Xavi Richer Vis

Hi Bluesky 👋

Small life update: I’m at the centre of a multimillion dollar lawsuit in Alberta launched by a failed candidate for Jason Kenney’s UCP

It may be the longest and most expensive media trial in Canadian history

I’m ready to go public about it and I want to share more details with you 🧵

If you care about journalism and press freedom, read this thread from Luke.

"World's first potential trillionaire has killed 600,000 people, including 400,000 children" is the only headline that anyone should ever read about Elon Musk

A Jays fan wearing a Michael Myers mask at Game 6 of the World Series 2025 (played on Halloween)

Toronto right now

Toronto, you will not taste victory until you sacrifice Drake

Art Toronto No Longer Sponsored by AXA, Insurance Giant Invested in Weapons Used in Israeli Genocide Activists have long pressured Canada’s largest international art fair to cut ties with the French multinational, which holds substantial investments in weapons manufacturing companies.

NEW in @thegrindto.bsky.social: Canada's largest international art fair is no longer sponsored by AXA Insurance.

Art Toronto has long faced pressure to cut ties with AXA, a major investor in weapons manufacturing companies linked to Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

www.thegrindmag.ca/art-toronto-...

CBC article, from July 16 2025, headline reads: Income inequality hit record high at start of 2025, Statistics Canada says Subhead reads: Gap increased each year following start of COVID-19 pandemic

I was using the same 2024 article in videos a lil while back to cite that wealth inequality in Canada had reached record highs in 2024.

Fun update: there's now a 2025 article about how wealth inequality has reached record highs this year!

Wheeeeeeeeee

So like I hear you but apparently we need 10,000 more data centres instead

blue jays win secured at 11pm honk shoo nation is thriving

"I hope this book stands as a refusal to stop imagining Palestine, to stop imagining a better world."

This was always my question

Ontario Cities Are Clearing Homeless Encampments. Where Are People Supposed to Go? Amidst a housing crisis with no end in sight, municipalities across the province have been cracking down on the unhoused

Municipalities across Ontario are (or are attempting) to clear local homeless encampments. These crackdowns come without an answer to the simple question, where are people supposed to go?

Mosquitoes found in Iceland for first time as climate crisis warms country Three specimens discovered in what was previously one of the few places in the world without the insects

So…for the first time mosquitos have been seen in Iceland. We’re so cooked. Literally

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

disgusting, i was thinking like bat shaped pasta, i don't know why your mind went there

this isn't very spooky season friendly of you eric

Knesset approves bill on Israeli sovereignty over West Bank - i24NEWS The preliminary bill was introduced by Deputy Avi Maoz passes 25–24 despite Netanyahu’s hesitation, exposing deep divisions within Israel’s ruling coalition and opposition

Israel's Knesset approves bill to annex the West Bank.

The bill was initiated by Avi Maoz, deputy leader of the Noam, a far-right religious Zionist party known for its aggressive opposition to LGBTQ rights.

www.i24news.tv/en/news/isra...

CBC headline reads: Some Conservative MPs doubt Poilievre's leadership after podcast remarks about RCMP Subhead reads: Poilievre said Trudeau broke law, called RCMP leadership 'despicable'

Do you hear that? That's the sound of knives sharpening with about 100 days to go until Pierre Poilievre's leadership review:

www.cbc.ca/news/politic...

Did Canada overreach by denying Kneecap entry?

Tylenol most definitely doesn't cause autism (but...)

The Kimmy Kimmel debacle is a flashpoint of free speech versus big business

You should know there's a new Canadian publication that presents "both sides" of a news story, and that no, it's not as bad as you think (it's worse).

This is a story in which the vulnerable hurt the vulnerable. It's about power, attention, and group violence. It's also a story of race, girlhood, substance use, and growing up during COVID. I wrote about the killing of Kenneth Lee by eight teenage girls in downtown Toronto. A thread:

Carney welcomed industry lobby, ignored environmental groups: records | The Narwhal Records show resource industry lobbyists had regular access to Prime Minister Mark Carney in his first 100 days, while environmental groups were shut out

New analysis of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s first 100 days after the federal election show oil and gas, mining and other industrial groups made up about 60 per cent of lobbying records. Environmental groups couldn’t get a word in. thenarwhal.ca/carney-natur...

Carney welcomed industry lobby, ignored environmental groups: records | The Narwhal Records show resource industry lobbyists had regular access to Prime Minister Mark Carney in his first 100 days, while environmental groups were shut out

Federal lobbying data shows that 60 per cent of Mark Carney’s lobbying meetings in his first 100 days were with oil, gas, mining and other industrial groups. Environmental organizations say they were shut out entirely.

New investigation from me for @thenarwhal.ca:

thenarwhal.ca/carney-natur...

Thanks Elaine!

Really great analysis by @xavierrichervis.bsky.social here:

Doug Ford’s 'common-sense conservation' is a fast track to extinction, experts warn With Bill 5, the Ontario government has gutted protections for endangered species and wetlands, dismantling decades of work to pave the way for a ‘wild west’ of unchecked development

Doug Ford has a new favorite saying — "Common-sense conservation". Environmentalists say the slogan is less about conservation than selling deregulation to the public, with little clarity on the consequences.

My latest reporting for @ricochetmedia.bsky.social

ricochet.media/climate/doug...

Doug Ford’s 'common-sense conservation' is a fast track to extinction, experts warn With Bill 5, the Ontario government has gutted protections for endangered species and wetlands, dismantling decades of work to pave the way for a ‘wild west’ of unchecked development

Doug Ford’s ‘common-sense conservation’ is a fast track to extinction, experts warn.

The #Ontario government has gutted protections for endangered species to pave the way for a ‘wild west’ of unchecked development.

New from @xavierrichervis.bsky.social:

ricochet.media/climate/doug...

#onpoli

The five weirdest things Eric Trump just said at a Toronto crypto convention - Toronto Life Donald Trump’s large adult son headlined a Toronto Bitcoin conference. It was unintentionally hilarious

For @torontolifemag.bsky.social, I got to cover the fascist boy wonder while he was in town for a crypto conference.

torontolife.com/city/the-fiv...

Toronto police move to upgrade facial recognition technology, raising concerns The move by Toronto police to upgrade facial recognition technology sparks debate on privacy and the impacts on marginalized communities.

Toronto #police move to upgrade facial recognition technology despite concerns of racial bias, surveillance overreach, and misuse at protests.

“Torontonians should see this as a real threat."

Journalist Xavier Richer Vis obtained new documents about the companies:

ricochet.media/justice/poli...

Toronto police move to upgrade facial recognition technology, raising concerns The move by Toronto police to upgrade facial recognition technology sparks debate on privacy and the impacts on marginalized communities.

#NEW: Toronto police want to obtain facial recognition tech that can "continuously compare" suspect images against new images added to its booking database. I got hold of some of the documents companies sent in.

My investigation for
@ricochetmedia.bsky.social

ricochet.media/justice/poli...

Meet Eric Wickham, PressProgress’ New Ontario Reporter Eric Wickham believes “good journalism is a public service”

Meet Eric Wickham, @pressprogress.ca’s new Ontario Reporter

For @ericwickham.ca, journalism is all about helping other people: “Good journalism is a public service.”