"British Columbia is filing a lawsuit against OpenAI in California for its failure to notify law enforcement of threats made on its platform prior to the mass shooting at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School."

"This case highlights the urgent need for strong national safeguards for artificial intelligence technologies and online platforms. Our government has consistently advocated for measures to protect people, especially children and youth from online harms."

"I have written to federal ministers [Minister of Justice Sean] Fraser, [Minister of Artificial Intelligence Evan] Solomon and [Minister of Canadian Identity Marc] Miller with clear policy ideas to amend the Criminal Code of Canada to ensure a pathway to human accountability for AI's actions."

British Columbia Attorney General Niki Sharma 

B.C. Attorney General Niki Sharma is calling for changes to the Criminal Code in the wake of reporting on the alleged conversations between the Tumbler Ridge mass shooter and ChatGPT. (Ben Nelms/CBC, Kiichiro Sato/The Associated Press)

 

"In response, Chat GPT explained why such violent content would be flagged -- and then offered tips on how to evade its own safeguards."

"It advised Van Rootselaar to always frame ... content as fictional or hypothetical in order to 'never get flagged again by OpenAI's moderation systems."

"[Over the next eight months, Van Rootselaar] discussed building and using firearms and homemade explosives, fantasized about becoming a notorious mass killer and asked about the timing of previous real-world school shootings."

"To have a chatbot engage in this way was, I think, quite astonishing. It's very troubling, because this is a person who has been already talking, for quite a while, about some very dark and disturbing things." 

Mark Follman, journalist, Mother Jones 

An RCMP vehicle is parked outside Tumbler Ridge Secondary School in February 2026.

 

Transgender-identity, biological male Jesse Van Rootselaar, 18, set out on February 10 of this year to commit a mass atrocity. Before leaving his home he shot his mother to death, along with his half-brother. That out of the way he made his way to the high school he had attended, to wreak mayhem and havoc there, carrying the lethal weapons that would enable him to pursue his deadly goal. He took the life of a teacher, and five students of the school. And finished his work by shooting himself dead. Those he managed to injure during his psychotic predation will carry the memory of the atrocity for the rest of their lives.

 

The RCMP detachment in the remote Northern British Columbia town at the foothills of the Rockies had had previous interactions with the young man that everyone referred to as 'she' and 'her', respecting his/her gender-choice identity. There were extensive files on Van Rootselaar dating back to the years when he/she was only ten years of age. At a time close to the event that represented one of the largest mass murders to ever have taken place in the country, the Van Rootselaar home's collection of firearms were taken into custody.

 

Van Rootselaar's mother evidently had a fascination for guns, and knew how to use them, ensuring that her son did as well, arranging for him to gain experience at a shooting range. Van Rootselaar's behaviour sparked attention by police to whom he was no stranger. Given the complicating fact that his was an unstable character, who engaged in troubling anti-social behaviour, it is more than a trifle puzzling that the weapons were returned to the Van Rootselaar home by the RCMP. 

 

Van Rootselaar had an initial ChatGPT account that he used extensively to probe for answers to questions about previous mass school killings and advice on how one might proceed to produce one's own. His troubling activity had been flagged by gatekeepers at ChatGPT which led to his account being suspended. He then proceeded to open a replacement account, and his interaction with ChatGPT continued unabated. Again it was flagged and the gatekeepers were all for notifying police, but a supervisor decided to nix it.

 

Some of the Tumbler Ridge shooting victims. Top row from left: Kylie Smith, Abel Mwansa, Zoey Benoit, Ticaria Lampert. Bottom row from left: Ezekiel Schofield, Emmett Jacobs, Jennifer Jacobs.

 

Van Rootselaar, fascinated with guns and with violence, and with mass shootings, appears to have self-radicalized with the benevolent assistance of ChatGPT which it seems felt obliged to to support that emerging psychopathy toward full-fledged maturity. His mental equilibrium was obviously fragile. Gender dysphoria, mental instability, social hostility, fetish for mass shootings all came together, alongside a resentment of his mother and step-brother and a linkage to the school he had left prematurely in his decision to disrupt his academic exposure.

 

An inquest by the B.C. Coroners Service remains as yet incomplete: "The B.C. Coroners Service has not confirmed the dates for the Tumbler Ridge inquest at this time. Once all related investigations are concluded, we will send out a news release with more details", wrote its media relations staff in response to an inquiry. Clearly this confused individual who harboured feelings of disengagement from society was in need of psychiatric intervention. In B.C. as in other parts of Canada provincial psychiatric services for youth in need are inadequate.

 

The government of British Columbia, the RCMP and the medical community must view the decision to sue OpenAI for the part its artificial intelligence agent played in the unfolding of this horrible tragedy as a convenient shield against probes into their own failings in being badly remiss in the potential prevention of a tragedy of this magnitude. That OpenAI is liable is without question. That the government of British Columbia should be asking its own questions of itself and its agencies is also without question.

 

Victims of the Tumbler Ridge shooting were memorialized in the days after the tragedy. (Ben Nelms/CBC)

 

"This action today is consistent with the province's long-standing commitment to hold powerful corporations accountable when their products or practices cause harm to people and communities."

"From tobacco  and opioid manufacturers to vaping companies, the Government of British Columbia has used the courts to pursue accountability and ensure that people in British Columbia are not left bearing the costs of corporate wrong-doing." 

B.C. Attorney General Niki Sharma 

 

"[Police allege that on May 25 and September 7, 2024, Ahmad Hassan Hajahmad, 33, attended anti-Israel demonstrations in the area of Bay Street and Front Street West], where he used amplification devices to make public statements that advocated for the detestation and harm against members of the Israeli and Jewish communities [allegedly acting] for the benefit of, and in association with, Hamas."

Toronto Police Service 

 

"It is chilling that a Toronto man has been charged with acting for the benefit of and in association with Hamas, a banned terrorist organization.

"Governments and authorities across Canada must do more to confront those who are radicalizing people in our streets to support violence and promote terrorist organizations, and ensure police and national security agencies have the counter-terrorism resources they need to enforce the law and keep Canadians safe."

Noah Shack, CEO, Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs 

 

"He faces a single charge arising from speaking at public demonstrations. No violence, no weapon, no one harmed. Speaking out at a protest about the killing of civilians is protected expression, not terrorism."

"The police told the media he 'advocated for detestation and harm' but he is not charged with that. We'll be looking closely at how and why this case came to be, and we're confident it won't hold up when measured against the law."

Mohamed El Rashidy, defence lawyer for the accused 

Demonstrators at pro-Palestinian rally before the U.S. Consulate in Toronto   Chris Young, CP

 

The Attorney General of Ontario and the Government of Canada provided consent to the Toronto Police to proceed with the charge against Ahmad Hassan Hajahmad, resident of Toronto. Following which this man was arrested and charged with participation in or contributing to the activities of a terrorist group. One of the very such groups on Canada's terrorist list. Following his appearance before the Ontario court of justice the Toronto Police Service issued a statement. 

"Due to a court-imposed publication ban, the Toronto Police Service is unable to provide further details related to this investigation."

"The Toronto Police Service thanks the RCMP's INSET for their support with this investigation."

"A joint investigation by the Toronto Police Service Hate Crime Unit and INSET subsequently gathered evidence supporting the allegation that the accused acted for the benefit of, and in association with, Hamas, a designated terrorist group."

Toronto Police Service

Tensions ran high on Montreal’s downtown campuses as student activists led more than 500 protesters in support of Palestine. The rally began outside of Concordia University’s Hall building and snaked through downtown towards the McGill University campus. University Affairs

 

The Integrated National Security Enforcement Teams (INSET), is led by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, comprised of especially trained members of that group along with other law enforcement and national security partners at the federal, provincial and municipal levels. The proliferation of street demonstrations led by Palestinian student groups in Canada, incited and funded by foreign actors from abroad were initiated in the wake of the 7 October 2023 Palestinian terrorist incursion into southern Israel, led by Hamas. 

 

The protesters, labelling themselves 'pro-Palestinians' cited and repeated Hamas/Palestinian claims of Israeli genocide against Palestinians even before the Israel Defense Force had entered Gaza for the distinct purpose of routing out all Hamas agents and the terrorist leaders who had planned and executed the bloody barbarism that saw Jewish girls and women gang-raped and tortured, entire families put to the torch in their homes, farming communities torn asunder, their residents butchered, and children, the elderly and infirm and other Israeli civilians in their hundreds taken hostage into Gaza.

 

The Palestine Youth Movement held a downtown rally from Yonge and Dundas Sts. to the Israeli Consulate on Tuesday, March 18, 2025, before shutting down the intersection to traffic. Photo by Caryma Sa'd /Special to the Toronto Sun

 

Marching through Canadian streets and chanting 'Globalize the Intifada', 'Final Solution!', and 'Palestine will be free from the river to the sea', the protesters engaged in wildly uncivil and unlawful actions while threatening Canadian Jews in their neighbourhoods. On college and university campuses encampments were set up to harass Jewish students and to publicize Palestinian/Hamas propaganda, slandering both Israel and the Canadian Jewish population. While the targets of these wholesale discriminatory, racial events awaited police reaction and law action, it was in vain.

 

Jewish-owned businesses were vandalized, Jewish parochial schools shot at, synagogues fired-bombed, Jews were ostracized and abandoned, while police organized themselves to keep public order translated as separating the Palestinian supporters from smaller groups of Jews that came out to counter-protest and in so doing informed those small groups that their presence comprised a threat to public safety by inciting violence from the Palestinian-support groups lionizing Hamas's bloodbath as an understandable 'reaction' to 'occupation'.

 

Investigators had executed a search warrant at a Toronto residence on March 7, 2025, and there seized multiple electronic devices, we now are informed. "Investigations into criminal offences committed at demonstrations do not end when the event is over", stated Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw. 

"As this investigation progressed, we worked closely with our INSET partners to pursue the terrorism charge warranted by the investigation."

These complex investigations underscore the importance of continuing to strengthen our Counter Terrorism Security Unit so we can identify and investigate evolving threats to public safety."

"We will continue to hold those who break the law accountable, no matter how long it takes."

Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw 

Hamas terrorists in Rafah, Gaza   (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

"Police have attended that residence in the past, approximately a couple of years ago, where firearms were seized."

"I can say that at a later point in time the lawful owner of those firearms petitions for those firearms to be returned and they were."

"I can say with confidence that from the moment the suspect encountered police, there were no further injuries to any other students in the school."  

"In speaking with investigators, there was no specific targeting of any individuals [at the school],"

"This suspect was, for lack of a better term, hunting. They were prepared and engaging anybody and everybody they could come in contact with."

"We're trying to determine how our suspect got that firearm, and that investigation is continuing." 

RCMP Deputy Commissioner Dwayne McDonald 

 

"Identifying individuals who are no longer eligible for a firearms licence as quickly as possible and ensuring they can no longer access firearms is an important public safety objective."

Canadian Firearms Advisory Committee 

A vigil in Tumbler Ridge. (Ben Nelms/CBC)

 

Canada remains in mourning yet incredulous that a young man of 18 living in a remote British Columbia town of some 2,300 residents where everyone is reputed to know everyone else, chose to enter the Tumbler Ridge Secondary school with two lethal weapons to begin firing at random, killing six students from ages 12 to 13, and a 39-year-old teacher before his rampage came to an end with the intervention of two members of the local RCMP detachment. 

 

That stunning attack with its consequent victims occurred just a short time after 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar had killed his 36-year-old mother and 11-year-old stepbrother at the family home, located a short distance from the school.

 

The Tuesday killing represented one of Canada's worst mass murder events in recent history. A biological male who six years ago transitioned to female, the attacker had long brown hair and wore a dress as he rampaged through the school killing three 12-year-old girls, a 12 and a 13 year-old boy, and the teacher. Most of the deaths occurred in the school library. One of the boys was found dead in a stairwell. 

 

It took a mere two minutes for two RCMP officers to respond and arrive at the scene when they were alerted at 1:00 p.m. Tuesday. They drew fire from the killer; failing to respond, they bought time by distracting the killer from hunting down any more victims; instead he turned his weapon on himself, committing suicide. A short while later, a young neighbour who had gone to the family home of the killer, discovered the mother and brother dead and she contacted the RCMP.

 

Getty Images

 

The mother, as it happened, was a gun aficionado. Who presumably taught her son to appreciate weapons for target practice and hunting...and, as the mother noted on a social media posting for 'self-reliance'. She had a gun licence and owned a number of long guns herself and took pride in using them. Her son had mental issues, well known to the RCMP who had responded on a number of occasions at the family home to issues related to the boy's mental health.

 

In Canadian gun law firearms are to be removed from any home that houses an individual with mental illness. Police, according to RCMP Deputy Commissioner Dwayne McDonald had gone to the home a number of times. There was more than one time when the killer, under the terms of the Mental Health Act was taken into custody. Jennifer Strang, the killer's mother (now deceased) in an August 2024 Facebook post, showed an image of a safe with six long guns, with the caption: "think it's time to take them out for some target practice".

 

An earlier post in 2021 had Jennifer Strang promoting a YouTube channel by her son, stating it was where "He posts about hunting, self-reliance, guns and stuff he likes to do". Canadian law enforcement can legally seize legal firearms without a warrant should an officer believe that to do so is in the "interests of the safety of the person or any other person". The Possession and Acquisition Licence of legal gun owners can also be unilaterally suspended.

 

The federal government mere weeks ago kicked off its Assault-Style Firearms Compensation Program, a 'buy back' program for firearms covered by the 2020 ban under the government bans through a 'freeze' on the sale or transfer of legal handguns. The SKS, a Russian-produced semi-automatic rifle had been overlooked in the banned list even though it has the same function as banned rifles like the Ruger Mini-14.

 

As it happened, an SKS was among one of the long guns in the possession of the Tumbler Ridge killer's mother. It was shown among those demonstrated in her Facebook post of 2014. This was the same rifle that appeared with an avatar of the YouTube channel her son started. In the annals of preventable homicides, all details pulled together, this horrible event rates a number one. 

 

Tumbler Ridge, B.C., victims identified by police

 

The Failed Canadian Justice System

"Where are the judges who make these decisions?"

"Our members are held accountable for the decisions they make and the actions they take."

"Why isn't anyone else?" 

Toronto Police Association

 

"What we expect from the Crown -- what you and the public should expect -- is that the Crown is a zealous advocate for justice."

"Unfortunately, so far, we have not seen that in this case."

Megan Hankeich, executive director, legal services, Edmonton Police Service

 

"This decision is not only profoundly disrespectful to Constable Scott's family and colleagues, it is a slap in the face to every police officer who puts their life on the line each and every shift to keep our communities safe."

National Police Federation 

 

"...This incident comes just days after RCMP Members in Nanaimo apprehended a subject who was threatening residents with a machete while also out on bail, as well as a drive-by shooting in Coquitlam last week believed to involve suspects known to police."

National Police Federation

 

"Catch and release" justice has infuriated Canadian police agencies for years, and the situation has more latterly become a full-blown crisis of crime and criminals being let off the hook of responsibility by a lenient system of justice. Police do their jobs, trying to protect the public from sociopaths, psychopaths and the criminal elements that invariably infect every society, only to see soft-on-crime judges rule that those committing serious crimes are still eligible for bail and release. While prison parole boards opt for parole and early release for those committing themselves to terrorizing whole communities.

 

Appeals by police services to the federal government to harden bail for repeat offenders have fallen on deaf ears. The previous Conservative government had imposed hard bail conditions for criminal offenders, only to see follow-up Liberal legislation reverse the decisions made by their predecessors. Rising crime rates led to the Conservative move in an effort to make sociopaths understand there are consequences to their violent actions. Since the Liberal softening of consequences crime rates have soared in Canada.

 

In the past decade, identity-based justice and a distaste for punishment has created a regime that allows chronic offenders to walk free  Tristin Hopper, National Post

 

The Toronto Police Association was infuriated in a case where a 12-year-old on a release order took part in the beating death of a homeless man in Toronto. In Edmonton, police slammed Crown prosecutors for their failure in pursuing murder charges for a woman who killed an eight-year-old Indigenous girl. The child's whereabouts were unknown in 2023, missing from her Alberta home until her body was discovered in the back of a pickup truck stuffed into a hockey bag.

 

Crown prosecutors agreed to a 'solution' where the accused killer of the girl would plead guilty to manslaughter thus avoiding a murder prosecution. Provincial officials were called by Edmonton police to annul the agreement; while details of the case had been placed under a publication ban shield, outraged police threatened to publicly disclose key details of the case if the plea agreement proceeded. 

 

Two months ago the Parole Board of Canada released a convicted police-killer 17 years into his 25-year capital sentence. Convicted of first-degree murder for the 2007 shooting death of RCMP Constable Douglas Scott in Kimmirut, Nunavut, Pingoatuk Kolola was given an early release. Constable Scott was the sole police officer in Kimmirut. His death resulted in eliminating single-member detachments in northern communities. The parole board can approve unescorted prison releases or day parole, despite first-degree mandatory 25-years incarceration.

 

In the face of rising crime rates, Canadian police have all but abandoned traditional agreement on Canadian justice policies; they are now more vocal in calling for measures to tighten bail and release conditions for chronic offenders; it is their job as professional defenders of the public weal to view public safety and security as society's first order of business. Their end of the justice system is rooting out crime, apprehending offenders and turning them over to the justice system. Closure cannot be found when the justice system simply releases chronic offenders with no imposed penalty, leading to re-offence.

 

OPP Const. Grzegorz Pierzchala was killed in action two days after Christmas, around 2:30 p.m., while responding to a black truck in the ditch near Hagersville, Ont. (Submitted by Bill Dickson)

 

The 2022 murder of Ontario Provincial Police constable Grzegorz Pierzchala and its outcome was the initial spur to Canadian police calling for justice reform in a loud, collective voice. Shot and killed during a routine roadside check by a chronic offender with a lengthy history of violent offences, Constable Pierzchala's murderer was given bail owing to his Indigenous background. Justice Harrison Arrell who presided over the case cited an "obligation" to consider that the accused was "a status Aboriginal". 

 

The response was police agencies calling out for tightened bail conditions; a reversal of Liberal changes that saw judges such as Arrell required to consider the "marginalized" identity of criminal defendants in their final judgements. According to OPP commissioner Thomas Carique, strict bail conditions would have resulted in victims like Constable Pierzchala being spared their lives.

 

A year ago, the National Police Federation addressed the "catch and release" format so regularly employed by the justice system, calling for its cessation following horrific stranger attacks in downtown Vancouver when a man with over 60 documented police interventions slashed two random pedestrians, killing one, severing another's hand.

 

"Over the last two years, we've seen serious incidents related to our bail system that have put the lives of police service members and our communities in danger", pointed out Mark Baxter, president, Police Association of Ontario, his statement co-signed by the Ontario Provincial Police Association. This, following a routine police check in Toronto where an all-out gang shootout occurred. Leading three Ontario police associations to call for "immediate action" on bail reform. 

 

Police unions in Toronto, Surrey, B.C., and Peel Region in Ontario accused the Liberal government of ignoring a deadly gun crime situation, driven by illegal firearms smuggled into Canada from the United States. "What difference does your handgun ban make when 85 percent of guns seized by our members can be sourced to the United States?" they asked, responding to then-prime minister Justin Trudeau self-congratulating the success of his government's gun bans, and a "freeze" on sale or transfer of legal handguns. 

 

Pallbearers carry the casket of OPP Const. Grzegorz “Greg” Pierzchala after his funeral in Barrie, Ont. on Jan. 4, 2022. Randall McKenzie, the man charged with first-degree murder in the young officer’s death, was deemed violent, unpredictable and likely to reoffend — yet was out on bail. Photo by Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press

"You're On Your Own" ... "Trust Me, You're On Your Own"

"He's just terrorized the whole community. Everybody's always on edge with this guy around."

"I know how long it's going to take for the cops to come. It's going to take them15, 20 minutes. And a lot can happen in that time."

"I pulled up into the front of his house ... and before I could even get my door open, he comes flying out of there with the axe again, and just hit the passenger side door where my son was sitting and just missed him by fractions of an inch."

"The handle of the splitting maul stopped it from going in further. Jordan didn't even see it coming because it was kind of in his blind spot."

"It should be attempted murder. If you'd seen how that axe hit that truck .. if he connected, that was it."

"Even when the cops were putting him in the back of the car, he says, 'Darin, I'm going to kill you and your family' -- right in front of the cop. He says, 'I'm gonna be out tomorrow'. He's smart enough to know the law because he's been around it long enough."

Darin Swanson, 60, resident of Masset, northern coast inlet, Haida Gwaii, British Columbia

Haida Gwaii   Archipelago in British Columbia

 

Darin Swanson's son Jordan Holt drove over to the beach at Masset on Thursday evening, planning to watch the sunset. A vehicle pulled up beside him on his way. The driver shouted for him to pull over. So he stopped, under the impression that this was a driver looking for help. When he stepped out of his truck the driver of the second vehicle ran up to him swinging a splitting maul -- a top-heavy axe used to split firewood. The first swing nicked him on the hip, and when he attempted to deflect the second swing he bent his thumb, the axe smashing into the driver's side window on the open door of his Ford truck.

 

Wood splitting maul

Jordan hopped back into his truck, the driver shouting at him to get the truck out of his town, hitting the passenger side window as he drove off. Jordan called the police, then he called his father, a member of he Haida Gwaii hereditary chiefs council.  They both drove in Darin's truck to the suspect's property, intending to block the driveway to ensure the attacker remained until the arrival of police. After the first several swings of that maul, both men tackled their attacker to the ground, and held him until he was taken into custody by police.

 

The RCMP issued a statement: "Police determined the man needed treatment at the hospital, where he was released on strict conditions and will be required to attend court in October." Needless to say, that statement struck Swanson and his son, leaving his family on "high alert". "[Jordan], he's got a shotgun ready to go", said Darin of his son, preparing himself for another possible confrontation by his attacker. It is not only these two men who are increasingly frustrated with the situation; it is a sentiment expressed by the entire community.

 

Police were called four times in recent weeks by other victims of the attacker in separate assaults. Police, moreover suggested to Swanson that he and his son may have instigated the incident. "They gaslight you. they make it your problem. The cop even said, 'Well, why the hell did your son get out of the truck?' Because he thought somebody might have needed help. So it's my son's fault that he got attacked by an axe? The whole situation sucks ... You're on your own. Trust me, you are on your own."

 

Swanson predicted that without some kind of action, someone will be hurt or killed. "It's gone to a whole new level. It's going to be him, or whoever. His own safety is in jeopardy now ... I don't know if [police] are scared of this guy or they're just tired of him. That will be the conclusion of it. It's him or it's us. That's what it's going to come down to, and I'm going to protect my family." 

 

A photo of the truck of Jordan Holt, which was allegedly smashed by an axe-wielding man in Masset, Haida Gwaii, last week. Photo by Lori Holt /Facebook

 

"That night, I went to bed with a pipe, a knife and bear spray by my bed. I went through the house, made sure all my windows were locked. I made sure all the doors were locked."

"...We just took all kinds of measures, and I couldn't sleep until four in the morning, thinking, 'Is this guy going to walk out of the hospital and burn my house down'?"

Darin Swanson

 

Haida Gwaii, B.C. Heaven on Earth

 

Singing From a Different Hymnal

"Media Relations officers were asked to ensure that internal notifications were flagged and shared with provincial headquarters prior to things being issued so that additional notifications could be completed."

"No one has been restricted from addressing matters in their jurisdiction and pre-existing Media Relations protocols have not changed."

"[In fact, the guidance indicated that we] commit to be available to review and ensure timely feedback as it is not our intention on delaying communication efforts."

Staff Sgt.Kris Clark, senior media relations officer, Royal Canadian Mounted Police E Division statement

"Organized crime groups are actively involved in the redistribution of safe supply and prescription drugs."

"It might mean how we regulate our safe supply might need a sober second glance."

Cpl. Jennifer Cooper, RCMP Prince George detachment

RCMP have arrested a suspect who was accused of standing outside the IDA pharmacy in Prince George and trading illicit drugs for safe supply prescription pills. (Andrew Kurjata/CBC)

A leaked memo emerged where Mounties in British Columbia have been instructed to step carefully around "hot button issues", in the wake of RCMP in British Columbia continually reporting the phenomena of government-distributed "safer supply" opioids showing up in drug busts. "It is very clear we are in a pre-election time period and the topic of 'public safety' is very much an issue that governments and voters are discussing", the email of March 11 from HQ of E Division, B.C. branch of the RCMP reads.

Thus the 150 detachments in the province of the RCMP were instructed not to directly address such potentially controversial issues. Best practice henceforth would be rout enquiries from journalists and government communications staff through to central headquarters for response. Drug seizures and drug decriminalization to be considered on a list of "hot button issues". Controversies continue to erupt related to the province's commitment to "safer supply", at the same time that it has decriminalized simple possession of illicit drugs.

At the turn of the year, provincial RCMP detachments had reported seizures of black-market hydromorphone tablets initially distributed by the government of British Columbia ostensibly representing a safer supply. Consequentially, in northeastern B.C., RCMP with the Prince George division reported hydromorphone tablets seized, along with various street drugs like cocaine and methamphetamine and prescription drugs  such as painkiller and anti-convulsant gabapentin.

 

Prince George RCMP seized prescription drugs, suspected methamphetamine and fentanyl and a small amount of cash from the suspect's residence after a 10-day surveillance operation. (Prince George RCMP)

Police in Campbell River on Vancouver Island, a month earlier reported seizure of 3,500 hydromorphone pills identifying them as having been diverted into the black market by "a well-organized drug trafficking operation". Reports that appeared to contradict the consistent claim of authorities in British Columbia that "diversion" did not present as a major problem; alternately that it wasn't occurring, to begin with.

British Columbia boasted becoming the world's first jurisdiction to launch the Safer Opioid Supply program in 2020, a plan to dispense prescribed recreational opioids, in the form of hydromorphone pills; an alternative to addicts relying on the "toxic illegal drug supply". Interviews with over a dozen addiction-medicine specialists in May 2023 by investigative journalist Adam Zivo, for the National Post, concluded that addicts routinely obtain safer supply, then turn around to provide it for cash to the black market.

The obvious result was that the "toxic illegal drug supply" was in fact being subsidized by the illegal funding resulting from reselling safer supply. The black market was flooded with inexpensive hydromorphone. A search of the  website reddit by Adam Zivo resulted in the appearance of dozens of posts boasting diverted "dillies" for sale. B.C. chief coroner Lisa Lapointe, herself an enthusiastic advocate for safer supply, publicly declared in June of 2023 that it was "not true" that diversion was taking place, but was the result of "increasingly polarized rhetoric that is not informed by evidence". 

 

RCMP coincidentally in British Columbia promulgated an official statement authorized by its assistant commissioner that there "is currently no evidence to support a widespread diversion of safer supply drugs in the illicit market in B.C. or Canada", the very day the "hot button issues" memorandum had been sent out. "We've increased awareness to our police officers in order to better identify cases where safer supply drugs may be present within their investigations", the assistant commissioner clarified. 

 

A statue commemorating people who have died of drug overdoses is pictured at Seaforth Peace Park in Vancouver on in April 2022. B.C implemented a safer supply program in 2020 in an attempt to address the toxic drug crisis in the province. (Ben Nelms/CBC)

"Someone comes out of a pharmacy with their prescribed safe supply, and is met head on with a drug dealer offering them illicit drugs in exchange for those drugs to be then distributed into the community."

"It's pretty evident this is exactly how this problem has become a problem in British Columbia."

Elenore Sturko, ex-RCMP officer, currently B.C. United opposition critic for mental health and addiction

China's Political Subversion Agenda : A Real and Present Danger

"Secret [for] Canadian Eyes Only." 

"Triads [covers the activities of Chinese organized crime groups including within Canada]."

"Intelligence Services of the People's Republic of China [details the methodology of Beijing's agents and their infiltration activities in Canada; and] The PRCIS and the Triads [analyzes the connection between the People's Republic of China's Intelligence Service and organized crime]."

RCMP/CSIS Joint investigation report

An early draft of this report had been leaked before now but was controversially discredited by Canada’s Security Intelligence Review Committee. Photo by Government of Canada

Evidence was found by Canada's domestic spy agency CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service) and its federal police force, the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police), and spelled out in detail in a secret report both agencies contributed to, of foreign agents infiltrating Canada to "influence ... important leaders" and "neutralize" any criticism of China. This is a report, recently surrendered for public scrutiny after many redactions, that had been composed a quarter-century ago. 

The report had been finalized in 1998 and is now partially declassified; a report resulting from a joint RCMP-CSIS investigation called 'Project Sidewinder' that set out to examine links between the Chinese government intelligence agencies and Chinese organized crime groups. While an early draft of the report had been leaked at one time it had been discredited by Canada's Security Intelligence Review Committee.

"They [Chinese agents] attempt to secure access to, influence with, and the support of important leaders, officials and sectors of the population, particularly with the Chinese communities."

"The PRCIS also seeks to mute criticism of the Chinese government in Canada and to identify and neutralize political forces in Canada opposed to Beijing's policies."

"Canada is seen as an excellent source of indigenous and foreign advanced technology both open and restricted [ie. proprietary, classified or embargoed], with which to expedite the modernization of China's economy."

RCMP/CSIS Joint investigation report

The report, entitled "Allegations of Co-operation Between the Triads and the Government of the People's Republic of China", describes concerns relating to Chinese political interference in Canada, concerns that have re-emerged recently through intelligence leaks alerting the public. Accusations that the current Liberal government of Justin Trudeau continued to ignore such warnings in its zeal to sign a free trade agreement with China, led finally to the launch of a public inquiry as a result of pressure exerted on the government by parliamentary opposition critics.

In the late 1990s, relations between Canada and the Chinese government were warm. Here, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is seen with China's Xi Jinping during a G20 summit in Bali last year. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)

The report is 26 detailed pages in length, incorporating three main sections. Issues of concern were possible cooperation between Chinese criminal groups and the Chinese government; Chinese political interference in Canada; and China's intelligence services activities. The final conclusion reached by the report was that Chinese intelligence services actively attempted to recruit business and political leaders in Canada to influence Canada's political activities dating from the 1990s. 

"PRCIS front companies and Canadian companies have been used to slip PRCIS [People's Republic of China Intelligence Services] personnel into Canada in delegations."

"The thousands of Chinese students and delegates who come to Canada each year and are hampered by few restrictions in moving about the country, pose the greatest Chinese intelligence threat."

RCMP/CSIS Joint investigation report

There was also the highlighted issue of China's intelligence services actively seeking Canadian intellectual property to be handed over to Chinese organizations. Noted in the report as well was China's use of "mass line" intelligence gathering with the use of a network of informed Chinese nationals tasked to travel abroad for the express purpose of gathering useful intelligence information.

Old intelligence reports accused Beijing of using criminal triads to do their dirty work outside mainland China. In one recent example, criminal groups are suspected of beating pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, seen here in 2019. (Ming Ko/AP)

Former national security analyst Stephanie Carvin commented on China's pursuit of a similar agenda in 1999, similar to what it is pursuing at present, irrespective of different leaders of the Chinese Communist Government in the last 25 years. When the report was submitted to government 25 years ago, then-Liberal prime minister Jean Chretien dismissed allegations of political interference. It would, if given credence, interfere with his personal plans to do business in China which his series of trade missions had set the groundwork for.

In addition, the Project Sidewinder report confirmed that Chinese criminal organizations were actively working in Canada. "this country is an excellent place for them to invest in companies, launder profits derived from criminal activities, secure a portion of their assets outside Hong Kong and obtain a Canadian passport".

Media reports earlier in 2023 informed by intelligence source leaks speak of widespread efforts by the Chinese government to interfere in recent 2019 and 2021 elections in Canada. Underhanded work such as misleading social media to reflect a Chinese agenda, and WeChat posts in Chinese aimed at influencing Canada's huge Chinese diaspora communities, in a deliberate mission to have the Liberals returned to government while demonizing their opposition Conservatives. 

Former Conservative MP Kenny Chiu says he was targeted for attacks by the Chinese government in the 2021 election after he proposed creating a registry of foreign agents, like some other countries have. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)

"I would say what's different now is scale."

"The other thing that's really coming in since 1999, I would say is the cyber angle [China's online disinformation and computerized intelligence-gathering]."

"I don't think this was ever forgotten [keeping an intelligence services eye on China in the 1990s of subversive activities]."

"I'm just not sure the extent people were paying attention until recently."

Stephanie Carvin, associate professor, Carleton University, former national security analyst

A Chinese man cycles past a billboard in front of Beijing's Forbidden City before a 2001 visit by then-Canadian prime minister Jean Chretien. At the time, concerned U.S. officials were secretly probing Chinese operations in Canada. (Reuters)