Not so special, I’m afraid. From Oprah and her friend Dr. Oz, to Tom Brady, to Alec Jones, to Prince Charles, to the CEO of any pharmacy that allows homeopathic C200 “remedies” (a.k.a. pure H2O) on their shelves (which, even in Canada, is every pharmacy I’ve been to).
Selling snake oil is an entire industry; GP deserves her fair share of blame for GOOP, but certainly isn’t the only problem here.
I need to talk about this. Its horrible. Trigger warning: serial killer, homophobia
Toronto’s gay village has had a serial killer for the past 15+ years.
Everyone I know that lived or worked or visited the gay village has known about it.
During Pride they hand out flyers warning visitors to be extra careful because men have been going missing from the village for 15+ years.
Its been going on as long as I can remember.
If you went to a bar or restaurant in the village, you’d see missing posters everywhere.
We all knew there was a serial killer, we’ve always known.
They finally caught the guy.
And its bad.
OMG its so bad.
They don’t know how many victims.
They’ve recovered and identified the remains of 5 men, and he has charges for two more but no remains yet. And the list of missing is long you guys, OMG its so long. (One of the id’d men wasn’t reported missing because he was homeless, that makes the list of potential victims even bigger, I can’t even.)
There have been two special investigations into missing men from the village.
The first found no evidence, it was written off as “gay men go missing” I guess?
The second has led to the arrest.
I am so angry. So horrified.
This is happening here, in my city, in my home, by my work, literally by my house.
AND WE KNEW!
And they did nothing. I am so upset. Its so bad.
I’m not going to link to much, the details are horrible.
He was a landscaper. They’ve found human remains at the bottom of planters he installed at a clients house. He’s been a landscaper the whole time.
I am agog at the incompetence and homophobia of the police.
And I am so so so angry.
Canada’s two largest cities were home to the most prolific serial killers we’ve ever seen and the police knew, and did nothing. I don’t know how to reconcile this guys, I really really don’t…
It’s like Robert whatsis it in BC – they prey on marginalized people and so they get away with it. Or Jane Doe, where the cops deliberately didn’t tell the neighbourhood there was a serial rapist with a very specific MO and victim profile on the loose.
Maybe if he’d killed a rich and famous gay man it would have gone faster.
But 15 years – that’s about when marriage equality came in. And still.
Really horrible.
Picton.
And yes, exactly like him.
Apparently First Nations women and gay men just go walkabout.
Its grotesque and we need to do better. So so so much better.
Montreal had a major serial murder case in recent years that the cops didn’t take seriously? I’m getting out of touch.
Vancouver (Picton).
Okay. (Phew.)
Just a word to the wise: Montreal, both the city proper and the metropolitan area, is still quite a bit larger than Vancouver. You had me wondering what I had missed. (I’m just as glad that there was nothing. A trifecta of all three of our largest cities would have been too much to bear.)
Uh oh, Ontario:
Yup. And we’re still recovering from Harris.
Sorry, in my haste I missed an “of” I meant “two of Canada’s largest cities”.
I mean, you probably do have a serial killer… not like the police are looking or anything…
The last one we knew about mailed a foot to Harper. The police were looking, alright…
Because of course he is.
It is interesting though, given until recently he had his heart set on being the next mayor of Toronto.
I know he’d said he wanted to be an MPP in the past, but lately it’s been all about being mayor.
That’s one of the reasons I don’t trust him, and didn’t trust his brother: they just want to be in power. They claim to be mavericks, but they’re old-school Tories straight out of the Family Compact.
That’s an older name for Mafia, yes?
There’s a difference?
Between corrupt politicians and organized crime?
Well, one group uses criminal activity to take money from innocent people and enrich themselves unjustly, and the other has had a trilogy of entertaining movies made about them by Francis Ford Coppola.
OMFG! One one side, thank dog this killer has finally been arrested. On the other, what the ever loving fuq, Toronto PD? The status of the victims doesn’t freekin’ matter when you’ve got a dangerous killer on the loose.
I am NOT defending the police on this – it’s been handled terribly – but remember until recently these were all missing persons cases. Unless it’s a child, those often don’t get taken seriously. Which is wrong. But also true.
Mark Storm from the band National Velvet was reported missing in November 2002, and found in Lake Ontario the following June. People, including the police, kept telling his mother he’d probably just up and left Toronto without bothering to tell anyone. She agreed that (kinda) fit his personality, but pointed out his bank accounts weren’t showing any activity. No follow-ups that I know of until his body was found.
Thankfully there is some regulation here:
There’s been rumblings about much stricter regulation. Lets hope we see some.