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...

Our reporter @zakvescera.bsky.social tells you more about what he found.

A study commissioned by the federal government found Canada's vape industry (yes, a real thing) is worth billions and is projected to grow even bigger in spite of new regulations and taxes theijf.org/canadas-vape...

A Deloitte report commissioned by the federal government last year urged it to expand oversight of the temporary foreign worker program. The report, never released, warned some employers were exploiting workers on the program by threatening their visas theijf.org/deloitte-rep...

Donald Trump cited illegal border crossings from Canada as one of his reasons for imposing tariffs. And it was true that illegal crossings had spiked -- but now, they've plummeted. Canadian officials say that's thanks to a crackdown on visa fraud north of the border theijf.org/canada-us-bo...

A never-released government report says British Columbians may be gambling billions on unregulated online gambling sites, costing the province tens of millions of dollars in potential tax revenue. @zakvescera.bsky.social reports.

I obtained a never-released report that estimated BC residents are wagering billions on offshore gambling websites that the province calls illegal. The gov now estimates these sites are making gross revenues of $400 million a year in B.C. theijf.org/bc-residents...

Tiny scoop: CSIS warned the attempted assassination of Donald Trump would "embolden" threats against Canadian politicians, though they deemed an actual "inspired attack" was unlikely theijf.org/csis-warned-...

This past weekend, the Daily News podcast passed the mic to an indy journalist to talk about a story they recently published. On Saturday, we featured @zakvescera.bsky.social and his co-investigation with @thenarwhal.ca into BC's Energy Regulator. Listen here! sandyandnora.com/weekend-morn...

Check out IJF reporter @zakvescera.bsky.social on The Daily News talking about his investigation into B.C.'s energy regulator. 🎙️ ⬇️ shows.acast.com/the-daily-ne...

BC securities regulators are investigating a company that used to operate a network of Ontario ketamine clinics and researched therapeutic applications of magic mushrooms. The firm was accused of misleading investors in an unrelated lawsuit, since settled theijf.org/bcsc-champig...

A major Canadian gas company broke a deal it pitched to BC's energy regulator to clean up thousands of pipelines in the province. But it faced no penalty and the regulator later renewed a special exemption for the company. Our latest with the great team at @thenarwhal.ca theijf.org/cnrl-broke-d...

SCOOP: One of Canada’s biggest oil and gas companies needed to decommission thousands of pipelines. It failed to deliver, and the BC Energy Regulator didn’t levy any financial penalties, docs show. VIA @writermjs.bsky.social & @zakvescera.bsky.social with @theijf.org thenarwhal.ca/bc-energy-re...

"Criminals laundering Chinese money through Canadian real estate, agency report says" as told by @zakvescera.bsky.social via @theijf.org #cdnpoli #bcpoli #vanpoli #vanre theijf.org/fintrac-mort...

little scoop: an internal Canadian intelligence briefing note talks about an "emerging" pattern of criminals laundering money from mainland China through Canadian real estate via fraudulent mortgages theijf.org/fintrac-mort...

Three separate people (strangers on the street) have threatened/tried to fight me in the past month and I'm starting to think I just have bad vibes

Small scoop: Canada's financial intelligence agency reviewed programs at 50 small and medium-sized banks. It found 18 had gaps, including some with “vulnerabilities to money laundering and terrorist financing risks," especially around mortgages theijf.org/fintrac-smal...

@zakvescera.bsky.social breaks down everything you need to know about the court battle that’s happening now. #binance #crypto #cdnpoli

Canada's financial intelligence agency is in court trying to get the world's largest crypto exchange to pay a fine Filings say Binance failed to report more than $550 million in transactions -- including nearly $300 mill that went to just three accounts theijf.org/binance-fint...

Saw a guy playing bongos the other day, we're definitely in a recession

Congrats to @zakvescera.bsky.social and Adrian! This was a world-wide scoop.

🎉🎉🎉Great way to end the week! We’re proud to say that our reporter Zak Vescera is a finalist for the prestigious CJF Jackman Award for Excellence in Journalism in the Small Media category for his work with Adrian Ghobrial of CTV to uncover a global fraud scheme.

🎇🎇🎇Huge congrats to our very own @pattisonntag.bsky.social for winning a #PressFreedom award.

Yesterday at a coffee shop I heard a guy say, without irony, that's he gotten worse at solving interpersonal issues because he usually just asks ChatGPT what to do

A billionaire buying full-page ads for Pierre Poilievre. A campaign to "Save the CBC." And a right-wing activist spending donations on his own media company. These are some of the third parties spending big money on ads to sway your vote. Read our investigation. buff.ly/yjAvN7N #cdnpoli

Ezra Levant's 3rd party election advertiser has collected more than $300,000 in donations. It has spent most of that money at his company Rebel Media. That, and more interesting takeaways from 3rd party disclosures. theijf.org/third-party-...

From the IJF's new Alberta correspondent @brettmckay.bsky.social: a Facebook page spending tens of thousands of dollars to amplify posts about crime has ties to Conservative Party insiders and the "Canada Proud" page theijf.org/right-wing-i...

From @carlypenrose.bsky.social, @bethanylindsay.bsky.social and me: developers are flocking to cash-for-access fundraisers for Carney and Poilievre as both promise to dramatically speed up homebuilding theijf.org/carney-poili...