Read “Oil giant broke deal to deactivate thousands of pipelines and faced no penalty, documents reveal” by @zakvescera.bsky.social and @writermjs.bsky.social: theijf.org/article/cnrl... /2

In a secret internal memo, CSIS warns foreign powers may be using infrastructure investments in Indigenous communities to try and gain a foothold in Canada's Arctic. theijf.org/brief/foreig...

I've spent a lot of time over the last year reading charity revocation letters from the CRA and one name keeps popping up again and again: Blake Bromley. Here's a closer look at the audits and investigations into his charities: theijf.org/article/blak...

Vancouver hosted the world's first crypto ATM. Now, Canada is banning them. The industry is calling that overreach. But law enfrocement says getting rid of these ATMs is a "no-brainer" and that they have become key tools for fraud and money laundering theijf.org/article/cryp...

A weird one: a private company wants the provincial gov's help to restore rail service to Vancouver Island. But their plan doesn't seem to include the foundation that actually owns the mostly-dormant rail corridor, who say they're being kept in the dark. theijf.org/brief/irc-ra...

Our investigation into a network laundering money for illicit cannabis found an intriguing connection to Valerian Labs, a B.C. company sanctioned by the U.S. government for importing precursors chemicals that can be used to make fentanyl. theijf.org/article/cann...

And now: a story about raves. Last year Vancouver cracked down on indie music venues. We and the folks at the Vancity Lookout have learned that was driven by nightclubs and bars, who lobbied city councillors to have inspectors go after specific competitors. theijf.org/article/vanc...

Hundreds of websites sell weed and other drugs to Canadians openly and illegally. Why taking them down is like “whack-a-mole.” zurl.co/kgR6I

A German engineering giant wants a sitdown meeting with B.C. Premier David Eby as it competes for a $20B+ federal submarine contract. zurl.co/5gZx1

as the ancients said, we out here fr fr

Huge congratulations to my colleague @zakvescera.bsky.social for his 3 nominations! Four in total for @theijf.org!

Fittingly, one day after 4/20, here's a story about a massive money laundering network tied to illegal online weed sales. We follow the money to Vancouver real estate, grow-ops and a company accused of helping make fentanyl. First in a series theijf.org/article/cann...

Grateful and honoured to find out that my past reporting with The Narwhal's @writermjs.bsky.social and my former @theijf.org colleague @zakvescera.bsky.social has been nominated for the Canadian Journalism Foundation's Award for Excellence in Journalism!

More great news for @theijf.org! Our collaboration with The Narwhal has been nominated for a Dr. Eric Jackman Award for Excellence in Journalism. Major congratulations to @kateschneider.bsky.social, @zakvescera.bsky.social and @writermjs.bsky.social. theijf.org/article/ijf-...

A particularly horrible story: a B.C. woman says she lost $23 million in a series of crypto scams, many from fraudsters claiming they could help her recover the money she already lost. Authorities say such "recovery" scams are a growing problem theijf.org/article/cryp...

Old point, but I think it's a huge problem how risk-averse our political culture is in Canada. In my relatively short time as a reporter I find it's notably harder to get anyone to openly express any view on, well, anything. That's a net loss for every discussion we have.

Canada’s money laundering watchdog has revoked the registrations of dozens of financial businesses in B.C., including some with connections to global money laundering hotspots like Russia, Cyprus and Cameroon. theijf.org/article/bc-m...

mini scoop! B.C. appears to be seriously considering whether to provide workers' compensation coverage for pro athletes who are injured during games. Many U.S. states and their leagues already do this, but no Canadian province does theijf.org/brief/phpa-c...

RCMP say a ban on selling used vehicles imposed after the Nova Scotia mass shooting isn’t keeping the public safe — and is costing the force millions. zurl.co/67ugY

After the 2020 NS mass shooting, the federal government banned RCMP from selling decommissioned vehicles. In internal notes, the force says that ban has cost them millions, is harming northern communities and argues it isn't keeping the public safe. theijf.org/article/rcmp...

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...