Why should you care about crime in Vancouver?
Well, there's quite a lot of it and I think Vancouver is a
cautionary tale for a lot of cities.
And I know every major city has a lot of crime.
I don't know how Vancouver crime would compare to somewhere like
Detroit or Chicago or even New York City, but these are cities
that are quite a lot bigger. Most of the people in Vancouver
are very law abiding, hardworking, honest, good
people. On one side of the coin,
Vancouver is a very beautiful place.
Happy to live here. I'm happy I was born and raised
here. The beaches are beautiful
summertime, There's so many wonderful beaches, trails if you
love hiking, if you're a boater. If you're into fishing.
If you're into. Skiing if you're in the camping,
actually a great city to live in if you can afford it.
People in Vancouver. Have they have a shell for kind
of icy, but once you break the past that you you can build
really quality friendships. But there's a lot of crazy
people here. See the city?
It's almost like it's it's two cities.
There's a normal people, the healthy people, the health
conscious people, the attractive people that come here for.
Acting Vancouver has one of the largest movie industries in
North America. So many movies, so many TV
shows, so many Netflix specials. Seems like every science fiction
show on Netflix was filmed to Vancouver.
I recognize all the places, right?
So there's a lot of actors, a lot of people that come here for
for work in the entertainment business, right?
Travel to 40 major cities throughout North America.
I was always happy to come back to Vancouver.
I I spent some time in New York. I love New York.
New York, of all the cities I've been to, had the most impact.
On me, like the city that I think about.
Oh, I'd love to go back there. I want to go back there, but
hey, New York is kind of grungy. It's kind of dirty.
Don't see a lot of green stuff. And when it came back to
Vancouver, the green, the fresh air, the the, the quiet, the
tranquility was just so overwhelming from a place like
from New York. On the surface, there's this.
Beauty this greenery. I I don't think there's a a
better place in North America. If you are an active, healthy,
outdoors, athletic person, gorgeous city, the neighborhoods
are amazing. There's so many diverse
neighborhoods now I'm going to talk about.
Both the Ugly Vancouver and the Ugly.
Vancouver is kind of like underneath the surface.
There's a lot of mental illness. Here, see The thing is, is that
Canada is a relatively cold country, especially in the
winter time. A lot of people with mental
health issues or drug addiction, they migrate.
Here because they think it's a warmer climate, they think.
It's going to be easier here and it's not the case because
Vancouver is not an. Easy city to break into.
You got to know people. You got to have a bit of in.
It's just the way it is. It's a small community.
It's a small city, right? And sometimes it's not the most
friendly to outsiders. It this is this, it is what it
is. And so if you come here and you
have no money and you have mental illness and you have an
underlying drug addiction, you're going to get marginalized
pretty fast. It's happened is that, hey, I'm
going to go to Vancouver and come here and they're first of
all, they're shocked at the the sticker price of what rent is a
cost of living is high. They find it hard to meet
friends, be people from Vancouver who are health
conscious and good things going on.
They don't really want to invite someone in their life that has
drug problems and not from here and maybe cause problems because
I've seen it so many times. It's just is the mental health
capital of Canada. Most therapists, most
psychiatrists, most patients. There's a lot of people that
have underlining mental illness, lot of outpatient programs, a
lot of people that come here. It's not what they said and they
get marginalized. Then Vancouver the ugly.
The availability of drugs is nowhere like I've ever seen
anywhere in the world. And I know drugs exist
everywhere, but nowhere have I ever seen an open air drug
market in a three block radius like Hastings St. where I can
score crack, heroin, fentanyl, hills, walk down the street,
hey, got math, got boom, someone will have a handout.
It's an open air drug market. So if you're a recovering
addict, maybe you had a drug problem in the past and you come
here and maybe that job didn't work out because there's a lot
of bullshit here too. People come here, they're not
prepared for how expensive it is.
They're not prepared that Vancouver people seem a little
cold. No, the Vancouver.
Just weary because they didn't burn.
They didn't, you know, trust me on that one.
They and so makes people kind of more standoffish to new people
especially people that party and do drugs and things like that in
Vancouver. The ugly You can get drugs
really cheap and guess what? Now you can make lots of
friends. Now you feel welcome because you
have drugs and you're generous with them.
You're gonna make lots of friends, right?
I probably was more of a binge drinker rather than a binge drug
user. I've used drugs in the past, but
I don't use them now. I worked in the IT industry.
I worked in the stock market industry and and a lot of times
after work you'd go out to blow off steam, decompress and need
drink heavy. I found I was always a person
that seemed to be the most strenuous when I was drunk.
Boom. I had all these friends around
me buying rounds and rounds of drinks.
I felt like I had all the friends in the world stop doing
that. Those friends disappear and now
you're lonely. So that just gives you
perspective, right? So drugs are very easy to get.
Then what happens? A lot of people here is they get
in over their head. They can't afford their drugs
anymore. They can't afford the rent, get
their self into a crisis situation, and they end up
homeless. They end up on Hastings St. or
they end up in one of these awful hotel rooms that are full
of bedbugs and now to cope with that they're doing harder drugs.
It's a cycle. I've seen Soma if you probably
if you went down Hastings St. and you took the majority of the
people there, from my understanding I would say
majority of those people are from out of town.
The reason why I say that is that things that the ministry
does or Ministry of Social Services, they like to send
these people back on one way bus tickets because other
jurisdictions in Canada send their people here with one way
bus tickets. So it's like all these different
jurisdictions and cities are sending all their unwanted by
one way bus tickets. But also with that, you're
getting, you're getting sex offenders, you're getting drug
addicts, you're getting people evading the law, you're getting
all kinds of problems. And again, there's this
perception Vancouver's beautiful, Vancouver's awesome.
It's it's like the California of Canada.
So it tracks a lot of people for the wrong reasons, our people
that come here for the right reasons and they get in over
their heads with drugs because the drugs are so available.
Then there's a crime aspect in Vancouver, the beautiful people
are pretty law abiding. They don't get involved in drugs
or crime or anything of that nature.
But then there's the Vancouver. The ugly is that if you are a
criminal and if you are the legal system definitely favors
you know, the defendants. If they can afford top level
legal counsel in banking jurisdictions right, there's
companies that will move their corporate location to get better
tax breaks like you know places like Delaware or the Virgin
Islands or Cayman Islands. Like there's there's
jurisdictions were you will move your company assets so you can
save on taxes and you know you take advantage of loopholes and
blah blah blah, right? So think about if you're a
criminal organization, there's a place called Vancouver where the
judges are pretty lenient, the senses are not very high,
there's highly skilled lawyers that really know the law and to
your benefit, if you can afford them.
And it's a money laundering paradise.
The casinos were allowing people to walk in with hockey bags full
of cash. On camera and then trading them
for chips like being in. Plain as day what?
They're obviously so again, so if the government didn't know
that people were just walking into their government owned
casinos and laundering cash, well, shame on them.
And if they did know, well, shame on them.
But there's nowhere better on Earths, well, maybe North
America to launder your money. So if you're criminal
organization, International Criminal organization, right,
you move here, there is an investor program.
You can become a citizen if you pay basically by your
citizenship. Basically they become Canadian
citizens because they buy their way in.
They have access to our financial markets.
They can launder their money through our housing because you
can just. And that's what drove prices of
housing through the roof because Vancouver became a holding
assets for criminal organizations to hold their
money in and then have access to the Canadian banking and credit
casinos to wash your money and a large population that consume
drugs. It's like the massive pipeline,
$1,000,000 a day of drug sales of people consuming drugs.
So you have access now to a those drugs turns into cash
instantly thing. This is a true story and it's so
outrageous that I hardly believe it myself.
But I witnessed it Hasting street.
I remember I was looking for my friend Kevin and I finally found
him because he would go and disappear and I found him in
this area called Pigeon Park. And Pigeon Park is kind of like
a lot of people drink there. It's like a drinking spot of
people drinking booze and course using crack.
So I found my friend Kevin at Pigeon Park and I said okay, I'm
going to take you home, right? And time to go home.
And he said I just need one more piece of crack because he was
smoking heavy crack at this time.
And we'll we'll buy some crack and then you can Take Me Home.
So I need some drugs to wean off.
I can't just go cold Turkey And it's like hey, whatever.
And he goes and I want to show you something that's going to
blow your mind. I'm like okay.
So we're walking up Hastings St. kind of closer to, I guess the.
Pender like more on Pender, I believe.
And there was this old hotel like really rough looking, kind
of like I was. I think it advertised it was
like for backpacking or something like that, like
hostile for out of town people. But it was all homeless people.
And there was like a lineup down the street around the.
But this lineup was moving fast. He was old.
Let's get in the lineup. I'm like, OK, what the fuck's
going on? He goes, I'm going to buy some
crack. So we go in this lineup and the
lineup moves fast and we're in the door.
Kevin looks at the guy, says something.
Guy just kind of ushers in. We walk into the hotel now.
This is a really rundown, barely, you know, should be a
condemned building. Looks like a condemned, but
there's probably about 100 people in the lineup, and the
area inside the hotel lobby area is very crowded with people and
people are going in and out fast.
We get up to the counter, cabin pulls out a $50.00 bill, asked
for $50 crack, the guy pulls out a big crack rock, he grabs it
and we go, and I'm just looking like, holy shit.
And I'm just watching people. So every every second you can
count 123-4567. Eight people are pulling out
tens, 20s, but people are buying, you know, crack at 1020
dollars a pop. But.
Thing is, is as fast as you can count as fast as that
transactions going and. And this is open air.
This is like everyone you know. And down the street there's a
police station and there's patrol cars and there's cops on
beats. And I my mind is blowing,
absolutely blowing. And I just said to Kevin, like,
how long is this place been operating for?
It was all about a couple weeks. Now that's the type of drug
atmosphere that takes place in Vancouver, like.
It it, it just blows your mind. Like I remember like I used to,
I lived downtown quite a bit and I would take friends when they
come in front. His friend from Australia, he
was a roadie actually for like rock bands, A/C, DC, they're big
bands. From Australia he would come and
do a show. At BC Place or at time, it's
called GM Place and it's called Roger.
It's Rogers Arena now. So I remember one time, So I
said to him, hey, what a sea cycle, blow your mind.
And it was a welfare Wednesday, which is, you know, the day when
all the people get on social assistance, get their checks.
The summertime it was August, I remember.
It was that band he was wrote it for that band.
They had they. I can't remember the name of the
band, but they had a hit song called How Bizarre.
I don't know if he can Google that song, but I remember that
was a song, right? He was here for.
So anyways. I take him down Hastings St.
during the height of Welfare Wednesday and it is like just a
carnival of mayhem and ambulance and cop cars and thousands of
people that is using and smoking.
Crack and doing drugs and he he. Just said I've traveled all over
the world cuz he know he's a roadie, right?
Because. I've never seen anything.
And then I point on Main and Hastings.
That police station has now closed up the end.
There's a cop station, right? There's a he he he couldn't
comprehend it, right. So again, Vancouver, the ugly,
right, so massive drug consumption which must attract
people that are in the drug trade because Jesus, like, you
know, just a guaranteed, you know, take your, take your
powder, take your whatever it is and turn it into cash.
So there's that. And the strange thing that's
always blowing my mind all my life, there's never.
Seem to be any major boss that shuts down Hastings St.
Never heard of it. They bust the dealers on the
street. They do these little cleanups
once in a while that this almost like our just.
Don't really do anything but you've never heard of some big
organization you know name. The one you can think of been
shut down. And it now, now Hastings St.
dries a bone. There's no more.
Drug, you know, it just never has happened.
Being around Vancouver all my life and I remember.
When I was a kid, my mom would take me to Woodward's.
Woodward's was a department store that was a BC department
store and they had grocery store on one floor.
Then it was like for any department store to Woodward's.
This is like in the 80s and it was like a bit rough and you
know, it was downtown, but we didn't.
There was No Fear. But then when crack hit, it
changed the street like it was. Probably like late 80s when the
Crack hit Vancouver and it was a that was a game changer in my
opinion. Like they're like especially
when I talk to old timers and maybe old I can remember I know
an old biker he's telling me like back in the 70s you know
they'd go down to Hastings St. and they'd get the stuff called
wax. I don't know apparently was some
type of speed or something that they did he's do is always talk
about that or. Downtown, that area was more
known for, Ruby says. My mom would call him like
Alcoholics, hobos, people that would drink like, you know,
cheap wine it was. More like that was more Hasting
street where people would. Drink, you know?
And there I think that there was always heroin, but I think
typically the heroin people would just buy their heroin then
kind of go indoors. You didn't see the epic St. life
with with cocaine. Because now they're not
sleeping, they're like and they constantly.
Need another hit, another hit, another hit.
And and so that was a real game changer as far as like the
dynamic of of changing the the the scene of of Hastings St. and
then with that became more girls for more women getting desperate
because they were getting hooked on cocaine and and and more of
the harder drugs And then they started doing prostitution and
then that attracted the predators creeps that would
target these women because they were desperate for drugs or dope
sick and then they were selling themselves for is.
Vancouver's always had a prostitution, a high rate of
prostitution. There was lots of prostitutes
along E Broadway, which is kind of not the downtown, but there
was lots along E Broadway because I remember my brother
got a job at some government warehouse.
It was like kind of like East Broadway and Fraser St.
It's like a government warehouse.
It was called the election branch.
I guess they had they. It was a warehouse that had all
the paperwork for, you know, upcoming municipal and BC
elections. And and in the summertime they
would open the doors because we get really hot.
And I remember one time, I mean, I went by to get give my brother
his lunch and there was all these really like fracked out
prostitutes and bikinis like trying to go in.
And they're like, you know, they'd actually walk into the
warehouse and, you know, try to get a trick from the men working
there. Right.
So this is kind of like 80s, right?
So this is like when the cocaine really started, hit, you started
to see this kind of stuff where you never saw before.
And then in the 90s it started to get really bad because there
was more drugs, more pills. I don't think meth was around.
I think I remember meth, kind of.
Like in the club scene, a crack cocaine.
Was was the big thing in the 80s and and I'd say even up to the
90s and then course now fentanyl and meth and you know all these
different derivative drugs that are out there.
So going back to like early Vancouver, like there was Davie
St. and there's a really a good documentary, The Hookers of
Davie. Street and Davie St. was crazy
in the West End was not from Vancouver.
This is so confusing, but I'll break it down.
So there's the West side of Vancouver.
So the city of Vancouver is divided by east and West, right?
So Main St. divides the city. Actually it's Ontario St. but
divides the city. East side, West side.
Traditionally the West side was seen as more affluent or the
east side was more working class.
And but then there's the West End.
The West End is a neighborhood in downtown Vancouver, which is
mostly apartment blocks and stuff like that.
In the past, it was considered more of a gay area of Vancouver.
And I don't think as much anymore.
Like Davie St. still has a lot of gay stores and gay clubs.
But back in the day in the 80s and 90s it was, it was a lot
more of a gay neighborhood and but but heavy partying.
It was like known for parties and things like that.
I'll tell some West End stories in another podcast cuz they're
they're and they're incredible. So there's a West End and then
there's West Vancouver which is across the water in West
Vancouver is probably the most affluent neighborhood in in all
of Canada like and one side of the North Shore is North
Vancouver and then the other side is West Vancouver.
So anyway, so this is the West End and it was it was hookers
all the way up Davie St. all the way down into downtown on on
Seymour and Robson. So there's always been in
Vancouver this underbelly of St. life of prostitution and drugs.
And in Vancouver, the beautiful is very different than
Vancouver. The ugly at night.
So again, this is, this is the whole point of this, this
particular podcast. Vancouver the beautiful, the
gorgeous, the scenic, the lovely neighborhoods, the communities,
the world class restaurants do love this place.
It's it's a it is my home as cities, like in my DNA.
It's in my blood. But there's something unique and
creepy and dark too. You know?
This beautiful facade has a very dark underbelly.
And the other thing about. Place like Hastings St. and this
is something that was talked about I've heard you know people
that who put a lot of time and effort talking about this, that
a lot of people believe that Hastings St. is a place for what
they call a dark tourism. You know people that are like,
you know they we've all heard about sex tourism right.
People that go to places like Cambodia and.
You know third world countries and molest children, which I
believe they should be rounded up and shot for doing such a.
Disgusting thing. But there's people that come to
Vancouver for dark tourism. There's vulnerable women or drug
addicts, you know, that they that they can target and do
terrible sick things to some could be serial killers.
Like, you know, we're talking about the Highway of Tears,
right? See what makes the Highway of
Tears unique? Remember, Highway Tears is not
in Vancouver. It's in northern BC, but
obviously. A murderous highway and what
makes it unique? And when I was posting about it
before and then people are saying, well, do you think
they'll ever catch the serial killer?
It's like it's not one person, it's an isolated area.
Where women are vulnerable, it's not just one person.
It's, it's. It's.
People that go there knowing that they could have access to a
vulnerable woman and they can just flee because.
You know, once you're on that highway, you're gone hundreds of
miles in any direction. If you go up north, you're in
Alaska, you go down South, you're back in, you know, Metro
Vancouver. If you go E you're back in
Alberta, like here, you're gone like and get away with it, Which
that's been the case. It seems like the only time
these cases get solved if they get caught in the act.
If they do get caught and they can afford counsel, they can
delay a very lengthy trial and and this seems like the court
system in my opinion. I'm not a legal expert, but it
seems to favor the criminal who can afford good legal counsel.
If you have any questions, feel free to directly DM me.
I'm always happy to talk to people and I'm always happy to
interact with you and every one of you.
Have an awesome day and thank you so much.
Have a great day. I don't.
Know what to do?