Xavier Richer Vis

Reporter

Xavier is a Toronto-based journalist and newsroom coder with the Investigative Journalism Foundation. He first joined the IJF as a data-scraping volunteer and was a member of the IJF’s first cohort of summer reporters. His work has always been driven by an ardent belief in the need for more data transparency, accessibility and social-justice driven journalism.

A graduate of McGill University and Goldsmiths, University of London’s masters in computational journalism program, his work has also appeared in Wired. Prior to joining the IJF, he interned with the conflict monitoring non-profit Airwars and worked as a communications and data consultant with the World Health Organization’s Health Emergencies Programme.

Outside work, Xavier loves traveling, horror movies, mezze platters and spending an inordinate amount of time on Wikipedia.

Doug Ford’s ‘independent’ tribunals: Exclusive data analysis reveals premier appoints Conservative insiders

Majority of top tribunal members have Conservative ties

Ontario landlords and developers lobby en masse following Greenbelt fallout

And eight other insights from the IJF’s lobbying newsletter

Nurses lobbying Ontario and Saskatchewan governments to support national pharmacare

And eight other insights from the IJF’s lobbying newsletter

Gambling suppliers lobbying bill that gives First Nations ‘exclusive authority’ over reserve gaming

And eight other insights from the IJF’s weekly lobbying newsletter

Billy Bishop airport lobbying to keep its land lease as groups call for more green space

And seven other insights from the IJF’s lobbying newsletter

Number of Toronto cops accused of not doing their jobs doubled in two years

Allegations of neglect of duty against Toronto police rise as police budget grows

Imperial Oil reporting 'challenges' after being ordered to reduce toxic emissions

And eight other insights from the IJF’s weekly lobbying newsletter

Ducks Unlimited wants new law to protect wetlands threatened by housing development

And eight other insights from the IJF’s lobbying newsletter

Former foreign affairs minister John Baird lobbying Doug Ford for electric battery company

And eight more insights from the IJF’s weekly lobbying newsletter

Lobby Roundup: Developers lobbying for expedited processes as Ontario auditor general slams Ford over Greenbelt

Lobby Roundup: Canadian bitcoin industry lobbying for tax credits after regulatory crackdown

And nine more insights from the IJF’s weekly lobbying newsletter

Lobby Roundup: Loblaws started lobbying on grocery competition right before Competition Bureau said prices are too high

And eight other insights from the IJF’s weekly lobbying newsletter

Lynx Air is the latest airline to ask for federal money in turbulent times

And eight other insights from the IJF’s weekly lobbying newsletter

Lobby Roundup: Prominent gun control group lobbying to strengthen federal gun laws

And eight other insights from the IJF’s weekly lobbying newsletter

Record number of complaints against Toronto police tossed out for unclear reasons

Lawyers, academics, and complainants say system that investigates police misconduct is broken

A Lyft sign is displayed in a driver's car in San Francisco.

Lobby Roundup: Lyft looking to slow down Ontario’s implementation of a new minimum wage law

And nine other insights from the IJF’s weekly lobbying newsletter

Lobby Roundup: Restaurant lobbyists ask Doug Ford for help to pay their workers minimum wage

And eight other insights from the IJF’s weekly lobbying roundup

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Lobby Roundup: Constables lobbying to water down law making it easier to suspend police without pay

And eight other insights from the IJF’s weekly lobbying roundup

Lobby Roundup: Flair Airlines asking for government money to compete with Air Canada and WestJet

And eight other insights from the IJF’s weekly lobbying roundup

Lobby Roundup: AstraZeneca lobbying on drug pricing nationwide after Liberals backtrack on promise to cut pharmaceutical prices

And eight other insights from the IJF’s weekly lobbying roundup

Lobby Roundup: Leading pro-gun group stops lobbying in Ontario citing Doug Ford’s policies

And eight other insights from the IJF’s weekly lobbying roundup

Lobby Roundup: Uber wants to talk with the federal government about testing self-driving cars

And nine other insights from the IJF’s fourth weekly lobbying roundup

Lobby Roundup: Koch Companies registers to lobby Danielle Smith ahead of Alberta election

And nine other insights from the IJF’s third weekly lobbying roundup

A sign up page for the application TikTok is shown on a cell phone in front of a screen with logos for the company.

TikTok lobbying Alberta, B.C., Manitoba and P.E.I. following government bans

Video-sharing app wants to convince provinces it’s valuable to Canadian content creators

Lobby Roundup: Canada Nickel Company wants money for mine producing key electric vehicle component

And 12 other insights from the IJF’s second weekly lobbying roundup

Lobby Roundup: Enbridge wants Justin Trudeau’s help to send Canadian energy to Europe

And eight other insights from the IJF’s first weekly lobbying roundup

Police are seizing a record number of firearms within Canada and at the border

Experts differ on the extent to which seizures contribute to gun violence reduction

Lobbying has more than doubled under Justin Trudeau

And other findings from the IJF’s analysis of 15 years of lobbying data

Illustration by Codename Design for Canada's National Observer and Investigative Journalism Foundation.

Big Oil lobbyists outgun environmentalists with access to the most powerful federal ministries

Government requests for Canadians’ Google data have jumped ten-fold in past five years

Government submitted 2,327 requests for user data in 2021, up from 249 in 2016

Illustration by Ata Ojani

How Big Oil’s most powerful lobby group works the backrooms on Parliament Hill

In the second installment of a larger collaboration between Canada’s National Observer and the Investigative Journalism Foundation, we look at the lobbying activities of Canada’s chief fossil fuels lobbying organization.

Oil giants lobbying the federal government got $2.6 billion in taxpayer dollars over the past 11 years

Data obtained in a joint investigation by Canada’s National Observer and the Investigative Journalism Foundation shows that federal and provincial government funding to Canada’s largest oil companies is on the rise.