(Drone image of unauthorized landfill on Indian Road)
sixmountains.ca series on unauthorized landfill on Cowichan Tribes land receives gold prize in national competition
Larry Pynn of sixmountains.ca won a national award Saturday for best community-based investigative journalism.
The Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ) awarded Pynn the gold prize for his series on an unauthorized landfill on Cowichan Tribes reserve land.
The second-place silver award in the community news category went to CBC Kingston for a report entitled, What happened to the Wolfe Island Ferry?
Pynn was the first to report on Oct. 25, 2025, that a member of Cowichan Tribes had received a pollution prevention order related to a long-standing unauthorized landfill on Tribes’ Indian Road reserve.
The Ministry of Environment order pertains to three lots on Indian Road just above the Cowichan River near Allenby Road Bridge where dumped waste is “likely to release substances that will cause pollution.”
The unauthorized waste — construction and demolition debris, residential waste, derelict RV trailers, plastics, metals, and other “unmanaged materials” — violates the Environmental Management Act, says the order.
In accepting his award, Pynn said that his reporting for sixmountains.ca has been among the most rewarding of his career, evidence of the impact one journalist can have in their community.
(Bruce Coates photo of Larry Pynn with western red cedar on the Chemainus River)
Pynn continued to lead the way over the ensuing weeks with his reporting on the Indian Road site, plus two other unauthorized landfills also located on Tribes land.
Read the original article: https://www.sixmountains.ca/article/fdaaf885-11e9-432e-9041-aa3c4f965a5e
Read the Cowichan Tribes statement: https://www.sixmountains.ca/article/110b5870-c18c-42d4-939c-4a8665722ecb
Pynn is a former environment reporter for The Vancouver Sun and lives near Maple Bay in North Cowichan.
The awards were announced at the CAJ’s annual awards gala at Carleton University’s School of Journalism and Communications in Ottawa. Journalists submitted a record 561 entries across 20 categories.
Read the full list of award recipients: https://caj.ca/canadian-association-of-journalists-celebrates-excellence-in-canadian-journalism-from-2025-at-annual-awards-gala/
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— June 14, 2026
