It was born of a dispute between The Times of North and West Vancouver and columnist Pat Weaver.
Weaver created her own paper after a disagreement with the GVRD director of the day and called it her "free speech project."
After 12 editions, Weaver left on vacation and never returned to the island, leaving Larry Reid as editor and publisher for the next 13 years.
That same year the paper moved from its stapled mimeograph format to being a tabloid, which it remains to this day.
In 1988, Reid sold the paper to Eric Cardwell, owner of the Westender and the East Ender newspapers.