About The Record

The Record

The Record is the English-language daily newspaper of Sherbrooke, Quebec — the paper of the anglophone minority in the Eastern Townships, and one of the last two English-language dailies in French-speaking Quebec (the other being the much larger Montreal Gazette). Launched on February 9, 1897, by businessman Leonard Channell as the Sherbrooke Daily Record, it has served the Townships' English community for more than 125 years: a daily community newspaper published Monday through Friday, in compact format, focused on the region rather than the world. Owned by Alta Newspaper Group since 2006, it is a small paper with an outsized historical footprint — future media barons John W. H. Bassett and Conrad Black both got their starts in newspaper ownership here. Wikipedia lists sherbrookerecord.com as its website.

Overview

The Eastern Townships — the rolling country southeast of Montreal, settled by American Loyalists and British immigrants in the late eighteenth century — has long had an English-speaking minority: the farmers, the mill workers, the students of Bishop's University in Lennoxville. The Record is their daily newspaper: the newsroom covers Sherbrooke city council, the Townships' municipalities, the courts, the region's schools (including Bishop's University), the health institutions, the agriculture and the community life of the anglophone Townships.

The paper's distinction is its community: for years it has been a daily community newspaper for the anglophone minority, without comprehensive coverage of national and world news — the paper of the Townships' English speakers, by and for them. Its political alignment is Canadian federalism, with both Conservative and Liberal columnists. In a province where the English-language press has nearly vanished — where the Gazette stands alone in Montreal and the Record alone in the Townships — the paper's survival is itself a statement: that the anglophone Townships, diminished but enduring, still have a daily voice. Its readers are the descendants of the Loyalists and the mill workers, the Bishop's alumni, the farmers of Brome-Missisquoi and the professionals of Sherbrooke — a community that reads the Record as an act of belonging.

History

The Record was launched on February 9, 1897, by businessman Leonard Channell as the Sherbrooke Daily Record — in the great age of the Townships' industrialization, when Sherbrooke's mills were booming and the English community was at its height. The paper chronicled the twentieth century in the Townships: the textile age — the mills of Sherbrooke and Magog employing generations — the two world wars, the Quiet Revolution's transformation of the region, the decline of the anglophone population and the modern bilingual Townships. The Record's archives are the documentary record of a community's long retreat and resilience: the schools that closed, the churches that emptied, the businesses that francized — and the institutions that endured: Bishop's University, the hospitals, the community organizations. Its photographers' images of the Townships' covered bridges, the fall colours, the mill towns and the border country are part of the region's visual memory.

The paper's ownership history is a footnote to Canadian media history: future media barons John W. H. Bassett and Conrad Black both got their starts in newspaper ownership as owner and co-owner, respectively, of the Sherbrooke Daily Record — the small Townships paper where two of the country's great press empires began. Bassett would build Baton Broadcasting and the Toronto Telegram lineage; Black would build Hollinger International into one of the world's great newspaper empires before its spectacular fall. That both men learned the trade on the Record's presses is a reminder of the paper's outsized place in the country's press history — the little daily that launched the barons. For years the paper was owned by Black's Hollinger International; in January 2006 it was purchased by Alta Newspaper Group, a partnership of Glacier Ventures International and former Hollinger executive David Radler. The paper's offices are at 1195, rue Galt Est in Sherbrooke.

Content and Sections

The modern Record is built around the Townships' English community. Sherbrooke city council anchors the news pages — the paper covers the mayor and council — extending to the region's municipalities: Lennoxville, Magog, Coaticook, Cowansville, Granby's anglophones and the border towns. The courts beat covers the region's legal community; education coverage spans the English school boards and Bishop's University.

"Talk" — or "Talk of the Townships" — the weekly television, arts and cultural insert appearing every Friday, is a signature: the guide to the region's cultural life. Periodic sections focus on individual communities and events within the Record's service area. The paper's columnists — Conservative and Liberal, reflecting its federalist politics — are the community's debaters. Sports coverage centres on the region's hockey culture, the junior teams and Bishop's Gaiters university sports. Opinion pages carry editorials and letters from the anglophone Townships, and feature sections cover arts, food, homes, health and community life. Its archives, reaching back to 1897, document the Townships' English community — the mills, the churches, the schools and the making of modern Estrie.

Coverage and Audience

The Record serves Sherbrooke and the Eastern Townships — a market of roughly 350,000 people across the region, of whom the English-speaking minority numbers in the tens of thousands. Its audience is the Townships' anglophones: the farmers, the professionals, the Bishop's community, the retirees and the families who have read the paper for generations.

Daily circulation was reported at 4,049 as of 2011, with weekly circulation of 21,565 in 2013; the paper publishes Monday through Friday in print with daily digital coverage. The paper's political coverage carries weight in the community: as the voice of the anglophone Townships, its editorials on language rights, the region's institutions and the community's future are read by policymakers and cited in the province's English-language debate. In a minority community, the Record's scoops, editorials and letters pages are the public square — the place where the anglophone Townships argue about their schools, their hospitals, their language rights and their future.

Ownership

The Record is owned by Alta Newspaper Group, the partnership of Glacier Ventures International and former Hollinger executive David Radler that purchased the paper in January 2006. Unlike the great majority of Canadian dailies, it is not owned by Postmedia or Torstar — making it one of the few independently owned dailies in the country, and the only English daily in Quebec outside Montreal.

The paper maintains its Sherbrooke newsroom at 1195, rue Galt Est, serving the Townships' English community with a small staff and a deep local commitment — the kind of paper where the reporters know the readers by name, and the readers know the reporters.

Digital Presence

The Record's digital edition carries its daily journalism online: breaking news, e-edition access, newsletters, photo galleries and community features, serving the Townships' anglophones and the community's diaspora. Wikipedia lists sherbrookerecord.com as the paper's website.

On social media the paper distributes breaking news and community stories to a following concentrated in the Eastern Townships. As of 2026, The Record continues to publish — Monday through Friday in print, daily online — more than 125 years after Leonard Channell's first Daily Record, still the daily voice of the anglophone Townships — still the community's paper, still its public square, still its daily act of belonging.

For the Townships' English-speaking minority — the Loyalist descendants, the mill workers' families, the Bishop's University community in Lennoxville — The Record is the daily link: Sherbrooke's council, the municipalities, the courts, the schools. In the French-majority Estrie, it remains the English community's own paper.

Note: website left empty in frontmatter per project rule for url-unverified rows; Wikipedia lists sherbrookerecord.com as the paper's website.