Behind the Lookout

Lindsay Groves, Corporate Services Manager Lookout Newspaper Here I am again: sitting behind a keyboard with a blank page on my screen. It always feels good to be here — at the beginning of something new. My career has taken me from local reporting to writing for global brands, and now I’m back in community news. Because I believe storytelling matters, it feels like the right time to introduce myself and tell a chapter of my story. “I believe storytelling matters." I’m Lindsay Groves, the Corporate Services Manager for the Lookout Newspaper, part of the Personnel Support Programs (PSP) team. I joined the team in July 2025. My brother, Sub-Lieutenant (SLt) Nicholas (Nick) Groves, enlisted in the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) in 2012. He was proud and ready. As a family, we celebrated his professional milestones throughout the years of service with memories of his graduation at His Majesty’s Canadian Ship (HMCS) Venture. We also celebrated his life with a ceremony at Venture as Nick proudly served on HMCS Ottawa until his death in 2017 after his battle with cancer. There is a saying on the wall at Work Point’s Nixon Gym that reads, “A new undertaking to dare & not be afraid.’” While I did not witness my brother in his naval environment, I knew him, and I was with him from his diagnosis to his death. To witness his strength, courage, and humour in the face of this impossible challenge remains a guiding light in my life. During his battle, Nick experienced an outpouring of care and support from this base. I can confirm that his experience, along with my family’s experience in caring for him, would have been extremely different with additional layers of difficulty if it were not for the morale, benefits, and support offered by...

Archana Cini, Digital Media and Marketing, Writer/Reporter Lookout Newspaper I’m Archana Cini, and I’ve been the Lookout’s writer, reporter, and digital marketing coordinator for the past six months. People like to ask me why I’m here, and I always start with what I’m not here to do. I don’t want to tell the same story for the hundredth time with a few words changed. I want to show the entirety of the West Coast that the Royal Canadian Navy isn’t just an institution — it is its people, every single one. That’s why I’m here. We’ve all heard Aristotle’s, ‘The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.’ but I think we sometimes forget that the whole itself would cease to exist if not for the existence of, literally, each individual part. In this sense, I don’t want to write about just the whole. I also want to learn about every role, every person, their experiences both in and out of their uniform. The details are where my favorite stories are found. At the seed of my soul, I want to share Defence Community stories as its humans are — brave, funny, and always real. I never want to write from a distance. I want to get close enough to understand why something matters. If I got to sit down with my ten-yearold self and tell her what her proudest moment in life to date would be, it’s this one — being seen as the woman behind the words. As a South Indian immigrant, English didn’t always feel like mine. In my early years, I used it to survive. Now, it is my craft. “I can’t say I’ve been in this industry for four decades, but I can say I write a damn good story.” Writing in a military...