Hi there,

I'm Shalu Mehta, your Comox Valley reporter and editor. 

Today we're kicking off our Spring Supporter Drive where we ask readers across the Comox Valley, Cowichan Valley and Nanaimo to step up as new monthly supporters — enough to keep our Island reporters in the field through the October municipal election.

The reason you're hearing about it from me first is simple: you already make this work possible.

You won't hear from us again during the campaign. But if you've got room to increase your monthly contribution to keep pace with inflation, it would help more than you know.

If that's not the right move right now, I get it. Forwarding this work to one neighbour who cares about real, local reporting goes just as far.

Please accept our huge thank you for supporting fact-checked, carefully written community journalism on issues you care about, from drought, floods, AI data centres, controversial town halls and the drug crisis.

With the line between human and AI-generated content increasingly blurring, we know you care about real reporting from people who live here.

Cowichan supporter Shelley L. put it this way:

"Right now it feels like most news is churned out by bots or faceless corporations. The Discourse Cowichan is a breath of fresh air. It's human-led and rooted right here. It isn't just trustworthy reporting — it's a genuine conversation with people who actually live here."

Thank you for being part of this,