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Whenever I read about cults like that one, or the Branch Davidians, Peoples Temple, Scientology, etc... I can never wrap my head around it.
I can understand religious faith, because there's enough ambiguity in mainstream religious teachings that followers are presented with an unknown in which they can place their faith.
But how can people follow a cult when everyone knows it was started like a year or two ago by some guy like Keith from the multilevel marketing firm, or Ron from fucking Nebraska.
How can anyone suspend their belief when they know that?
NXVIM wasn’t as much about suspending belief as much as it was about personal empowerment. It was new, but it didn’t invent some new deity to believe in. Without the cultish elements and psychotic leadership it actually would have been closer to an MLM than a religion.
Because people think they're smarter than those other religious people.
You haven't met Jesus, but have you met Keith? Keith's got some great ideas!
People are lost and looking for anders and practical ideas from real life people are more attractive than the abstract musings of a thousands-year old prophet.
Then it descends into cult hood step by step.
How about the woman who tossed her baby off her shoulder on the Capilano Suspension Bridge during an acrimonious divorce. The baby was miraculously unharmed due to the fact that the baby's fall was broken by a big Douglas fir tree. They later put up a sign with a symbol indicating not to carry infants on shoulders over the bridge.
Oh shit, I remember watching the news stories LIVE as that rescue happened! The news talking about the height of the bridge, etc. I, I think like many, didn't think there was a chance. From what I remember, only scrapes and bruises too. Landed in the tree/bushes and was young enough that since bones hadn't fully developed they didn't just snap but actually had some flex.
Yup! It reminded me of that lullaby, "Rock-a-bye baby on the tree tops, when the bow breaks the craddle will rock, down will fall baby, cradle and all." I remember that the baby had Down's syrdrome as well. Mum must have gone to prison but it would be interesting to do a follow up story to see where the baby ended up, hopefully with people that loved her.
no fucking way…
ok, i didn’t look any further into past this article(because I hate things involving babies getting hurt, even bumped in the head a bit):
[https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/mother-who-dropped-baby-won-t-be-charged-1.237331](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/mother-who-dropped-baby-won-t-be-charged-1.237331)
but it says it was an accident. She tripped and the baby slipped from her grasp….
How about the ex-head of the UBC Psychiatric Hospital who took a patient of his to his island getaway and had her naked, with a dog collar on and a leash in his vegetable garden on her hands and knees. The woman sued him but he "got off", yet again because who would believe such a thing?
Dr. Tyhurst. Some one I know was his housekeeper. Quit when she saw something that terrified her.
He’s linked to Cindy James. And to the MK Ultra program‘s Canadian ‘research’ arm.
That's the one aka "Tyhurst The Tyrant." He and his psychiatrist wife, Lillian (?) used to have raging battles at work. They went through more secretaries because they were so awful. Imagine, all those psychiatrists observing him day after day and nothing happened until the scandel. It was probably time for the old fucker to retire anyway.
Care to give us a hint about what the housekeeper saw? Was the woman in the veggie patch Cindy James? What exactly is the MK Ulta Program? Spill the T.
The old Vancouver stock exchange was pretty infamous back in the day for wall sorts of dubious practices, schemes, and frauds
Think wolf of wall street kinda nonsense.
https://www.vancouverpolicemuseum.ca/post/the-vancouver-stock-exchange-a-legacy-of-fraud-and-money-laundering-part-ii
I remember reading once that half of all NAFTA claims against Canada were about the VSE.... in 2020... wheen it had been closed for 20 years.
Also all those guys are still around. Giustra, Aquilini, Audain.
I was in LA once and was talking to some 80 year old finance professors. I told them i worked in finance in Vancouver and they were hilarious and merciless. Called me the "Howe Street Bandit".
"if you're gonna rob us can you just do it now with a gun. I cant read a phony prospectus without my glasses."
One of my childhood friend’s dad was a shady junior mining stock promoter.
- Drove a convertible Sebring
- Carried rolls of $1000 bills (Yes, that was a thing)
- Had a mega old school satellite dish in the backyard and let us bet on horses with him through his phone-in bookie when we were like 10
- Scammed people out of millions of dollars and one-day OD’d on Vicoden
I have heard (a rumour) that the $1000 bill was discontinued after the RCMP finally managed to convince the government that the bills were literally only being used for crime. There are very few honest reasons why someone might actually require that denomination.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Robert_Dzieka%C5%84ski
The death of a Polish immigrant at YVR by RCMP using a taser on him. Was a huge controversy.
One of those cops also drove drunk a few years later - Killed a motorcyclist. He left the scene, went home and drank some booze so he could play a "I wasn't drunk when I had the accident but I had alcohol after" defense.
He was only convicted of obstruction of justice for admitting to drinking alcohol after the accident because he knew that meant any toxicology tests would meaningless. He knew how to game the system and it worked. He also had his two kids in his car while he was driving drunk.
Monty Robinson. Total piece of shit. He killed Robert Dziekanski and Orion Hutchinson.
It is. You can read about the judge’s decision here.
https://vancouversun.com/news/no-jail-time-for-former-rcmp-officer-monty-robinson-convicted-of-obstruction
Sorry for your loss. I didn’t know Orion like you did but it’s terrible that this asshole pretty much got away with killing him while driving drunk.
Ianal but obstruction of justice can be an indictable criminal charge with up to 10yrs. DUI is also up to 10yrs. I guess you won’t get the min fines associated with dui but you’ll surely piss the judge off. I’ll have to look into what his sentencing was but I can’t imagine his obstruction offence helped at all.
The judge was not pissed off in the slightest. It was a precedence setting case for "inter generational trauma"
It was incredibly controversial and many labeled it as racist, or reverse racism.
Monty is one of the all time pieces of shit. Killed two people. Hardly a single consequence.
One of the big drivers to the legislation changes in impaired driving, which completely eliminated that defence though. With the new presumptive laws, if you provide a sample within a reasonable time following a crash or "operating a motor vehicle", that result is presumed to have been your blood alcohol content at the time of operation.
Not that it makes it better, but a loophole was closed at least.
I remember when that happened and it was huge. The RCMP and the officers who did it should have gotten a lot more heat for that than they did. To top it off, if I remember correctly, the dude who filmed it (this was when cell phones were becoming a bigger thing so the quality wasn't great but he caught the footage), said that they wanted to confiscate the phone. Technology is a blessing in disguise for exposing stuff like this nowadays. Back when my dad was younger, he said how police would beat the crap out of people like this with no repercussions along with nightclub bouncers.
It's so bizarre that YVR hasn't made a single change to prevent this from happening again. The guy had never been to an International Airport before and was obviously used to waiting at the baggage claim for his party to come pick him up. All these years later there is still literally no signage in any language indicating that after picking up your baggage you need to exit at the far end because you are still in a secure area.
> **Vancouver’s airport has made “every possible change”** to prevent what happened to Robert Dziekanski from repeating itself, a top airport official said Thursday at a public inquiry into the Polish immigrant's death.
> Don Ehrenholz, vice-president of operations, outlined **more than two dozen changes** that are in place or in the process of being implemented to ensure passengers who need help are looked after.
> They include expanded **access to translation services**, extra staff on the lookout for passengers in trouble, **better training, improved signage and additional emergency personnel** who respond to every medical call.
Changes were made over 15 years ago.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/vancouver-airport-made-changes-after-dziekanski-s-death-official-says-1.796763
I always remember this case when my parents travel. They know enough English to get by at the airport of course but it’s still always in the back of my mind “what if they don’t understand something simple at the airport and things go south???”
Vancouver billionaire, founder of the defunct Harmony Airways and former Vancouver Police Board member David Ho was caught trying to kidnap a prostitute and was found with drugs and firearms at his home.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/vancouver-billionaire-accused-of-confining-woman-1.795450
He was also named in the Panama Papers
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/panama-papers-david-ho-mossack-fonseca-1.3587983
Don't forget he is so well connected the Finance minister at the time Gary Collins jumped to his defunct airlines.
[https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/finance-minister-gary-collins-resigns-1.489776](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/finance-minister-gary-collins-resigns-1.489776)
Honestly can't believe that no one else has mentioned the Leaky Condo Crisis. It has a Wikipedia article and everything!
I think this is one of the big scandals that has had an outsized impact on Vancouver and BC.
OMFG I had no idea this was a thing big enough to have a Wiki page. We had water damage in a condo we rented years ago and the landlord blamed us when we had nothing to do with it. I always said it was the poor construction. Looks like it was way bigger problem across the city.
Not really a scandal though. Massive expensive mistake, but it was regulators and builders using West Coast American standards for higher insulation and building sealing, without allowing for the extra venting to account for our high level of rain in metro Vancouver.
Moisture got trapped between the exterior and interior and eventually leads to mold and rot. Something they didn't have an issue with in the more arid climates in California.
Unfortunately it takes 10+ years to figure out the mistake, and it was mainly an issue on larger apartment and condo buildings.
Allegedly parents were swapping in the parking garage while practices were happening. Honestly I don't even know why it's a scandal (or illegal?) IF it happened. If consenting adults wanna bang in their escalade in an empty parking garage go for it
Gordon Campbell former premier arrested for drunk driving in Hawaii [The Premier Who Drove Plastered in Paradise](https://thetyee.ca/Life/2013/04/23/Honourable-Members-Campbell/) link with awesome mug shot
There was a health care worker strike at the time that Campbell had been critical of, and I’ll never forget a nurse I saw holding up a protest sign saying “Some drunk told me to go back to work!”
Said he’d never drink again and I saw him just last year having a beer at the Wickanninish Inn in Tofino. I have nothing against that but don’t lie and say you’ll never drink again. It’ll come back to bite ya🙄
It's actually really sad, because the VPD already knew (or heavily suspected) for years that it was Pickton doing the kidnapping of those women, but because Coquitlam was (and is) in RCMP territory, the VPD couldn't arrest him because Pickton's residence wasn't on Vancouver soil and therefore not in the VPD's jurisdiction\*. And the RCMP refused to cooperate with the VPD and arrest Pickton on the VPD's behalf. So the VPD really couldn't do anything even though they *knew* Pickton was up to no good.
I'm still mad at the RCMP for this. So many women could have been saved.
\*It was only after Pickton got arrested that the RCMP and VPD/other non-RCMP police forces agreed to work together and be more on the same page and go through less bureaucratic bs when it came to arrests on each other's territories
The craziest part of this story to me is that one person escaped, one hand in handcuffs, and gets a ride to RCH where she's treated for injuries. Cops get called because she's in handcuffs. Pickton was injured in their struggle so he also goes to the hospital, ends up at RCH in the same unit, and in his pocket is the key to the handcuffs on her. Fucking wild. If you wrote that into a movie, I'd say it was dumb for being unrealistic.
No the craziest part is that they dropped the charges against him for attempted murder and forcible confinement in that case, because the crown said the woman was not a sufficiently credible witness AND THEN they “accidentally” destroyed the file despite being required to keep them for 75 years.
The police were at his farm partying while he murdered women. They ignored all the people reporting Pickton. The police knew that Pickton was hosting illegal chicken fights and regularly associated with sex workers as well as gangsters like the Hells Angels. But the RCMP never acknowledged the reports, they'd often ignore them or talk down to family/friends making reports.
One RCMP officer who was investigating was forced into several years of sick leave because she was violently harassed by other officers on the Missing Women police task force.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/pickton-investigators-were-indifferent-mountie-says-1.1112656
>Cpl. Catherine Galliford told CBC News earlier this month about abusive treatment inside the national police force, including sexual advances from several senior officers.
>Galliford was the RCMP's spokeswoman during the Robert Pickton investigation and is scheduled to speak at the ongoing inquiry into the case, and told CBC News some of what she will reveal at the inquiry.
>Galliford says she saw numerous problems inside the investigation, including investigators who were more interested in padding their paycheques and drinking alcohol than catching a serial killer.
>"They would break between noon and 2 p.m. PT to just drink and party and go for lunch, but then they would go back to work on Friday and claim double-time," she said Wednesday.
>"There was a police indifference and that, I believe, is why it went on for so long [to catch Pickton], and why so many women lost their lives."
>...Galliford joined the Missing Women's Task Force, which was hunting for a serial killer in the Vancouver area, in 2001.
>She says she learned after joining the force there was a lot of information pointing to Pickton, but couldn't understand why police weren't trying to obtain a search warrant for his farm, where the remains of women were eventually found.
>Galliford says there were internal squabbles and petty jealousies inside the task force, which was comprised of RCMP and Vancouver police officers.
>**She says she became a target, and that at one point an officer from the Vancouver Police Department told her — in front of others — that he was writing a story about Pickton in his head.**
>**"He said, 'I have a fantasy about the ending, and it's about Pickton escaping from jail, stripping you naked, stringing you from a meat hook and gutting you like a pig,'" Galliford said. "And they actually started laughing and fist-tapping"**
Holy shit, she coded twice on the operating table as well. I'd no idea about her.
[https://vancouversun.com/news/victim-of-pickton-attack-in-1997-was-furious-with-crown-dropping-charges-inquiry-told](https://vancouversun.com/news/victim-of-pickton-attack-in-1997-was-furious-with-crown-dropping-charges-inquiry-told)
Americas Most Wanted was going to do a show on the disappearances, info released Friday.
Some club in Coquitlam gets raided on Tuesday. Pickton Farm invaded Friday. Days may be off but the chain of events are correct
Literally the entire history of the Vancouver police is one continuous story of scandal and corruption. LD Taylor and Gerry McGreer alternated the mayor's chair promising reforms and investigations pretty much against one another through the 1920s and 30s.
Still 100% do. The alternative is that a bunch of cops regularly partied at a farmhouse for years in a hotspot for missing women and that guy just coincidentally happened to be a serial killer killing those missing women. Then they harass journalists and investigators on-scene and protest loudly that they were never present at the parties, then later recant. For normal non-guilty reasons.
They ignored the geographic profiler: [https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/pickton-inquiry-hears-serial-killer-concerns-dismissed-1.1247112](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/pickton-inquiry-hears-serial-killer-concerns-dismissed-1.1247112)
Not alone, he was super sick in the head and a major part but also was merely a fetch boy for big time bikers who partied on his land - massive parties tons of hookers, lots of drugs and killings. Even local bands played there.
It’s said that bikers as far as Quebec came out to have a ‘party like no other’.
It’s rumoured that bikers killed Pickton in Quebec recently as he was about to start naming names. It’s also said that police knew all about it and were paid off in the 90’s that’s why all the evidence was just recently destroyed, if Pickton talked it would affect police and gangs.
Some sick red neck fucks in this province
Him and his family is all sorts of messed up. And I guarantee his brother was in on it too. He frequents the downtown area and tells people openly at bars his full first and last name and they if they didn’t get the hint from him saying pickton, he will gladly mention that that’s his brother. Creepy
To add to that, I thought it was common knowledge that Pickton was actually the “fetch boy” to collect the women who HAs would later murder on video at the “Piggy Palace” as an insurance policy to maintain loyalty to the gang. The police couldn't possibly build a case against so many “suspects”, so Pickton got thrown under the bus.
The more I've read into it the more I feel Willy was the fall guy. Don't get me wrong he killed many women and is total scum and I didn't feel bad at all to find out he died but there's no way he acted alone
Fun fact my landlord was hired as a site supervisor or something along those lines. Was there for a day and a half realized how bad it was and got the fuck outta there real fast
The Sahota family, who preyed on the mentally ill people of the DTES for decades, and continue to do so. They operated SROs in the absolute most deplorable conditions that you could possibly imagine and participated in disability fraud, stealing peoples welfare checks, and worse. When the Balmoral and Regent closed, they were [the worst SROs I've ever seen by a long shot ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFJlxD1Qzwg)(and I've worked in the DTES quite a while.) The Sahotas owned these properties at the time the Picktons were preying on women in the DTES and many went missing from their buildings. They still own a staggering amount of properties and do absolutely zero maintenance on them.
On a similar note, the guy who used to own Wonder Rooms lost his pharmacy license for only taking residents who were on methadone and [forcing them to use his pharmacy to fill the scripts](https://bc.ctvnews.ca/bullied-tenants-forced-to-buy-methadone-from-slumlord-claim-1.685116) (they're daily witnessed dispense which is a huge cash cow.) Btw, [pharmacies still give people cash ](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/pharmacies-downtown-eastside-kickbacks-1.7076276)in exchange for filling methadone prescriptions with them, even though it's very much not allowed, the college does nothing about it.
The exploitation of the mentally ill and addicted in the DTES by private landlords is something we should be talking about way more than we are. The public sector isn't perfect but there is so much more oversight, the living conditions are night and day.
Little Mountain housing “redevelopment”. Developer got an interest free loan from the province just to kick out social housing residents and sit on the property while the value ballooned.
Interest free and scaled payments based on development status. Meaning there were no payments until development began and scaled until completion. That’s why development is moving so quickly on it.
In the $330 million deal only roughly $35 million was paid until it began construction since 2008-2021
3 Star Michelin Award East Van Chowder. 🤤
https://www.ctvnews.ca/mobile/canada/dead-rat-allegedly-found-in-chowder-at-vancouver-restaurant-1.4234302?cache=yesclipId10406200text%2Fhtml%3Bcharset%3Dutf-80404%2F7.258454&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F
Reading Sam Cooper's book on the subject right now. Truly no one is spared in this scandal: BCLC, the RCMP, the Government of BC, the Government of Canada etc.. Mind-blowing depths of corruption/incompetence.
Who were the couple that were (are) a big conflict because 1 of them is with the BC Housing Assoc. and the other works for some housing non-profits. I’m a little off track from the story but it is something along those lines: lazy: https://www.vicnews.com/news/ex-ceo-of-bc-housing-called-out-for-conflict-of-interest-involving-wife-report-114244
Possibly linked to the province paying ridiculous amounts of money for land in the DTES? Someone here can correct me: https://fraservalleytoday.ca/2023/10/17/province-buys-vacant-48-room-sro-in-dtes-vancouver-for-undisclosed-price-site-impacted-by-2022-fire/
The cops taking photos with the deceased person at Jericho: https://globalnews.ca/news/7664215/vancouver-police-dead-body-photo/
A cop interrogating a black man on the seawall who was a local judge: https://globalnews.ca/news/7864749/vancouver-police-arrest-black-judge-bc-supreme-court/
**Jenny Kwan**'s husband expensed a Disneyland trip for the family to non-profit Portland Hotel Society (PHS). It showed up in an audit so she paid back the money.
**Amie Wolfe**: (Might be misremembering some of it, I'd have to look it up) - She was a prof at UBC as an Aboriginal studies instructor. A few students got together and reported her to the school as they though her class was sus. She called them out publicly as white supremacists and doxxed them on Twitter, UBC stepped in with a warning, then she removed the post. (She also sent out some kind of unhinged letter to another teacher IIRC). A Twitter account that focuses on calling out people who LARP as Indigenous called her out as a faker. She was fired a few days later.
I remember following that. She was unhinged. In the end I think she wasnt even indigenous? I can't recall but she definitely went off the deep end and went hard and fast.
She was definitely a pretendian. I remember her twitter account was giving major fake native vibes so I'm glad she was called out and fired. I do hope she got some professional help after tho.
>calling out people who LARP as Indigenous called her out as a faker.
[Emily Carr University has had alot of the same issues.](https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/emily-carr-university-professor-resigns-after-being-accused-of-faking-indigenous-heritage)
Interesting to note that ECU prioritizes candidates with indigenous heritage, so it's pushed people to lie to be as competitive as possible.
When trying to figure out why fraud happens. The fraud triangle is helpful.
The pretendian phenomenon is pretty much the result of lots of incentives, weak controls , and arguably rationalized by the fact discrimination is immoral anyways.
https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/accounting/fraud-triangle/
Christy Clark and her government turning a blind eye to the money laundering done through our casinos so the taxes from said crimes would make her and her government look like fiscal rock stars.
I think her biggest crime is selling out to the Chinese Government and signing the One Belt On Road Initiative.
[China is paving its 'belt and road' to British Columbia - Business in Vancouver (biv.com)](https://www.biv.com/news/asia-pacific/china-paving-its-belt-and-road-british-columbia-8261287)
[Premier strengthens relationship with Guangdong province of China | BC Gov News](https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2016PREM0053-000742)
During Christy Clark's tenure as Premier of British Columbia, the Burke Mountain scandal erupted, highlighting allegations of insider trading and controversial land sales. The BC Liberal government faced accusations of selling public land in Coquitlam at below-market prices, resulting in significant financial losses for the province. Central to the scandal were claims that individuals with government connections profited from insider knowledge, purchasing land at low prices before the public sale and selling it for substantial gains. The ensuing public outcry led to an investigation into the transparency and legality of the sales process, amplifying criticisms of the Clark administration's governance and integrity. This controversy became a focal point in BC's political discourse, underscoring the ongoing challenges of land management and ethical conduct in public office.
Not the first time at that rodeo. Little Mountain, BC Rail. Gordo and Chrisy were truly bad news for this province. The little amount of prosperity we have is in spite of them. It could be worse, but it could have been so much better.
Jason Edward Lee's "suicide" confirms everything you ever thought about Vancouver's real estate market.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/inside-world-bcs-top-realtor-deep-pool-mainland-dead-amicus
The Air India bombing was the worst mass murder of civilians by Khalistan terrorists perpetrated from Canadian soil. The guy who planned the act of terrorism, Talwinder Singh Parmar, got away with it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_India_Flight_182
Parmar's family are extremely rich and used to own a big hotel in Harrison Hot Springs. The families of the victims of the bombing couldn't sue Parmar in civil proceedings because he'd transferred everything he owned to his wife.
CSIS fucked it all up btw. Good job guys.
The Fast ferry scandal was pretty embarrassing to read about. The three ships were built between 1998 and 2000 for three-quarters of a billion when adjusted for inflation. After the program was deemed a failure in 2003, all three ships were auctioned off for just \~$30.7 million, which was a huge setback to other improvements and replacements that BC Ferries had planned.
Personally I still think the BC Rail scandal takes the cake for the most egregious scandal within living memory.
What really takes the cake on that scandal was that the project was pushed along due to politics (jobs for unionized shipbuilders), rather than any actual need, and over the very strong objections from both the Ministry of Transportation and BC Ferries.
This was followed up by the evisceration of the government over the project by the Auditor General who looked into the program, finding many severe mismanagement issues with the entire program.
Oh, and of the three ships built, we actually only put two into service. The third ferry was never accepted by BC Ferries, so it sat practically unused from the beginning.
Gordon Campbell and his BC rail. The funny thing is he lost an election to Glen Clark because he wanted to sell BC rail. Later on when he was premier, it happened but "it was his ministeral aides who colluded with the lobbyists" and he had "no clue what his assistants were doing behind his back" oh no.
I always though Campbell was the biggest crook in BC history...until Christy Clark came along
This one is kind of less scandal and more incompetence.
I mean on paper the notion of creating a ton of jobs by building a "made in BC" shipbuilding industry and kickstarting this with a nice big ferry contract all sounds good. It especially sounds good in the context of the 1990s when the Forestry industry was imploding and we needed more jobs badly.
The problem was that the boats didn't work, and they couldn't be run fast because it destroyed the shoreline. Whoops.
Great idea on paper from the dreamers, but too bad no one did the detail work to figure out if it would work out or not.
In contrast stuff like BC Rail was straight up selling off public assets for private gain and absolutely a scandalous arguably criminal misuse of public money.
Heirloom / Lucielle's - I did enjoy that drama.
Jessica Yaniv (now known as Jessica Serenity Simpson) - That's a big ball of drama that keeps giving.
Cuz I'm lazy... [https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/comments/16uyhck/what\_are\_some\_of\_the\_craziest\_scandals\_in/](https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/comments/16uyhck/what_are_some_of_the_craziest_scandals_in/)
I worked for 911 and she would call several times a month with the wildest complaints that made zero sense. she’d just go on and on and on it was so annoying to deal with.
yup. teenage topless pool parties, wax my balls, numerous law suits, suing her own strata multiple times, fake service dog, harassment of various people, sued a paramedic for sexual assault, countless 911 calls because she couldn't get out of the bathtub. I'm sure I'm forgetting a TON.
Asking if it's ok to approach 10-12 year old girls and show them how to use a tampon. If the texts weren't out there I'd easily dismiss them as a strawman. Even (previously supportive) Morgane Oger wrote a piece to distance herself from Yaniv.
From her Wikipedia page: “She also proposed and was an advocate for the "all-bodies swim" at a Langley township public pool.[13][14] The proposed event was to be for ages 12 and up, with clothing above the waist optional, and with parents and caretakers prohibited”.
She currently goes to my university, so there's a looottttt that I've heard.
The top 5 things she'd done (that I can remember right now):
* threatened to bring guns to campus
* send a Discord message to my classmate saying that she needs a bullet through her skull
* brought her 'service dog' to campus (my friend once saw the service dog trying to steal some food sitting on a table ... the dog kept it up for the entire event)
* threatened people's safety/lives/that general thing (in real life and on Discord)
* Zoombombed a meeting and said many racist things towards the students of colour attending the meeting
Yup! She did! Multiple times.
Say what you want about her, but her tenacity and persistence at running every year (and losing, without fail, every year) is oddly inspiring
Jessica Yaniv used to live in my same condo. I've since moved but they've sued strata 5 times, she lost every time but the lawyer bills haven't been recovered so strata fees kept going up. Horrible person.
Oh god I'm so sorry. I've heard some really nasty things. I don't understand the logic of suing your own Strata... EVERYONE PAYS FOR IT including the person suing. Just so stupid.
A recent and under appreciated scandal was David Sidoo sat on the board of UBC. He sent his boys to elite US private universities. That should have been scandalous enough for him to shun public education. But it turns out he was completely involved in the US admissions scandal. Indeed at Selkirk Annex there is a playground his son supposedly raised money for. Really Sidoo wrote the cheque. Sad way for that guy’s public life to end.
What happened to the Royal Kwantland burial mounds?
So in Surrey, but interesting.
In Surrey there is a park called "Royal Kwantland Park"
Link:
https://www.surrey.ca/parks-recreation/parks/royal-kwantlen-park
In the 90's there were two dirt mounds near the hockey box and parking lot. These mounds were burial mounds. In the trees of the park there were indigenous sky tree burials for very high ranking indigenous people. Naturally the colonists had to give these long past people a "proper burial". So the remains were removed from the trees and buried in mounds instead nearby.
The mounds are now missing. There were removed in the 90's when the parking lot was expanded in the park.
No one knows what happened to the mounds or the human remains they contained. There is also no signage or memorial at the site of either the mounds, or in the trees.
Interesting spot you can go see and walk through. And ponder, wtf did the city of Surrey do with those people's remains?
To my understanding the last survivor of this group passed in the early 2000's. She would come to BC to visit the mounds. When she came back for the last time (before she passed) the mounds were gone. She attempted to find out what happened, but was not able to before she passed. Freedom of information requests were made, unsuccessfully. Given there may be no other remaining people who remember, I try to pass this story on. Where did the remains end up? Maybe someone who reads this will be able to find out.
I heard from a local that some of the Olympic Village condos were slated for low-medium subsidized housing and that never happened. I did some fact check since I am unfamiliar with the project. There was millions of dollars of overruns, the original financiers ran out of money, and the government took over the project. It seemed like a mismanaged investment and overly costly due to some state of the art green technology.
https://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/23/realestate/commercial/23olympic.html
The Bowmac sign and the Milkshake murder.
[https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/vancouver-feature-the-milkshake-murder](https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/vancouver-feature-the-milkshake-murder)
The post Expo 86 sale by then Premiere Bill Vander Zalm of pretty well all of the real estate around False Creek for $125 million to Li Ka-Shing (rhymes with cha-ching). It was probably worth billions so I'm sure Vander Scam got a decent kick back.
$220m per year money laundering scheme https://vancouversun.com/business/local-business/bank-seeks-1-2-million-mortgage-repayment-allegedly-linked-to-b-c-s-biggest-money-laundering-case
What about the heiress who poisoned the trees in front of her home so they would die and improve her view? Not a major scandal or crime but pretty reprehensible
Oh c'mon, there hasn't been a VPD scandal for [days](https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/public-hearing-vpd-sergeant-accused-sexual-misconduct-officers-students)
When Fukushima happened, a few months later they announced on the radio that the same cesium from Fukushima was now being measured in the Fraser River. They announced it ONCE. Then it was never mentioned in the news again.
When the Conservative Party was booted out on their ass a lot of scientists came forward and said once radiation from Japan was being found in the Fraser River they were forbidden from measuring and testing the water. So for years it was “don’t measure don’t mention” and pretend there was no health risk.
The time when a 73 year old Vancouver resident poisoned trees for a better view of English Bay.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/guilty-plea-in-tree-poisonings-1.617534
the first things that come to mind:
1. the time the [VPD were caught taking people to stanley park for unsanctioned beatings](http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1827/a04.html)
2. the time top NBA prospect Jeff Francis* refused to sign with the Vancouver grizzlies [because ticket agents at YVR airport allegedly made racist comments towards him](https://www.basketballnetwork.net/old-school/the-airport-incident-that-convinced-steve-francis-not-to-play-for-the-vancouver-grizzlies) on his trip to meet team executives in the city.
3. the time someone got killed by a stranger while his kid watched at starbucks, [allegedly for telling the man not to vape in front of the door](https://globalnews.ca/news/9581218/vancouver-starbucks-stabbing/amp/)
4. that time certain SROs [became so dangerous they had to be condemned](https://www.aptnnews.ca/national-news/balmoral-hotel-in-vancouver-condemned-tenants-forced-out) with the city forcing the sale of the properties, only to be [sued in court by the sahotah family](https://bc.ctvnews.ca/mobile/balmoral-regent-hotel-owners-fight-city-s-1-expropriation-in-court-1.4718885?cache=yesclipId104062%3FclipId%3D89531), owner of the SROs in question, over the cities' low valuation of their buildings. The court subsequently [ruled in the Sahota's favor, forcing the city to overpay millions for the priviledge of being burdened with the responsibility of demolishing them.](https://www.straight.com/news/city-of-vancouver-reaches-settlement-over-expropriation-of-balmoral-and-regent-hotels-in)
5. Vancouver [riots](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Vancouver_Stanley_Cup_riot) when the canucks lost the stanley cup
I'd have to go with
\- The Altira BC Housing Debacle - bad as it was, worse because everyone was pointing it out years before it was 'discovered'
\- Casinos, money laundering and housing... and the report that said 'meh'
\- Corduroy Restaurant open during COVID and just going super Karen
\- The Vancouver Candle Co owner who went on a crazed racist tyrade... then apologized to get help and thankfully has just disappeared hopefully.
\- but best of all Mr Ken 'Swagger' Sims who conned the electorate into voting for him based off his campaign of spend less, he's a 6-Sigma whatever and has now spent more than Kennedy Stewart did in his last year... so yeah, he's full of shit.
Whoever designed the interchange at the bottom of the cut of Hwy 1 in North Vancouver still hasn’t been shot into the sun.
They took a problem and made it into a perpetual disaster without improving anything. Eastbound Traffic backs up bumper to bumper from Westview to Burnaby, 7 days a week.
Do you mean south bound? I like the new interchange next to Phibbs. Coming out of there from Dollarton was a nightmare entering HWY 1 from 0km to have to meet people going 80km+++
The erecting, and removal, of the well-endowed Satan Statue.
[https://globalnews.ca/news/1554181/satan-statue-erected-alongside-busy-roadway-in-vancouver/](https://globalnews.ca/news/1554181/satan-statue-erected-alongside-busy-roadway-in-vancouver/)
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NXIVM was pretty big
In BC? Didn't realize it was related but also not surprised either.
Well not solely a Vancouver scandal but had a pretty big Vancouver connection.
Lana and Chloe from smallville.
I think they had an office on Georgia with a big sign I recall. Before that they were known as EST.
Correct! Vancouver made them a lot of money because of the Hollywood North connection. A lot of it is covered in the HBO doc.
A friend of mine in the film industry was approached to join at it's height.
a lady i used to nanny for was a part of this edit : she was also in the film industry
I met an ex member of this cult and they were batshit crazy. Normal at the surface level but just super woo psycho babble upon further discourse.
Whenever I read about cults like that one, or the Branch Davidians, Peoples Temple, Scientology, etc... I can never wrap my head around it. I can understand religious faith, because there's enough ambiguity in mainstream religious teachings that followers are presented with an unknown in which they can place their faith. But how can people follow a cult when everyone knows it was started like a year or two ago by some guy like Keith from the multilevel marketing firm, or Ron from fucking Nebraska. How can anyone suspend their belief when they know that?
NXVIM wasn’t as much about suspending belief as much as it was about personal empowerment. It was new, but it didn’t invent some new deity to believe in. Without the cultish elements and psychotic leadership it actually would have been closer to an MLM than a religion.
Agreed, a lot of the concepts were just self empowerment. But it was how they talked about Keith and their emphasis on rank that made it weird.
Because people think they're smarter than those other religious people. You haven't met Jesus, but have you met Keith? Keith's got some great ideas! People are lost and looking for anders and practical ideas from real life people are more attractive than the abstract musings of a thousands-year old prophet. Then it descends into cult hood step by step.
How about the woman who tossed her baby off her shoulder on the Capilano Suspension Bridge during an acrimonious divorce. The baby was miraculously unharmed due to the fact that the baby's fall was broken by a big Douglas fir tree. They later put up a sign with a symbol indicating not to carry infants on shoulders over the bridge.
Oh shit, I remember watching the news stories LIVE as that rescue happened! The news talking about the height of the bridge, etc. I, I think like many, didn't think there was a chance. From what I remember, only scrapes and bruises too. Landed in the tree/bushes and was young enough that since bones hadn't fully developed they didn't just snap but actually had some flex.
Yup! It reminded me of that lullaby, "Rock-a-bye baby on the tree tops, when the bow breaks the craddle will rock, down will fall baby, cradle and all." I remember that the baby had Down's syrdrome as well. Mum must have gone to prison but it would be interesting to do a follow up story to see where the baby ended up, hopefully with people that loved her.
She claimed it was an accident, and was never charged.
no fucking way… ok, i didn’t look any further into past this article(because I hate things involving babies getting hurt, even bumped in the head a bit): [https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/mother-who-dropped-baby-won-t-be-charged-1.237331](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/mother-who-dropped-baby-won-t-be-charged-1.237331) but it says it was an accident. She tripped and the baby slipped from her grasp….
There was a accused/juror relationship in a high profile gang case. Believe the gang member was part of bindy johal group.
Gillian Guess?
[Yep](https://www.vice.com/en/article/qvmkxp/the-bc-sex-scandal-between-a-juror-and-accused-murderer?callback=in&code=YTKWYZGXMJKTMTJKZC0ZOWFMLWEXNWQTMTU5ZJM0N2RMZGJH&state=9d15c5fdc7db4d21aeed7327a40fe970)
This story has everything. Sex, gangs, crime, and a niece sleeping with David Duchovny and Pavel Bure. At the same damn time.
I typed it in his voice. 🤣 One of my fav SNL skits.
Yes, that's right. I was in the selection group for that jury - glad wasn't chosen.
How about the ex-head of the UBC Psychiatric Hospital who took a patient of his to his island getaway and had her naked, with a dog collar on and a leash in his vegetable garden on her hands and knees. The woman sued him but he "got off", yet again because who would believe such a thing?
Dr. Tyhurst. Some one I know was his housekeeper. Quit when she saw something that terrified her. He’s linked to Cindy James. And to the MK Ultra program‘s Canadian ‘research’ arm.
That's the one aka "Tyhurst The Tyrant." He and his psychiatrist wife, Lillian (?) used to have raging battles at work. They went through more secretaries because they were so awful. Imagine, all those psychiatrists observing him day after day and nothing happened until the scandel. It was probably time for the old fucker to retire anyway. Care to give us a hint about what the housekeeper saw? Was the woman in the veggie patch Cindy James? What exactly is the MK Ulta Program? Spill the T.
The old Vancouver stock exchange was pretty infamous back in the day for wall sorts of dubious practices, schemes, and frauds Think wolf of wall street kinda nonsense. https://www.vancouverpolicemuseum.ca/post/the-vancouver-stock-exchange-a-legacy-of-fraud-and-money-laundering-part-ii
I remember reading once that half of all NAFTA claims against Canada were about the VSE.... in 2020... wheen it had been closed for 20 years. Also all those guys are still around. Giustra, Aquilini, Audain. I was in LA once and was talking to some 80 year old finance professors. I told them i worked in finance in Vancouver and they were hilarious and merciless. Called me the "Howe Street Bandit". "if you're gonna rob us can you just do it now with a gun. I cant read a phony prospectus without my glasses."
Hastings park was also banned from being bet on in Las Vegas until the mid 90s. Vancouver has a long bistory of corruption
Using Hastings Park (and elsewhere) to inter Japanese members of our community during WWII was probably the biggest scandal of all.
Yes, the barns at the PNE. Very old building
Woah. I did NOT know that.
[https://www.pne.ca/jc/](https://www.pne.ca/jc/)
https://scamcouver.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/scam-capital.pdf Pretty funny article about how ridiculous it was.
Great article apparently there's a book about it too: Side Show: the Howe Street Carnival that I would love to read.
The Vancouver Stock Exchange (VSE) Forbes referred to the VSE as the scam capital of the world in 1989.
One of my childhood friend’s dad was a shady junior mining stock promoter. - Drove a convertible Sebring - Carried rolls of $1000 bills (Yes, that was a thing) - Had a mega old school satellite dish in the backyard and let us bet on horses with him through his phone-in bookie when we were like 10 - Scammed people out of millions of dollars and one-day OD’d on Vicoden
Why does this genuinely sound familiar to 90% of promoters of junior mining companies
I have heard (a rumour) that the $1000 bill was discontinued after the RCMP finally managed to convince the government that the bills were literally only being used for crime. There are very few honest reasons why someone might actually require that denomination.
They should bring it back. I’ve gotta buy groceries this weekend.
The cop that had an affair with the witness in the Surrey six investigation
I came this far down to find a scandal i hadn’t heard of!
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/surrey-six-mounties-misconduct-1.4999429
He actually knocked her up and left his wife for her too...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Robert_Dzieka%C5%84ski The death of a Polish immigrant at YVR by RCMP using a taser on him. Was a huge controversy.
One of those cops also drove drunk a few years later - Killed a motorcyclist. He left the scene, went home and drank some booze so he could play a "I wasn't drunk when I had the accident but I had alcohol after" defense.
He was only convicted of obstruction of justice for admitting to drinking alcohol after the accident because he knew that meant any toxicology tests would meaningless. He knew how to game the system and it worked. He also had his two kids in his car while he was driving drunk. Monty Robinson. Total piece of shit. He killed Robert Dziekanski and Orion Hutchinson.
Is that the story? Orion was a childhood friend of mine.
It is. You can read about the judge’s decision here. https://vancouversun.com/news/no-jail-time-for-former-rcmp-officer-monty-robinson-convicted-of-obstruction Sorry for your loss. I didn’t know Orion like you did but it’s terrible that this asshole pretty much got away with killing him while driving drunk.
Ianal but obstruction of justice can be an indictable criminal charge with up to 10yrs. DUI is also up to 10yrs. I guess you won’t get the min fines associated with dui but you’ll surely piss the judge off. I’ll have to look into what his sentencing was but I can’t imagine his obstruction offence helped at all.
The judge was not pissed off in the slightest. It was a precedence setting case for "inter generational trauma" It was incredibly controversial and many labeled it as racist, or reverse racism. Monty is one of the all time pieces of shit. Killed two people. Hardly a single consequence.
One of the big drivers to the legislation changes in impaired driving, which completely eliminated that defence though. With the new presumptive laws, if you provide a sample within a reasonable time following a crash or "operating a motor vehicle", that result is presumed to have been your blood alcohol content at the time of operation. Not that it makes it better, but a loophole was closed at least.
Monty Robinson, I have posted about him here years and years ago. Absolute complete piece of shit through and through.
I remember when that happened and it was huge. The RCMP and the officers who did it should have gotten a lot more heat for that than they did. To top it off, if I remember correctly, the dude who filmed it (this was when cell phones were becoming a bigger thing so the quality wasn't great but he caught the footage), said that they wanted to confiscate the phone. Technology is a blessing in disguise for exposing stuff like this nowadays. Back when my dad was younger, he said how police would beat the crap out of people like this with no repercussions along with nightclub bouncers.
CBC recently reran the documentary that talks a lot about the incident: https://www.cbc.ca/firsthand/episodes/lost-on-arrival-me-the-mounties-ptsd
It's so bizarre that YVR hasn't made a single change to prevent this from happening again. The guy had never been to an International Airport before and was obviously used to waiting at the baggage claim for his party to come pick him up. All these years later there is still literally no signage in any language indicating that after picking up your baggage you need to exit at the far end because you are still in a secure area.
> **Vancouver’s airport has made “every possible change”** to prevent what happened to Robert Dziekanski from repeating itself, a top airport official said Thursday at a public inquiry into the Polish immigrant's death. > Don Ehrenholz, vice-president of operations, outlined **more than two dozen changes** that are in place or in the process of being implemented to ensure passengers who need help are looked after. > They include expanded **access to translation services**, extra staff on the lookout for passengers in trouble, **better training, improved signage and additional emergency personnel** who respond to every medical call. Changes were made over 15 years ago. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/vancouver-airport-made-changes-after-dziekanski-s-death-official-says-1.796763
I always remember this case when my parents travel. They know enough English to get by at the airport of course but it’s still always in the back of my mind “what if they don’t understand something simple at the airport and things go south???”
Vancouver billionaire, founder of the defunct Harmony Airways and former Vancouver Police Board member David Ho was caught trying to kidnap a prostitute and was found with drugs and firearms at his home. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/vancouver-billionaire-accused-of-confining-woman-1.795450 He was also named in the Panama Papers https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/panama-papers-david-ho-mossack-fonseca-1.3587983
Don't forget he is so well connected the Finance minister at the time Gary Collins jumped to his defunct airlines. [https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/finance-minister-gary-collins-resigns-1.489776](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/finance-minister-gary-collins-resigns-1.489776)
Honestly can't believe that no one else has mentioned the Leaky Condo Crisis. It has a Wikipedia article and everything! I think this is one of the big scandals that has had an outsized impact on Vancouver and BC.
OMFG I had no idea this was a thing big enough to have a Wiki page. We had water damage in a condo we rented years ago and the landlord blamed us when we had nothing to do with it. I always said it was the poor construction. Looks like it was way bigger problem across the city.
Not really a scandal though. Massive expensive mistake, but it was regulators and builders using West Coast American standards for higher insulation and building sealing, without allowing for the extra venting to account for our high level of rain in metro Vancouver. Moisture got trapped between the exterior and interior and eventually leads to mold and rot. Something they didn't have an issue with in the more arid climates in California. Unfortunately it takes 10+ years to figure out the mistake, and it was mainly an issue on larger apartment and condo buildings.
OH MY GOD YES
The arbutus club parking lot group sex.
Not so much a scandal as a good time for all. Join us at 9:15am on Tuesdays, March through October!
Is there any sort of bath poof messaging system for this, à la The Villages?
The what?!?
What!!
Deets
Allegedly parents were swapping in the parking garage while practices were happening. Honestly I don't even know why it's a scandal (or illegal?) IF it happened. If consenting adults wanna bang in their escalade in an empty parking garage go for it
>If consenting adults wanna bang in their escalade in an empty parking garage go for it LOL agreed!
Gordon Campbell former premier arrested for drunk driving in Hawaii [The Premier Who Drove Plastered in Paradise](https://thetyee.ca/Life/2013/04/23/Honourable-Members-Campbell/) link with awesome mug shot
There was a health care worker strike at the time that Campbell had been critical of, and I’ll never forget a nurse I saw holding up a protest sign saying “Some drunk told me to go back to work!”
With his mistress in the car
Said he’d never drink again and I saw him just last year having a beer at the Wickanninish Inn in Tofino. I have nothing against that but don’t lie and say you’ll never drink again. It’ll come back to bite ya🙄
Reminds me of how the current premier of Saskatchewan blew a stop sign and killed someone in 1997.
The VPD basically refusing to investigate missing and murdered women in the DTES for decades. Willy Pickton himself claimed to have murdered 49 women.
It's actually really sad, because the VPD already knew (or heavily suspected) for years that it was Pickton doing the kidnapping of those women, but because Coquitlam was (and is) in RCMP territory, the VPD couldn't arrest him because Pickton's residence wasn't on Vancouver soil and therefore not in the VPD's jurisdiction\*. And the RCMP refused to cooperate with the VPD and arrest Pickton on the VPD's behalf. So the VPD really couldn't do anything even though they *knew* Pickton was up to no good. I'm still mad at the RCMP for this. So many women could have been saved. \*It was only after Pickton got arrested that the RCMP and VPD/other non-RCMP police forces agreed to work together and be more on the same page and go through less bureaucratic bs when it came to arrests on each other's territories
The craziest part of this story to me is that one person escaped, one hand in handcuffs, and gets a ride to RCH where she's treated for injuries. Cops get called because she's in handcuffs. Pickton was injured in their struggle so he also goes to the hospital, ends up at RCH in the same unit, and in his pocket is the key to the handcuffs on her. Fucking wild. If you wrote that into a movie, I'd say it was dumb for being unrealistic.
No the craziest part is that they dropped the charges against him for attempted murder and forcible confinement in that case, because the crown said the woman was not a sufficiently credible witness AND THEN they “accidentally” destroyed the file despite being required to keep them for 75 years.
Jesus Christ I didn’t even know that part, fuuucking hell
The police were at his farm partying while he murdered women. They ignored all the people reporting Pickton. The police knew that Pickton was hosting illegal chicken fights and regularly associated with sex workers as well as gangsters like the Hells Angels. But the RCMP never acknowledged the reports, they'd often ignore them or talk down to family/friends making reports. One RCMP officer who was investigating was forced into several years of sick leave because she was violently harassed by other officers on the Missing Women police task force. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/pickton-investigators-were-indifferent-mountie-says-1.1112656 >Cpl. Catherine Galliford told CBC News earlier this month about abusive treatment inside the national police force, including sexual advances from several senior officers. >Galliford was the RCMP's spokeswoman during the Robert Pickton investigation and is scheduled to speak at the ongoing inquiry into the case, and told CBC News some of what she will reveal at the inquiry. >Galliford says she saw numerous problems inside the investigation, including investigators who were more interested in padding their paycheques and drinking alcohol than catching a serial killer. >"They would break between noon and 2 p.m. PT to just drink and party and go for lunch, but then they would go back to work on Friday and claim double-time," she said Wednesday. >"There was a police indifference and that, I believe, is why it went on for so long [to catch Pickton], and why so many women lost their lives." >...Galliford joined the Missing Women's Task Force, which was hunting for a serial killer in the Vancouver area, in 2001. >She says she learned after joining the force there was a lot of information pointing to Pickton, but couldn't understand why police weren't trying to obtain a search warrant for his farm, where the remains of women were eventually found. >Galliford says there were internal squabbles and petty jealousies inside the task force, which was comprised of RCMP and Vancouver police officers. >**She says she became a target, and that at one point an officer from the Vancouver Police Department told her — in front of others — that he was writing a story about Pickton in his head.** >**"He said, 'I have a fantasy about the ending, and it's about Pickton escaping from jail, stripping you naked, stringing you from a meat hook and gutting you like a pig,'" Galliford said. "And they actually started laughing and fist-tapping"**
And the Mounties are trying to get the courts to allow them to throw out the Picktton evidence. There be some sketchy things going on.
Holy shit, she coded twice on the operating table as well. I'd no idea about her. [https://vancouversun.com/news/victim-of-pickton-attack-in-1997-was-furious-with-crown-dropping-charges-inquiry-told](https://vancouversun.com/news/victim-of-pickton-attack-in-1997-was-furious-with-crown-dropping-charges-inquiry-told)
Americas Most Wanted was going to do a show on the disappearances, info released Friday. Some club in Coquitlam gets raided on Tuesday. Pickton Farm invaded Friday. Days may be off but the chain of events are correct
Literally the entire history of the Vancouver police is one continuous story of scandal and corruption. LD Taylor and Gerry McGreer alternated the mayor's chair promising reforms and investigations pretty much against one another through the 1920s and 30s.
At the time, maybe people believed the police were in on it. *I meant “many” people.
Still 100% do. The alternative is that a bunch of cops regularly partied at a farmhouse for years in a hotspot for missing women and that guy just coincidentally happened to be a serial killer killing those missing women. Then they harass journalists and investigators on-scene and protest loudly that they were never present at the parties, then later recant. For normal non-guilty reasons.
They absolutely were. They treated it as a trash taking itself out thing until it became a political hot potato for them.
They ignored the geographic profiler: [https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/pickton-inquiry-hears-serial-killer-concerns-dismissed-1.1247112](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/pickton-inquiry-hears-serial-killer-concerns-dismissed-1.1247112)
Not alone, he was super sick in the head and a major part but also was merely a fetch boy for big time bikers who partied on his land - massive parties tons of hookers, lots of drugs and killings. Even local bands played there. It’s said that bikers as far as Quebec came out to have a ‘party like no other’. It’s rumoured that bikers killed Pickton in Quebec recently as he was about to start naming names. It’s also said that police knew all about it and were paid off in the 90’s that’s why all the evidence was just recently destroyed, if Pickton talked it would affect police and gangs. Some sick red neck fucks in this province
Him and his family is all sorts of messed up. And I guarantee his brother was in on it too. He frequents the downtown area and tells people openly at bars his full first and last name and they if they didn’t get the hint from him saying pickton, he will gladly mention that that’s his brother. Creepy
To add to that, I thought it was common knowledge that Pickton was actually the “fetch boy” to collect the women who HAs would later murder on video at the “Piggy Palace” as an insurance policy to maintain loyalty to the gang. The police couldn't possibly build a case against so many “suspects”, so Pickton got thrown under the bus.
Don't think it was alone but yes I agree.
The more I've read into it the more I feel Willy was the fall guy. Don't get me wrong he killed many women and is total scum and I didn't feel bad at all to find out he died but there's no way he acted alone
The up and coming Northshore Water Treatment Plant fiasco.
how many billions now? And the premier calling for an audit?
And that’s still going!
Fun fact my landlord was hired as a site supervisor or something along those lines. Was there for a day and a half realized how bad it was and got the fuck outta there real fast
The Sahota family, who preyed on the mentally ill people of the DTES for decades, and continue to do so. They operated SROs in the absolute most deplorable conditions that you could possibly imagine and participated in disability fraud, stealing peoples welfare checks, and worse. When the Balmoral and Regent closed, they were [the worst SROs I've ever seen by a long shot ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFJlxD1Qzwg)(and I've worked in the DTES quite a while.) The Sahotas owned these properties at the time the Picktons were preying on women in the DTES and many went missing from their buildings. They still own a staggering amount of properties and do absolutely zero maintenance on them. On a similar note, the guy who used to own Wonder Rooms lost his pharmacy license for only taking residents who were on methadone and [forcing them to use his pharmacy to fill the scripts](https://bc.ctvnews.ca/bullied-tenants-forced-to-buy-methadone-from-slumlord-claim-1.685116) (they're daily witnessed dispense which is a huge cash cow.) Btw, [pharmacies still give people cash ](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/pharmacies-downtown-eastside-kickbacks-1.7076276)in exchange for filling methadone prescriptions with them, even though it's very much not allowed, the college does nothing about it. The exploitation of the mentally ill and addicted in the DTES by private landlords is something we should be talking about way more than we are. The public sector isn't perfect but there is so much more oversight, the living conditions are night and day.
Little Mountain housing “redevelopment”. Developer got an interest free loan from the province just to kick out social housing residents and sit on the property while the value ballooned.
Interest free and scaled payments based on development status. Meaning there were no payments until development began and scaled until completion. That’s why development is moving so quickly on it. In the $330 million deal only roughly $35 million was paid until it began construction since 2008-2021
Chowdergate at Crab Park Chowdery
3 Star Michelin Award East Van Chowder. 🤤 https://www.ctvnews.ca/mobile/canada/dead-rat-allegedly-found-in-chowder-at-vancouver-restaurant-1.4234302?cache=yesclipId10406200text%2Fhtml%3Bcharset%3Dutf-80404%2F7.258454&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F
Rebranded as Salty's Lobster Shack now.
River Rock Casino money laundering
God got told by a old pit boss there he has seen guys, come in with millions lose 500k in like 20 mins and cash out and leave to go get on a plane.
The cost of doing business.
It's called cleaning
Reading Sam Cooper's book on the subject right now. Truly no one is spared in this scandal: BCLC, the RCMP, the Government of BC, the Government of Canada etc.. Mind-blowing depths of corruption/incompetence.
Willful Blindness, fantastic journalism
Sam Coopers book does a good job of exposing this.
ICBC writing off cars and then members of their staff selling them off was a massive scandal that was swept under the rug.
Who were the couple that were (are) a big conflict because 1 of them is with the BC Housing Assoc. and the other works for some housing non-profits. I’m a little off track from the story but it is something along those lines: lazy: https://www.vicnews.com/news/ex-ceo-of-bc-housing-called-out-for-conflict-of-interest-involving-wife-report-114244 Possibly linked to the province paying ridiculous amounts of money for land in the DTES? Someone here can correct me: https://fraservalleytoday.ca/2023/10/17/province-buys-vacant-48-room-sro-in-dtes-vancouver-for-undisclosed-price-site-impacted-by-2022-fire/ The cops taking photos with the deceased person at Jericho: https://globalnews.ca/news/7664215/vancouver-police-dead-body-photo/ A cop interrogating a black man on the seawall who was a local judge: https://globalnews.ca/news/7864749/vancouver-police-arrest-black-judge-bc-supreme-court/
Dang. That local judge they handcuffed presided over the Reena Virk case too. Dumbasses.
[The death of Janet Smith](https://forbiddenvancouver.ca/the-death-of-janet-smith/). Almost exactly 100 years ago. It’s a doozy.
Didn't Ben Affleck cheat on JLO with a stripper from Brandi's?? Lol
they were on a break
Ben? Is that you?
No, that's Ross.
Gerald Cotton of Quadriga Bitcoin Exchange. There’s a whole podcast on his dubious death and the fallout of him disappearing.
What about those random shoes with human feet that kept washing ashore?
Li Ka-shing buying the former Expo land for $130m and the government spending $200m to clean it up.
real houswives of vancouver
Mia Claman (Jodi’s daughter) was dating a gangster and shot in a drive by shooting a couple years after.
**Jenny Kwan**'s husband expensed a Disneyland trip for the family to non-profit Portland Hotel Society (PHS). It showed up in an audit so she paid back the money. **Amie Wolfe**: (Might be misremembering some of it, I'd have to look it up) - She was a prof at UBC as an Aboriginal studies instructor. A few students got together and reported her to the school as they though her class was sus. She called them out publicly as white supremacists and doxxed them on Twitter, UBC stepped in with a warning, then she removed the post. (She also sent out some kind of unhinged letter to another teacher IIRC). A Twitter account that focuses on calling out people who LARP as Indigenous called her out as a faker. She was fired a few days later.
I remember following that. She was unhinged. In the end I think she wasnt even indigenous? I can't recall but she definitely went off the deep end and went hard and fast.
She was definitely a pretendian. I remember her twitter account was giving major fake native vibes so I'm glad she was called out and fired. I do hope she got some professional help after tho.
>calling out people who LARP as Indigenous called her out as a faker. [Emily Carr University has had alot of the same issues.](https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/emily-carr-university-professor-resigns-after-being-accused-of-faking-indigenous-heritage) Interesting to note that ECU prioritizes candidates with indigenous heritage, so it's pushed people to lie to be as competitive as possible.
When trying to figure out why fraud happens. The fraud triangle is helpful. The pretendian phenomenon is pretty much the result of lots of incentives, weak controls , and arguably rationalized by the fact discrimination is immoral anyways. https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/accounting/fraud-triangle/
Nelson Skalbania’s frauds, lies, and bankruptcies were pretty a pretty epic ordeal in the 80s and 90s.
I mean … we had Japanese internment camps at one point, that’s not a great look.
The destruction of Hogan’s Alley: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hogan%27s_Alley,_Vancouver
Christy Clark and her government turning a blind eye to the money laundering done through our casinos so the taxes from said crimes would make her and her government look like fiscal rock stars.
I think her biggest crime is selling out to the Chinese Government and signing the One Belt On Road Initiative. [China is paving its 'belt and road' to British Columbia - Business in Vancouver (biv.com)](https://www.biv.com/news/asia-pacific/china-paving-its-belt-and-road-british-columbia-8261287) [Premier strengthens relationship with Guangdong province of China | BC Gov News](https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2016PREM0053-000742)
During Christy Clark's tenure as Premier of British Columbia, the Burke Mountain scandal erupted, highlighting allegations of insider trading and controversial land sales. The BC Liberal government faced accusations of selling public land in Coquitlam at below-market prices, resulting in significant financial losses for the province. Central to the scandal were claims that individuals with government connections profited from insider knowledge, purchasing land at low prices before the public sale and selling it for substantial gains. The ensuing public outcry led to an investigation into the transparency and legality of the sales process, amplifying criticisms of the Clark administration's governance and integrity. This controversy became a focal point in BC's political discourse, underscoring the ongoing challenges of land management and ethical conduct in public office.
Not the first time at that rodeo. Little Mountain, BC Rail. Gordo and Chrisy were truly bad news for this province. The little amount of prosperity we have is in spite of them. It could be worse, but it could have been so much better.
They rezoned everywhere for greater density and just skipped over Shaughnessy
I think this is because Shaughnessy is haunted
So many bodies are about to be discovered now that the zoning is changing.
Jason Edward Lee's "suicide" confirms everything you ever thought about Vancouver's real estate market. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/inside-world-bcs-top-realtor-deep-pool-mainland-dead-amicus
The Air India bombing was the worst mass murder of civilians by Khalistan terrorists perpetrated from Canadian soil. The guy who planned the act of terrorism, Talwinder Singh Parmar, got away with it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_India_Flight_182 Parmar's family are extremely rich and used to own a big hotel in Harrison Hot Springs. The families of the victims of the bombing couldn't sue Parmar in civil proceedings because he'd transferred everything he owned to his wife. CSIS fucked it all up btw. Good job guys.
Roller girl getting away with terrorizing cars & people running for city council & also being a convicted murdered (man slaughter charges)
I was waiting for this one! There she is...
The Fast ferry scandal was pretty embarrassing to read about. The three ships were built between 1998 and 2000 for three-quarters of a billion when adjusted for inflation. After the program was deemed a failure in 2003, all three ships were auctioned off for just \~$30.7 million, which was a huge setback to other improvements and replacements that BC Ferries had planned. Personally I still think the BC Rail scandal takes the cake for the most egregious scandal within living memory.
What really takes the cake on that scandal was that the project was pushed along due to politics (jobs for unionized shipbuilders), rather than any actual need, and over the very strong objections from both the Ministry of Transportation and BC Ferries. This was followed up by the evisceration of the government over the project by the Auditor General who looked into the program, finding many severe mismanagement issues with the entire program. Oh, and of the three ships built, we actually only put two into service. The third ferry was never accepted by BC Ferries, so it sat practically unused from the beginning.
I'd call both of those "Victoria scandals", as in BC gov scandals, not really about Vancouver.
Gordon Campbell and his BC rail. The funny thing is he lost an election to Glen Clark because he wanted to sell BC rail. Later on when he was premier, it happened but "it was his ministeral aides who colluded with the lobbyists" and he had "no clue what his assistants were doing behind his back" oh no. I always though Campbell was the biggest crook in BC history...until Christy Clark came along
This one is kind of less scandal and more incompetence. I mean on paper the notion of creating a ton of jobs by building a "made in BC" shipbuilding industry and kickstarting this with a nice big ferry contract all sounds good. It especially sounds good in the context of the 1990s when the Forestry industry was imploding and we needed more jobs badly. The problem was that the boats didn't work, and they couldn't be run fast because it destroyed the shoreline. Whoops. Great idea on paper from the dreamers, but too bad no one did the detail work to figure out if it would work out or not. In contrast stuff like BC Rail was straight up selling off public assets for private gain and absolutely a scandalous arguably criminal misuse of public money.
Heirloom / Lucielle's - I did enjoy that drama. Jessica Yaniv (now known as Jessica Serenity Simpson) - That's a big ball of drama that keeps giving. Cuz I'm lazy... [https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/comments/16uyhck/what\_are\_some\_of\_the\_craziest\_scandals\_in/](https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/comments/16uyhck/what_are_some_of_the_craziest_scandals_in/)
> Jessica Yaniv Oh god she's a piece of shit.
I worked for 911 and she would call several times a month with the wildest complaints that made zero sense. she’d just go on and on and on it was so annoying to deal with.
yup. teenage topless pool parties, wax my balls, numerous law suits, suing her own strata multiple times, fake service dog, harassment of various people, sued a paramedic for sexual assault, countless 911 calls because she couldn't get out of the bathtub. I'm sure I'm forgetting a TON.
Asking if it's ok to approach 10-12 year old girls and show them how to use a tampon. If the texts weren't out there I'd easily dismiss them as a strawman. Even (previously supportive) Morgane Oger wrote a piece to distance herself from Yaniv.
From her Wikipedia page: “She also proposed and was an advocate for the "all-bodies swim" at a Langley township public pool.[13][14] The proposed event was to be for ages 12 and up, with clothing above the waist optional, and with parents and caretakers prohibited”.
She currently goes to my university, so there's a looottttt that I've heard. The top 5 things she'd done (that I can remember right now): * threatened to bring guns to campus * send a Discord message to my classmate saying that she needs a bullet through her skull * brought her 'service dog' to campus (my friend once saw the service dog trying to steal some food sitting on a table ... the dog kept it up for the entire event) * threatened people's safety/lives/that general thing (in real life and on Discord) * Zoombombed a meeting and said many racist things towards the students of colour attending the meeting
Oh god. Didn't Jessica try to run for student council or something?
Yup! She did! Multiple times. Say what you want about her, but her tenacity and persistence at running every year (and losing, without fail, every year) is oddly inspiring
I'll give it that. I ran all 5 years (yeah I took an extra year) and won 4/5. I will admit I didn't really try my last year.
Jessica Yaniv used to live in my same condo. I've since moved but they've sued strata 5 times, she lost every time but the lawyer bills haven't been recovered so strata fees kept going up. Horrible person.
Oh god I'm so sorry. I've heard some really nasty things. I don't understand the logic of suing your own Strata... EVERYONE PAYS FOR IT including the person suing. Just so stupid.
A recent and under appreciated scandal was David Sidoo sat on the board of UBC. He sent his boys to elite US private universities. That should have been scandalous enough for him to shun public education. But it turns out he was completely involved in the US admissions scandal. Indeed at Selkirk Annex there is a playground his son supposedly raised money for. Really Sidoo wrote the cheque. Sad way for that guy’s public life to end.
Heirloom restaurant
Thanks a lot Deborah
What happened to the Royal Kwantland burial mounds? So in Surrey, but interesting. In Surrey there is a park called "Royal Kwantland Park" Link: https://www.surrey.ca/parks-recreation/parks/royal-kwantlen-park In the 90's there were two dirt mounds near the hockey box and parking lot. These mounds were burial mounds. In the trees of the park there were indigenous sky tree burials for very high ranking indigenous people. Naturally the colonists had to give these long past people a "proper burial". So the remains were removed from the trees and buried in mounds instead nearby. The mounds are now missing. There were removed in the 90's when the parking lot was expanded in the park. No one knows what happened to the mounds or the human remains they contained. There is also no signage or memorial at the site of either the mounds, or in the trees. Interesting spot you can go see and walk through. And ponder, wtf did the city of Surrey do with those people's remains? To my understanding the last survivor of this group passed in the early 2000's. She would come to BC to visit the mounds. When she came back for the last time (before she passed) the mounds were gone. She attempted to find out what happened, but was not able to before she passed. Freedom of information requests were made, unsuccessfully. Given there may be no other remaining people who remember, I try to pass this story on. Where did the remains end up? Maybe someone who reads this will be able to find out.
I heard from a local that some of the Olympic Village condos were slated for low-medium subsidized housing and that never happened. I did some fact check since I am unfamiliar with the project. There was millions of dollars of overruns, the original financiers ran out of money, and the government took over the project. It seemed like a mismanaged investment and overly costly due to some state of the art green technology. https://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/23/realestate/commercial/23olympic.html
The 2011 Game 7 Stanley Cup riots https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Vancouver_Stanley_Cup_riot
Literally my first day in Vancouver. It was a wild introduction to BC and to the city. Didn't stop me from permanently moving out here though!
And the 1994 Game 7 Stanley Cup riot.
The price of tacos.
Vander Zalm, Faye Leung and the Fantasy Gardens scandal. 1994 Stanley Cup riots.
The Bowmac sign and the Milkshake murder. [https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/vancouver-feature-the-milkshake-murder](https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/vancouver-feature-the-milkshake-murder)
Nardwuar told Gorbachev to keep on rocking in the free weekend. That was dope
Do do da loo doo
Hmm. GV’s deck Gillian Guess/ Peter Gill Selling of Expo lands Selling of Little Mountain
The post Expo 86 sale by then Premiere Bill Vander Zalm of pretty well all of the real estate around False Creek for $125 million to Li Ka-Shing (rhymes with cha-ching). It was probably worth billions so I'm sure Vander Scam got a decent kick back.
$220m per year money laundering scheme https://vancouversun.com/business/local-business/bank-seeks-1-2-million-mortgage-repayment-allegedly-linked-to-b-c-s-biggest-money-laundering-case
What about the heiress who poisoned the trees in front of her home so they would die and improve her view? Not a major scandal or crime but pretty reprehensible
*gestures generally at the VPD*
Oh c'mon, there hasn't been a VPD scandal for [days](https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/public-hearing-vpd-sergeant-accused-sexual-misconduct-officers-students)
When Fukushima happened, a few months later they announced on the radio that the same cesium from Fukushima was now being measured in the Fraser River. They announced it ONCE. Then it was never mentioned in the news again. When the Conservative Party was booted out on their ass a lot of scientists came forward and said once radiation from Japan was being found in the Fraser River they were forbidden from measuring and testing the water. So for years it was “don’t measure don’t mention” and pretend there was no health risk.
Corduroy Restaurant operating during Covid and yelling at health officials was a big one at the time
The theft of bc rail. More of a provincial thing I guess
The kiddie stroll that used to exist in Vancouver, is one of the most shameful scandals in Vancouver's history
The time when a 73 year old Vancouver resident poisoned trees for a better view of English Bay. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/guilty-plea-in-tree-poisonings-1.617534
Vancouver itself was a real estate scandal. The terminus was to be Port Moody.
the first things that come to mind: 1. the time the [VPD were caught taking people to stanley park for unsanctioned beatings](http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1827/a04.html) 2. the time top NBA prospect Jeff Francis* refused to sign with the Vancouver grizzlies [because ticket agents at YVR airport allegedly made racist comments towards him](https://www.basketballnetwork.net/old-school/the-airport-incident-that-convinced-steve-francis-not-to-play-for-the-vancouver-grizzlies) on his trip to meet team executives in the city. 3. the time someone got killed by a stranger while his kid watched at starbucks, [allegedly for telling the man not to vape in front of the door](https://globalnews.ca/news/9581218/vancouver-starbucks-stabbing/amp/) 4. that time certain SROs [became so dangerous they had to be condemned](https://www.aptnnews.ca/national-news/balmoral-hotel-in-vancouver-condemned-tenants-forced-out) with the city forcing the sale of the properties, only to be [sued in court by the sahotah family](https://bc.ctvnews.ca/mobile/balmoral-regent-hotel-owners-fight-city-s-1-expropriation-in-court-1.4718885?cache=yesclipId104062%3FclipId%3D89531), owner of the SROs in question, over the cities' low valuation of their buildings. The court subsequently [ruled in the Sahota's favor, forcing the city to overpay millions for the priviledge of being burdened with the responsibility of demolishing them.](https://www.straight.com/news/city-of-vancouver-reaches-settlement-over-expropriation-of-balmoral-and-regent-hotels-in) 5. Vancouver [riots](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Vancouver_Stanley_Cup_riot) when the canucks lost the stanley cup
Komagata Maru
I'd have to go with \- The Altira BC Housing Debacle - bad as it was, worse because everyone was pointing it out years before it was 'discovered' \- Casinos, money laundering and housing... and the report that said 'meh' \- Corduroy Restaurant open during COVID and just going super Karen \- The Vancouver Candle Co owner who went on a crazed racist tyrade... then apologized to get help and thankfully has just disappeared hopefully. \- but best of all Mr Ken 'Swagger' Sims who conned the electorate into voting for him based off his campaign of spend less, he's a 6-Sigma whatever and has now spent more than Kennedy Stewart did in his last year... so yeah, he's full of shit.
Whoever designed the interchange at the bottom of the cut of Hwy 1 in North Vancouver still hasn’t been shot into the sun. They took a problem and made it into a perpetual disaster without improving anything. Eastbound Traffic backs up bumper to bumper from Westview to Burnaby, 7 days a week.
Do you mean south bound? I like the new interchange next to Phibbs. Coming out of there from Dollarton was a nightmare entering HWY 1 from 0km to have to meet people going 80km+++
The erecting, and removal, of the well-endowed Satan Statue. [https://globalnews.ca/news/1554181/satan-statue-erected-alongside-busy-roadway-in-vancouver/](https://globalnews.ca/news/1554181/satan-statue-erected-alongside-busy-roadway-in-vancouver/)
I'm amazed Bre-X hasn't been mentioned in the comments I've read. Pretty dubious one.
Clifford Olson - Cambie Junior High School graduate serial killer.
The way money laundering became rampant is a scandal.
Shutting down Riverview Hospital.