Canada's terrorism watchdog is worried extremists are recruiting via video games. We dive into one game with some extreme far-right imagery — including militias massacring protestors — and interview a young gamer who tried to sound the alarm. theijf.org/article/fire...

The B.C. government wants to seize millions from a disbarred lawyers trust accounts, claiming the cash comes from a U.S. stock fraud scheme involving a Bob Marley-themed coffee company. The would-be owners of the money are not known. theijf.org/article/bc-p...

NEW PODCAST EPISODE: "AI slop" is on the rise. We speak with investigative reporter Zak Vescera of the @theijf.org about a website in the Lower Mainland with “news” stories generated by AI, and the wider concerns this raises. @onecityvan.bsky.social #vanPoli @zakvescera.bsky.social tiny.cc/okj0101

Court records indicate federal officials believe the KuCoin crypto exchange helped handle transactions for Canadian HeadQuarters and We The North, two of Canada's most notoriously darknet markets. theijf.org/article/cryp...

Saturday | 10:45 PT "AI slop" is on the rise. We speak with investigative reporter Zak Vescera of the @theijf.org about a website in the Lower Mainland with “news” stories generated by AI, and the wider concerns this raises. @onecityvan.bsky.social #vanPoli @zakvescera.bsky.social

In very unprofessional news: I'm training for a charity boxing match. Donations benefit my gym, which offers free classes to youth and first responders in the Downtown Eastside. If you've ever wanted to see me get hurt in public, this is a rare, legal chance to support that fundrazr.com/92hDP7

A lil story: an Israeli arms company that sued Canada’s government over a failed contract bid didn’t meet criteria on using Canadian labour and materials, according to internal federal documents. theijf.org/brief/israel...

Stoked our friends at @thetyee.ca have republished our story about a Surrey "news" site pumping out AI-generated content, including a fake story about a local politician and AI images of real-life victims of crime. Read here if you haven't already:

Last month Surrey news site published a scoop about a Vancouver politician's shock resignation. Except that never happened. Our investigation found the website, Surrey Speak, is powered completely by AI. And it has links to a tech company backed by SFU #vanpoli theijf.org/article/insi...

From yesterday: A federal IT contractor said the government specifically asked him to hire a subcontractor whom it later accused of running a fraudulent overbilling scheme. They even gave that subcontractor a raise. theijf.org/article/over...

An immigrant worker shares his story of paying thousands to secure a low-paying Canadian job - then, his employer took a cut of his wage. Reporting by @isaacphannay.bsky.social & @zakvescera.bsky.social in collab with @theijf.org thetyee.ca/News/2026/02...

Choori Mohamed came to Canada with a dream of finding a job, getting PR and helping his family emigrate from India. Instead, he said, he went into debt securing a job for an employer he alleges took back part of his salary in cash. @isaacphannay.bsky.social and @zakvescera.bsky.social report.

Canadian intelligence agencies have evidence suggesting a growing number of migrants are being trafficked and forced to work. A collab with our friends at @thetyee.ca theijf.org/article/labo...

The federal government is exploring using AI to fight a tidal wave of fraud cases that are costing Canadians billions and usually go unsolved Proposed uses would include flagging police fraud reports for risk of victims self-harming and case management theijf.org/article/fede...

A lil taste of the labour beat: DoorDash has hired a former Horgan staffer to lobby B.C. to lower its regulated work standards for gig workers. Province became first in Canada to introduce those standards in 2024 and regulations are now under review theijf.org/brief/doorda...

Story from this week: a Canadian security body has internally warned the federal gov's gun buyback is being used as rhetorical ammunition by extremist groups. It also posits the buyback won't be effective in actually preventing extremist attacks theijf.org/article/gun-...

I hate vancouver what do you mean a city councillor soft-launched his mayoral campaign with a video of him recycling a bagel wrapper

B.C.'s investment regulator has found a Vancouver venture capital company committed two pump and dump stock fraud schemes. I've been following the story for almost two years. Respondent the panel described as a "conductor" for the schemes says he will appeal theijf.org/article/bcsc...

Canada has spent years soliciting investment from Qatari's sovereign wealth fund, including for a small modular nuclear reactor project that is now a national infrastructure priority theijf.org/brief/canada...

The federal government lacks a cohesive national disaster response plan, although we've witnessed fires, floods and other emergencies – according to Public Safety Canada. Our Open by Default database has the details. zurl.co/cZGIO

The IJF has obtained a list of federal departments and Crown corporations that were allegedly overbilled millions of dollars for work that was never performed. theijf.org/article/mill...

if a headline starts with "what we know about" it triggers my fight or flight

Simon Fraser University wants only non-union faculty at its new medical school. SFU contends that it's so new and different that the existing collective agreement with university faculty doesn't apply. pressprogress.ca/sfu-medical-...

IT IS ME. ON THE CBC. As a reporter my articles get republished across Canada but somehow being the guest expert on a full podcast just feels really special. What a nod from fellow badass team of journalists that I look up to and admire.

The federal government increased the annual value of grants to students at private post-secondary insitutions by 8x between 2017 and 2022. Critics say that's an indirect subsidy for for-profit schools with mixed academic records theijf.org/article/fede...

The stats in @carlypenrose.bsky.social's latest story are pretty shocking. Gambling-related bankruptcies are up 331% since Ontario introduced iGaming. It's way, way out of proportion with the stats for other provinces that don't allow private online betting sites. theijf.org/article/onli...

was trying to get info from a government body in Quebec and then I realized the English version of the site had none of the links but the French one did, this rules actually

Last month the feds gave a record $1 million penalty to a NB fish plant accused of mistreating its workers Now, through interviews and court filings, here's a deeper look at what allegedly led to the biggest fine in the history of the temporary foreign worker program theijf.org/article/bole...

MS-13 is trying to launder money in Canada. Intelligence agencies have evidence the gang's members have opened accounts at Canadian banks. Stopping it is a whole other question. theijf.org/ms-13-money-...

B.C. asked the federal government two years ago to start tracking potential money laundering in the province's fishing industry. They didn't. Now internal intelligence briefings warn the sector could be awash in dirty cash. theijf.org/bc-fintrac-f...

Today: Canada compensated 4,000 people who claim they developed illnesses after being exposed to Agent Orange during U.S. military testing — and rejected claims from nearly 3,000 others theijf.org/agent-orange...

Canada issued a record $177m penalty to a Vancouver cryptocurrency exchange But it probably won't be able to collect it. The company's addresses in Canada appear to be false. And it continues to operate from Lithuania, where I tracked it down theijf.org/canada-crypt...

This Saturday, the IJF took home the RTDNA Canada award for overall digital excellence. It’s our third award win for Open By Default, the IJF’s database of internal government records. zurl.co/J9mxt #RTDNACanada #independentjournalism

doing a background check on a possible financial criminal and inhaling sharply when I find out they're a virgo

TC Energy pushed CSIS to create an intel-sharing group including the spy agency, RCMP and corporations worth more than $500 million. Former CSIS director David Vigneault, a "dear friend" of Business Council of Canada president, appeared to support the idea. New from me and @zakvescera.bsky.social

Canada's spy agency now shares intelligence with corporations thanks to a behind-the-scenes push from a major pipeline company Done with @writermjs.bsky.social and the amazing folks at @thenarwhal.ca theijf.org/tce-csis-lob...

Watch the video with our reporter @zakvescera.bsky.social.

Find out more from our reporter @zakvescera.bsky.social.

Documents reveal TC Energy pressured Canada for ‘private, high-level’ access to spy agency intelligence, a move critics worry could chill legitimate protest. via @writermjs.bsky.social and @zakvescera.bsky.social thenarwhal.ca/tc-energy-cs...

Federal officials gave a record $177m penalty to a Vancouver crypto exchange we investigated Fintrac says Cryptomus didn't report thousands of suspicious transactions, including some potentially linked to sanctions evasion and child sex abuse material theijf.org/fintrac-cryp...

Federal officials have fined a Vancouver-based cryptocurrency exchange $177 million, saying it failed to report transactions potentially involved with laundered money linked to child sex abuse material, fraud and sanctions evasion. zurl.co/EVANr #bcpoli #cdnpoli

Over the past few months I've been honoured to work with CTV's W5 team on a series of stories about Canadian meth exports to New Zealand. Read the first of these out now and watch CTV this evening for the first of four TV instalments: theijf.org/canadian-met...

Find out more from our reporter @zakvescera.bsky.social.

Money laundering. Through fish. It's real. We got ahold of internal reports from Canada's financial intelligence agency suggesting transnational gangs may be washing dirty cash through fisheries -- including via government-issued licenses theijf.org/fisheries-mo...

An NDP MP said he and his staff personally helped a group of temporary foreign workers in his constituency because the federal government wouldn't. He's among those calling for tougher inspections + overhauls to the system theijf.org/b-c-governme...

Scoop: Federal workers do not actually visit most of the worksites they say they inspect under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program. Most employers only face a "paper-based" inspection done remotely. Advocates say this leaves abuse, fraud unaddressed theijf.org/tfw-inspecti...

Our reporter @zakvescera.bsky.social tells you what he found. www.tiktok.com/@theijf.org/...

A Vancouver crypto exchange has traded tens of millions of dollars with a Russian platform favoured by cybercriminals and people looking to evade sanctions On the mystery of Cryptomus -- which is still registered with Canada's anti-sanctions watchdog theijf.org/cryptomus-tr...

Exclusive: Ottawa considered monetary penalties and “binding legislation” to lower grocery prices. They even considered making “egregious behaviours that harm the food supply chain” illegal. Our reporters got a hold of government documents detailing the plans. #cdnpoli #canada buff.ly/OZHCGMv

The Canadian government was preparing "binding legislation" to force grocery giants to adopt rules meant to stabilize food prices. That included making “egregious behaviours that harm the food supply chain” illegal and subject to fines. The legislation was never passed theijf.org/grocery-code...