearson.bsky.social
269 followers 263 following 179 posts

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Will Pearson @quillpearson.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Thanks to @cust-punk.bsky.social for chatting with me about my exhibit, A Peterborough Summer: 1976. You can listen to our conversation here: news.trentradio.ca/2026/07/20/s...
news.trentradio.ca
SWITCHBOARD: Will Pearson walks through local history in new archival photo project
For the past year Will Pearson has been cataloguing and restoring photos from Peterborough's past with the help of the Trent Valley Archives. Now the co-founder of Peterborough Currents is ready to sh...
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Will Pearson @quillpearson.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
My archival photo exhibit, "A Peterborough Summer: 1976" opens tomorrow evening at Dreams of Beans Café as part of the First Friday Art Crawl. See you at the café, from 7pm onward!
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Will Pearson @quillpearson.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
It's been a year since Toronto passed a bylaw that increased the burden on landlords evicting to renovate. And renovictions appear to be way down. www.thestar.com/real-estate/...
thestar.com
Since Toronto’s renoviction bylaw took effect a year ago, calls about such evictions have ‘all but disappeared’
Since Toronto’s renoviction bylaw took effect one year ago, lawyers and advocates say calls about this type of bad-faith eviction have ‘all but disappeared.’
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The Narwhal @thenarwhal.ca · 16/06/2026
After weeks in court, The Narwhal is in the home stretch of our press freedom trial against the RCMP — final arguments are wrapping up.

 We’re standing firm in our conviction that journalists must be given access to cover the actions of powerful government institutions like the police.
thenarwhal.ca
The Narwhal’s press freedom case against the RCMP, explained
Stay informed about The Narwhal and Amber Bracken’s lawsuit against the RCMP as we fight for press freedom in B.C. Supreme Court
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gabe @gabeisyourgod.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
Check out my latest on @ptbocurrents.bsky.social. Taking a look at the current strike by the OPSEU local at Community Living, the wider tensions with the province that it represents, and the vulnerable communities it affects the most. peterboroughcurrents.ca/in-depth/dev...
peterboroughcurrents.ca
Tensions boil over into a strike at Community Living (and across the province)
Chronic underfunding and a wage cap lead to coordinated labour actions across the province
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Will Pearson @quillpearson.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
I've enjoyed writing a little for @thephilanthropist.ca lately. Here's a new one on declining volunteerism in Canada, and one local effort to turn the trend around. (Get out there and participate, people!) thephilanthropist.ca/2026/06/less...
thephilanthropist.ca
Lessons from one local effort to rekindle a culture of volunteering - The Philanthropist Journal
Volunteer Peterborough aims to buck a national trend of declining volunteerism by supporting people to find opportunities that match their skills and interests.
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Will Pearson @quillpearson.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Downtown's big pit now has a list price! This property, which is assessed for $188,000 for property tax purposes, is for sale for $3 million. Remember, "If you're undertaxing a [property] ... you’re going to be overtaxing somebody else." peterboroughcurrents.ca/news/this-mi...
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Will Pearson @quillpearson.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
Ontario is lifting the tuition freeze. MPP Smith defended the freeze and used it to attack an opponent in a debate last year. "Are you suggesting, in economic hard times, that you want students to pay more, and you want parents to pay more, and you want families to have less money?" Smith said.
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Peterborough Currents @ptbocurrents.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
In a first for Ontario, Alderville First Nation has granted Rice Lake legal personhood. “We’ve always seen the lake as a mother, a provider," says Chief Taynar Simpson. "As a family member.” peterboroughcurrents.ca/environment/...
peterboroughcurrents.ca
Alderville First Nation grants legal personhood to Rice Lake
Exploring an alternate solution to climate change, and a growing international movement
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The Narwhal @thenarwhal.ca · 05/01/2026
The Narwhal is suing the RCMP to protect press freedom for all Canadians, and our case will be heard in a Vancouver courtroom beginning next week. We’re counting on your support as the case unfolds, so here’s what you need to know. 🧵
A graphic reads “We’re standing up for press freedom” and displays a photo of an RCMP officer peering into a tiny house dwelling through a window.
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Will Pearson @quillpearson.bsky.social · 19/12/2025
Competition for space underneath roads in Ontario is fierce; municipalities need that space for all sorts of infrastructure. So why does a fossil fuel company get to put its pipelines there for free? (Peterborough's deal with Enbridge was signed in 2023 🫠)
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kawarthaNOW @kawarthanow.bsky.social · 24/11/2025
Prominent #Ptbo lawyer, former city councillor, and civic leader Ann Farquharson has passed away. The widely respected volunteer and community advocate has died at 68, leaving a legacy of service spanning law, politics, and countless local organizations. kawarthanow.com/2025/11/24/p...
kawarthanow.com
Prominent Peterborough lawyer, former city councillor, and civic leader Ann Farquharson has passed away | kawarthaNOW
By kawarthaNOW. The widely respected volunteer and community advocate has died at 68, leaving a legacy of service spanning law, politics, and countless local organizations.
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Sebastian Johnston-Lindsay @sebastianj-l.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
Now Leal is asking airport manager, Kyle Bruce, whether there will be "big signs" for the airport following its official name change. "I mean REALLY big signs," he repeats as Bruce explains there are restrictions on the size of signs in Peterborough. Mercifully, we are on break now.
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Will Pearson @quillpearson.bsky.social · 08/11/2025
The convictions are suspended pending a constitutional challenge, in which lawyers will argue the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act is unconstitutional. 👀
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Will Pearson @quillpearson.bsky.social · 08/11/2025
Still looking! Anyone know?
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The Narwhal @thenarwhal.ca · 05/11/2025
In Alberta, landowners can’t deny oil and gas wells on their properties, but they’re entitled to compensation. Some companies fail to pay those bills — and rural Albertans are tired of waiting. They're also tired of that repayment, eventually, coming from taxpayers. thenarwhal.ca/alberta-land...
thenarwhal.ca
Rural Albertans face growing problems with oil and gas wells | The Narwhal
The Alberta government is pushing a new plan to deal with years of regulatory failure. Alberta landowners aren’t convinced
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Will Pearson @quillpearson.bsky.social · 30/10/2025
Can anyone think of any commercial or industrial properties that have sold in Peterborough in the last year or two? Not properties that have been put up for sale, but ones that we know did indeed sell. Need to find some examples for an analysis I'd like to do.
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Peterborough Currents @ptbocurrents.bsky.social · 17/10/2025
Much of Canada's reckoning with its colonial past and present has focused on the history and legacy of residential schools. But there were also 699 day schools across Canada, including one in Curve Lake First Nation. A new book uncovers that history. peterboroughcurrents.ca/in-depth/cur...
peterboroughcurrents.ca
Uncovering the history of the Curve Lake Day School
New book reveals a pattern of abuse, cultural erasure, and systemic neglect by the Canadian government
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Will Pearson @quillpearson.bsky.social · 09/10/2025
New from me! The GE property at 107 Park Street generates more than $500,000 in property taxes for the city each year. That number stands to decrease if a proposal to demolish many of the buildings on the 50-acre site goes ahead. peterboroughcurrents.ca/analysis/ge-...
peterboroughcurrents.ca
Why the GE demolition plan could hurt Peterborough's tax base | Peterborough Currents
With fewer buildings on it, the GE property will likely be taxed less. That would mean higher bills for everyone else.
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Will Pearson @quillpearson.bsky.social · 27/09/2025
It's time for my second annual DOGS OF PRIDE roundup. Here are the top four. Happy Pride, PTBO/NOGO!
A dog with a rainbow bandana walks in the Peterborough/Nogojiwanong Pride Parade on September 27. 2025.A dog sits watching the 2025 Peterborough/Nogojiwanong Pride Parade on September 27, 2025.A dog walks in the 2025 Peterborough/Nogojiwanong Pride Parade on September 27, 2025.A dog walks in the 2025 Peterborough/Nogojiwanong Pride Parade on September 27, 2025.
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The Narwhal @thenarwhal.ca · 12/09/2025
A B.C. court has granted an injunction against a group of people blocking a logging road on southern Vancouver Island. The decision paves the way for the RCMP to move in, stirring memories of the Fairy Creek conflict 4 years ago thenarwhal.ca/walbran-vall... #bcpoli
thenarwhal.ca
Walbran Valley logging blockade escalates with injunction | The Narwhal
Four years after Fairy Creek, a new battle over B.C.’s old-growth forests looms in the Walbran Valley on Vancouver Island
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The Narwhal @thenarwhal.ca · 30/08/2025
The Ontario government is giving a portion of Wasaga Beach Provincial Park to the town to boost the local economy. @fatimabsyed.bsky.social visited on a late August weekend to understand the precedent this sets and how the piping plover and its summer home might fare. thenarwhal.ca/wasaga-beach...
thenarwhal.ca
The uncertain future of Wasaga Beach | The Narwhal
The Ontario government is handing part of Wasaga Beach Provincial Park over to the town, leaving many wondering what will be left to protect it
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Will Pearson @quillpearson.bsky.social · 26/08/2025
It's not perfect. But I'm relieved to see this got approved last night. More please.
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Will Pearson @quillpearson.bsky.social · 24/08/2025
Found this at Bluestreak today. From 1980. Never heard of the artist but it seems to have a bunch of Peterborough connections. Anyone know anything?
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Peterborough Examiner @ptboexaminer.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
Cost to accommodate Peterborough Police in two renovated buildings goes over budget by $25.4 million
thepeterboroughexaminer.com
Cost to accommodate Peterborough Police in two renovated buildings goes over budget by $25.4 million
Cost of planned $65.5 million projects has surged to $91.9 million.
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Will Pearson @quillpearson.bsky.social · 15/08/2025
Meet me! thenarwhal.ca/will-pearson...
thenarwhal.ca
Meet Will Pearson, assistant editor for The Narwhal
Will Pearson, co-founder of Peterborough Currents, brings his keen eye for storytelling to The Narwhal's reporting on the natural world
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Paloma Pacheco @palomahazel.bsky.social · 15/08/2025
It's us! Happy @thenarwhal.ca debutante day, @quillpearson.bsky.social 🐋
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Will Pearson @quillpearson.bsky.social · 09/08/2025
This is great ... hope it works out!
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Peterborough Currents @ptbocurrents.bsky.social · 07/08/2025
We're hiring! As our newsroom's founding members depart to pursue new opportunities, we're seeking someone to take up the mantle and continue our work of delivering in-depth and community-centred local news to our audience. Details here: peterboroughcurrents.ca/announcement...
peterboroughcurrents.ca
We're hiring an editor.
This is an opportunity to shape the future of non-profit news in Peterborough. Apply by August 19.
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Will Pearson @quillpearson.bsky.social · 07/08/2025
News! After five years leading Peterborough Currents, I'm moving on and now I work at @thenarwhal.ca! That means Currents needs a new editor. So we're hiring! This is an opportunity to shape the future of non-profit news in Peterborough. peterboroughcurrents.ca/announcement...
peterboroughcurrents.ca
We're hiring an editor.
This is an opportunity to shape the future of non-profit news in Peterborough. Apply by August 19.
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Peterborough Examiner @ptboexaminer.bsky.social · 01/08/2025
'The Queen is dead': Pollinator Parade buzzes downtown Peterborough
thepeterboroughexaminer.com
'The Queen is dead': Pollinator Parade buzzes downtown Peterborough
Pollinator Parade brings attention to bee populations.
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Nick Hune-Brown @nickhunebrown.bsky.social · 23/07/2025
@royinori.bsky.social spent a night worm picking and came back with so many mind-boggling facts. Nearly all bait worms are harvested in one small corner of southern Ontario? Today's worms aren't even native to North America?? #longreads thelocal.to/ontario-nigh...
thelocal.to
On the Hunt for Nightcrawlers in the Worm-Picking Capital of the World | The Local
Nearly all bait worms sold in North America are hand-plucked from farmland in this part of Canada. But with labour shortages and climate change, some worry we’re witnessing the final wiggles of a once...
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Gabe Oatley @gabeoatley.bsky.social · 22/07/2025
NEW: Since 4 Toronto safe consumption sites were forced to close, the number of overdoses per week at Metropolitan United Church has gone from 1 to as many as 6. "It's just carnage all the time. I feel like I’m staring at a bad motor vehicle accident." www.torontotoday.ca/local/health...
torontotoday.ca
Churches see alarming overdose spike on-site since safe consumption site closures
‘It's just carnage all the time. I feel like I’m staring at a bad motor vehicle accident,’ says one church property manager
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Toronto Star @thestar.com · 17/07/2025
#StarExclusive: This confidential report reveals Ontario is spending millions to warehouse kids under Children’s Aid care in hotels and other unlicensed settings
thestar.com
This confidential report reveals Ontario is spending millions to warehouse kids under Children’s Aid care in hotels and other unlicensed settings
The report presses the province to create more specialized treatment options to address the growing number of kids housed in inappropriate placements.
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The Narwhal @thenarwhal.ca · 17/07/2025
Carol Linnitt, co-founder of The Narwhal, flew to Vancouver in April, took a glass elevator up a glimmering skyscraper and entered a boardroom full of lawyers. There she was grilled, for hours, about details of The Narwhal’s press freedom lawsuit against the RCMP.
A sign on a brown door reads "Room 426 - The Narwhal News Society v. Attorney General"
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Will Pearson @quillpearson.bsky.social · 15/07/2025
I moved to Halifax in 2012. Within 60 seconds of my arrival by train, I was reading The Coast to learn about my new city and get engaged. Coming from smaller city, I was amazed at all those music listings! This is a bummer.
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Brendan Kennedy @bkstar.bsky.social · 11/07/2025
Most of my reporting on jail conditions this year has focused on Maplehurst in Milton. But the dysfunction in Ontario's jails is system-wide. Today's story shows how the inhumane conditions across the province impact staff, inmates & the judicial system as a whole. www.thestar.com/news/investi...
thestar.com
Ontario’s jail conditions are inhumane and disgraceful, judges say. Criminals are serving shorter sentences as a result
As the premier calls for bail reforms that would see more people locked up while awaiting trial, Ontario’s jails are “in a state of growing crisis.”
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Toronto Star @thestar.com · 09/07/2025
#Breaking: More than 10,000 Ontario college staff laid off, 600 programs cancelled or suspended over past year
thestar.com
New numbers reveal 10,000-plus Ontario college layoffs, 600 programs cancelled or suspended over past year
Post-secondary layoffs and program cuts — spread across 24 public colleges — have hit both urban and rural communities and nearly every discipline.
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Thomas Piggott MD PhD @twpiggott.bsky.social · 03/07/2025
No level of enforcement will get us out of a crisis of human security. Meeting human needs creates community safety.
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NPR @npr.org · 28/06/2025
Marchers gambled with potential police intervention and fines to participate in the annual Budapest Pride, which was outlawed by a law passed by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's right-wing governing party.
n.pr
Around 100,000 march in Budapest Pride event in defiance of Hungary's ban
Marchers gambled with potential police intervention and fines to participate in the annual Budapest Pride, which was outlawed by a law passed by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's right-wing governing party.
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Brian F. Kelcey @stateofthecity.bsky.social · 27/06/2025
It's legal! Winnipeg's iconic Portage & Main intersection is open once again to pedestrian at-grade crossings, after over four decades of barricades.
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Will Pearson @quillpearson.bsky.social · 23/06/2025
A+ website right here: www.thekingshighway.ca
thekingshighway.ca
Ontario Highways - The History of the King's Highways and other Ontario Provincial Highways
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Will Pearson @quillpearson.bsky.social · 19/06/2025
This is so sad. But if you're feeling strong today, please read. www.thestar.com/news/investi...
thestar.com
She spent a year living in hotels while in the care of Children’s Aid. It was the last of her young life. This is Jade’s story
Over four years, children’s aid societies have housed hundreds of kids with mental health conditions and high-risk behaviours in unlicensed settings.
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Will Pearson @quillpearson.bsky.social · 19/06/2025
💔
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kawarthaNOW @kawarthanow.bsky.social · 29/05/2025
Integrity commissioner finds #Ptbo mayor contravened city council's code of conduct. While absolving Mayor Leal of 'private advantage' in pickleball controversy, Guy Giorno concludes he intimidated councillor Alex Bierk and bullied councillor Joy Lachica. kawarthanow.com/2025/05/29/i...
kawarthanow.com
Integrity commissioner finds Peterborough mayor contravened city council’s code of conduct | kawarthaNOW
By Bruce Head. While absolving Mayor Leal of 'private advantage' in pickleball controversy, Guy Giorno concludes he intimidated councillor Alex Bierk and bullied councillor Joy Lachica.
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Sebastian Johnston-Lindsay @sebastianj-l.bsky.social · 28/05/2025
Councillors Alex Bierk and Keith Riel say that they are concerned by the use of public money to implement a failing enforcement strategy. www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/news/song-an...
thepeterboroughexaminer.com
‘Song and dance approach’: Peterborough’s homelessness co-chairs critical of enforcement strategy
Councillors Alex Bierk and Keith Riel said that they are concerned by the use of public money to implement a failing enforcement strategy
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Peterborough Currents @ptbocurrents.bsky.social · 28/05/2025
Over a century after Peterborough's first Chinese immigrants opened businesses in the city, some of their descendants are still carrying on their families' entrepreneurial legacy. As Asian Heritage Month draws to a close, explore this local history article. peterboroughcurrents.ca/community/ea...
peterboroughcurrents.ca
Descendants of early Peterborough Chinese restaurateurs are carrying on their families' "legacy of entrepreneurship"
Over a dozen Chinese restaurants opened in Peterborough before 1950. Today, some descendents of those early entrepreneurs are continuing their families' legacies.
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Canadian Paintings @canadianpaintings.bsky.social · 25/05/2025
Killarney Sunrise Philip Sybal 1992
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Peterborough Currents @ptbocurrents.bsky.social · 24/05/2025
It was lovely to meet so many of you at the Gilmour Street Garage Sale this morning! Thanks for chatting about local news and picking up a copy of the magazine 🙂 🗞️
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Peterborough Currents @ptbocurrents.bsky.social · 14/05/2025
Our magazine's cover story examines how some local families are working together to secure safe, stable housing for their loved ones with disabilities. It's a long read; so you might prefer to check it out in print. But if digital's better for you, voila: peterboroughcurrents.ca/in-depth/fam...
peterboroughcurrents.ca
Families fight to find housing for their loved ones with disabilities
Ontario's supportive housing waitlist has grown by 50 percent since 2017
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