Briarpatch
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Briarpatch is Saskatchewan's independent alternative news magazine committed to building a socialist democratic society. Briarpatch provides a forum for disadvantaged peoples and supports progressive movements working to change unjust structures and build a genuine political and economic democracy. Briarpatch supports peace, equality, democracy, social justice, Aboriginal self-determination, and the protection of the environment. Briarpatch opposes the oppression of people on the basis of nation, class, race, gender, ability, and sexual orientation.
Briarpatch is published eight times a year by Briarpatch Incorporated, an independent non-profit organization. We publish February, March, May, June, August, September, November, and December. Briarpatch is a member of the Canadian Magazine Publishers Association and the staff are members of RWDSU Local 568.
Briarpatch is printed by union labour on recycled paper using vegetable-based ink, the Briarpatch website is hosted on servers powered by wind energy, and the editor hauls stuff around (with zero emissions) using a Cargo Sport Utility Trailer.
History
On August 24, 1973, a ten-page newsletter called "Notes from the Briarpatch" was cranked off a Gestetner machine. Back then, a subscription only cost $2 a year. For the next three years the newsletter provided a forum for low-income earners, welfare recipients and the unemployed. Briarpatch soon added extra pages and began covering a broader range of issues.
Briarpatch finally became a magazine with a two-colour cover and two staples in 1976. When Briarpatch's publisher, the Saskatchewan Council of Anti-Poverty Organizations (SCAPO), disbanded, the Briarpatch Society was founded to publish the magazine. The Society continued to receive funding from the Saskatchewan Social Services Department originally obtained by SCAPO back in 1973.
The magazine became increasingly involved in covering issues relevant to women, trade unionists, and farmers. As anti-uranium activities increased throughout Saskatchewan, Briarpatch increasingly supported their efforts. This shift in emphasis began to annoy Allan Blakeney's NDP government, which supported uranium development. In 1979, the provincial government cancelled Briarpatch 's $54,000-a-year funding because they claimed the magazine no longer reflected its low-income origins. Many Briarpatch supporters felt the real reason was Briarpatch's vocal criticism of the province's embrace of uranium mining.
But the supporters refused to let Briarpatch roll over and die. Donations began to flood in and a number of innovative fundraising events were developed that, over the years, have managed to keep Briarpatch afloat. These fundraising efforts include benefit dances and concerts, fundraiser dinners, kitchen parties, garage sales, bottle drives, art raffles, and swim-a-thons.
Briarpatch's bottom line took another hit on September 27, 1996, when Briarpatch received a registered letter from Revenue Canada informing the magazine that Briarpatch had "ceased to be a registered charity." Briarpatch had achieved charitable status in 1975, but in 1987, in the midst of Briarpatch's fierce criticisms of the provincial Tory government of Grant Devine, Revenue Canada audited Briarpatch and determined that the magazine no longer fit their criteria.
A Toronto lawyer worked on Briarpatch's behalf for free, keeping the suits from Briarpatch's door for the next eight years. But the case was finally lost in the Federal Court of Appeal, and as a result, Briarpatch can no longer issue tax receipts to their donors. (Meanwhile, Canada's richest people and most powerful corporations receive tax write-offs for their donations to the Fraser Institute.)
In spite of the hardship these set-backs have caused the magazine, Briarpatch has worn its loss of provincial funding and loss of charitable status like badges of honour: Briarpatch is truly beholden to no one but its readers, who trust the magazine to pull no punches and tell it like it is.
Thus, since 1973, Briarpatch has been serving up regular doses of news, analysis, and opinions on a wide variety of important issues. Believing that a truly free press is essential to the construction of a truly democratic society, Briarpatch provides a thoughtful, principled, and irreverent alternative to the false consensus of the corporate media. As Maude Barlow says, Briarpatch is "one of the few voices that will still challenge the corporate agenda and present workable alternatives."
