Skip to content
Join our Newsletter
Cindy E. Harnett

Cindy E. Harnett

Cindy Harnett is a Times Colonist reporter focused on health.

Cindy is originally from Toronto, where she attended York University and Ryerson University before taking her first newspaper job in northern Ontario, where she learned about forestry, wildlife, block heaters, and snowstorms in May. She has worked as a reporter in Quesnel and a managing editor at Black Press, and has contributed to publications including Maclean’s magazine.

In 2008, Cindy and her Times Colonist colleagues picked up a Jack Webster Best News Reporting of the Year award for coverage of the 2007 Lee family murder-suicide, which highlighted gross inadequacies in domestic violence and child protection services and police co-ordination.

Over the years, Cindy has gravitated to issues of justice, including the 1997 swarming and murder of teenager Reena Virk, the 2012 botched firing of eight B.C. Health Ministry researchers during which one committed suicide, the 2018 toxic drug poisoning death of Elliot Eurchuk, and the 2019 William Head jailbreak that saw two prisoners charged with murder.

Email
[email protected]

Recent Work by Cindy E.

Queen of Oak Bay back in service on Nanaimo-Horseshoe Bay ferry route

Queen of Oak Bay back in service on Nanaimo-Horseshoe Bay ferry route

The 6:30 a.m. from Horseshoe Bay and 9:05 a.m from Departure Bay in Nanaimo were cancelled, but the 11:25 a.m. from Horseshoe Bay and 1:40 p.m. from Nanaimo are set to go ahead
Co-op struggles to re-stock in wake of cyberattack

Co-op struggles to re-stock in wake of cyberattack

Keeping shelves stocked is “a little more challenging.”
Province rejects providing toxic-drug alternatives without a prescription

Province rejects providing toxic-drug alternatives without a prescription

The provincial health officer says she and former chief coroner Lisa Lapointe regularly heard from families who lost loved ones to the poisonous street supply that safer alternatives might have helped them
Thetis and Elk lakes to get life rings, life-jackets

Thetis and Elk lakes to get life rings, life-jackets

But no lifeguards are planned for the popular swimming lakes, since the cost is estimated at more than $270,000 per lake
Cash-stuffed wallet left on car roof 'rains' money on Island Highway in Parksville

Cash-stuffed wallet left on car roof 'rains' money on Island Highway in Parksville

Sooke’s Brooke Ervin saw motorists pulled over on the side of the highway grabbing money that was seemingly falling from the sky.
Free air conditioners still available for those with low incomes: BC Hydro

Free air conditioners still available for those with low incomes: BC Hydro

Since the program was launched about a year ago, the utility has installed more than 12,000 of the units, about 16 per cent of them on Vancouver Island.
'Very positive' test of school-bus seatbelts, but no decision a year later

'Very positive' test of school-bus seatbelts, but no decision a year later

Pilot projects in B.C. — including Nanaimo-Ladysmith School District — and Ontario concluded in June 2023 but the final report is still being compiled
Search teams scour Lake Cowichan area for man who never returned from walk

Search teams scour Lake Cowichan area for man who never returned from walk

Good weather has allowed searchers to hunt for Nicholas Marion from about 8 a.m. to nightfall each day
Fleming one of three cabinet ministers not running in fall provincial election

Fleming one of three cabinet ministers not running in fall provincial election

Labour Minister Harry Bains and Forests Minister Bruce Ralston also announced this week they won’t seek re-election
B.C. Ferries cancels two Thursday morning sailings due to mechanical issues

B.C. Ferries cancels two Thursday morning sailings due to mechanical issues

The 6 a.m. departing from Tsawwassen and the 8 a.m. from Swartz Bay were cancelled, but the 10 a.m. from Tsawwassen went ahead as scheduled
More work by Cindy E. >