Village of the Missing (2019) - full transcript

We have questions not only

about why these lives were lost,

but about the LGBTQ

community's relationship

of trust

with the city in general.

How is it that they

were able to go missing?

Because they were

Middle Eastern or South Asian,

we kind of said, hmm,

maybe they had their own

reasons for disappearing.

Are they linked?

Is there something more to this?

Why are these brown men

going missing?

I often ask myself why.

It's not just a matter

of us sitting back and saying,

well, we hope the police

figure everything out.

The evidence today tells us that

there is not a serial killer

based on the evidence

that's involved.

A lot of times what we see

is that serial killers are able

to get away

with killing repeatedly

because the people that they

target are marginalized

in some way, shape or form.

They're much more likely

to slip through the cracks.

Andrew Kinsman has been

missing for 10 days now,

and tonight, Toronto police

say they cannot rule out

or nor can they rule in

the possibility

that his disappearance

may be linked

to three unsolved mysteries,

three men who disappeared

from the gay village

and have never been found.

It's known as The Village,

and for decades,

this neighborhood

has been the heart

of Toronto's LGBTQ community.

But after a series

of unsolved deaths

and suspicious disappearances,

it's now a crime scene.

I'll start

from the beginning.

Back in September of 2010,

the first person went missing,

a 40-year-old man

who was at a bar in the Church

and Wellesley Street area.

He left with an unknown man,

but what the investigation

51 division did,

they looked at other

similarities of other cases.

So they came up

with two other missing men.

They frequented the Church

and Wellesley Street area

as well.

Police announced their

fears that the disappearances

of those three men

were suspicious and connected.

They created a task force

and dubbed it Project Houston,

but the men have

never been found.

The obvious question

with the disappearance

now of another middle-aged man

from The Village,

could Andrew Kinsman's case

be connected.

Dating back to 2010, 2012,

there was preconceptions

that hindered investigations

into missing cases

around gay men.

If a man goes missing,

the assumption is,

well, he's left

of his own accord

because men have agency

and men make decisions

and they decide to go missing.

Whereas if it was a woman,

it would be suspicious

and would be automatically

considered something abnormal

because, you know, women

don't just decide to go missing.

We noticed that people

fit a certain profile.

They were men of color,

largely new Canadians,

or at least what we perceived

to be new Canadians.

The discussion was,

are they linked?

Is there something more to this?

Why are these brown men

going missing?

It there --- or are they

connected in any way?

So there was a lot of questions,

but very few answers.

They sat there and reviewed

old missing persons cases

to find linkages,

and they found linkages.

They -- they linked three cases

that were incredibly similar,

both in terms of age,

sexuality, ethnicity,

bars frequented.

In some cases

and one particular case,

it was even personal

connections.

They all had a connection

to a guy named Bruce McArthur

that led them to interview

Bruce McArthur.

I remember in 2013,

I was out on the street

reporting on this issue

and talking to people,

and police

were doing the same.

From where I was standing,

they were doing their job,

but now we hear that people

were dismissed.

In some cases, I've heard that

they were even mocked

because of their suspicions

of a serial killer.

And it is really in keeping

with a relationship

that the queer community

has had with -- with the police.

I've been living in Toronto,

the gay area in Toronto.

The gay are being near

Church and Wellesley

for about 48 years now,

and it's changed enormously.

I mean, it wasn't The Village

back in the '70s

where the gay areas

were over along Young Street

between Carlton and Wellesley.

The gay life in the '70s

is very different than today.

It was a very secret world.

It was kind of a, well,

in some ways

it was a gay fantasy land.

I mean, there were

all these secret.

It part like being

part of a cult, you know?

You wanted to meet men,

there were clubs.

The police were very...

It wasn't a priority for them

to go after homosexuals,

but when they did,

they were quite nasty

because they -- they considered

homosexuals criminals.

A friend of mine,

George Hyslop, at the time,

tried to talk

to the police in the

'70s, 60s about having liaison

with the gay community.

And they said, "Liaison?

Why would we want liaison

with a criminal group,

you know?

Homosexuals are criminals.

Why would we want liaison

with criminals?"

That was the mindset

of a lot of people,

for whatever reason,

still hold

those negative beliefs

about certain marginalized

people.

I worked homicide for eight

and a half years, ran homicide,

and I can tell you there is

no diminishment of investigation

due to type of lifestyle

or individual.

Every single case

was aggressively investigated

with as much passion

and as much, uh, vigor

necessary to solve the case.

What led you to conclude that

there might be a serial killer

behind the disappearance

of these men?

So, one case by itself

might not be a big red flag.

When you have three cases

in the span of less

than two years of three guys

who share so many similarities,

who are tied to one relatively

small geographic area,

it's so incredibly unlikely

that they would just disappear.

A lot of times what we see

is that serial killers are able

to get away

with killing repeatedly

because the people that they

target are marginalized

in some way, shape or form.

They're much more likely

to slip through the cracks.

They target certain populations

that they know

are not going to elicit

a lot of public attention,

whether from the news,

whether from community members

or even the police.

There is no evidence

at this point in time

which in any way establishes

the disappearances

of Selim Esen and Andrew Kinsman

are linked to

the disappearance of the males

from the Project Houston

investigation.

The evidence today tells us that

there is not a serial killer

based on the evidence

that's involved.

One more question.

I remember reading and hearing

about men going missing

and police investigations with

different names and so forth,

and you can't look in detail

at every single file

that's going on in the city,

but you assume that the system

is working as it should,

that everything

is being investigated

that possibly can be, that that

maximum effort is being made.

And it is only later, sometimes

with the benefit of hindsight

admittedly, that you realize

that, you know,

things were not as

they should have been.

This morning,

at approximately 10:25 A.M.,

police arrested 66-year-old

Bruce McArthur

of the city of Toronto.

He is self-employed

as a landscaper,

and he lives

in the Thorncliffe Park area.

He has been charged with two

counts of first-degree murder

in relation

to Mr. Kinsman and Mr. Esen.

And we believe

he is responsible for the deaths

of other men who have yet

to be identified.

In other words, we believe

there are other victims.

It'd be hard to define

a more gruesome way

to dispose of someone

after you've killed them.

It's one thing to kill them.

It's quite another

to dismember them,

and it's quite another

to really, quite callously,

put those remains

into planters

on properties of different

people around the city.

They say the investigation

still centers on this home

here on Mallory Crescent,

as well as the Thorncliffe Park

apartment.

But here they've been

seizing planters

containing human remains.

And yesterday, police charged

Bruce McArthur

with three more counts

of first-degree murder.

And we believe there are more

victims on top of those five,

and as we identify

those victims, I --

I can't give you any idea

about a number,

but I do expect

more charges to be laid.

When I heard that

Bruce McArthur would volunteer

as Santa Claus

during the holidays,

you know, it immediately

reminded me of John Wayne Gacy,

who was a clown

at children's birthday parties.

And, you know, a lot of times

serial killers will don a mask

that is so far removed from

the secret and dark fantasy life

that they have because they get

a thrill out of tricking people.

As you know,

on January the 18th,

Bruce McArthur was arrested.

He has been charged with six

counts of first-degree murder.

One of the focuses

of the investigation

has been on human remains

found within planters

from Mallory Crescent.

I can now add that

the pathologists have identified

the remains of Selim Esen,

Dean Lisowick

and Abdulbasir Faizi.

Detective Sergeant,

having worked on

Project Houston and today

for the first time

saying that all three

of the people

who were being investigated

are dead and allegedly murdered

by Bruce McArthur,

do you do see the closure

of Houston is a problem?

I mean, is there something

you regret and something perhaps

you might apologize

to the gay community

for just letting it go?

I know it wasn't just you,

but it was just let go

in April of 2014,

and nothing much was done

form that period until August --

July of 17.

All I can say about Houston,

it was an exhaustive

investigation,

and the occurrences were

never closed in April of 2014.

It just merely got to a point

where there was nothing,

nothing left that

the investigators could do.

Hindsight is always 20/20.

You can always go back

and look at things

that you did do or didn't do.

All I can say is that

I was familiar with Houston.

I've looked back

at those occurrences now,

and I'm quite --

quite content of the job

that was done by 51 division

in those days.

- Detective Sergeant?

- The cold cases...

James Dubro, you

came here as an activist, right?

Yes, as an activist.

I'm an elder

in the community now, almost 72.

So, how do you feel

about the fact

that Faizi, from Project Houston

has finally --

that -- that McArthur's been

charged with his murder?

I think that since August,

since July and August,

the police have done

an incredible job

in investigating McArthur

and identifying the victims

and identifying the remains,

charging him with murder.

I mean, they've done

an awful lot in eight months,

so we must never

forget that.

As bad as it was for seven

and a half years,

the last seven or eight months

they made up for it.

I had a bookstore

for several years,

and a lot of the bookstore

ended up with me.

Back in the '70s,

'71 to the late '80s, mid '80s,

we had a gay publication,

a very serious gay publication

called the Body Politic.

Okay, back in '79, a very good

writer at the Body Politic,

and it says here he's likely

to be a repressed homosexual.

This is the unsolved murders.

"The killer's likely

to be repressed

homosexual rather

than homophobic

and violent straight man.

The killers of these gay men

may just -- may themselves

have a predisposition

to homosexuality.

However, they've been trained

to hate homosexuality.

In destroying someone

they've gone home with,

that they kill

that part of themselves.

They are filled

with self-hatred."

Now, that is the psychiatrist

writing about these unsolved

murders in the '70s,

and that applies

to McArthur, too.

He is obviously a --

obviously homosexual

enjoying sex with men,

but obviously trying

to kill

that part of himself.

I was intrigued

by all these murders

and watching it carefully,

but again,

because they were Middle Eastern

or South Asian,

like a lot of the police

and a lot of the mainstream

gay men,

gay white men,

we're privileged, of course,

we kind of said, hmm,

maybe they had their own

reasons for disappearing.

In my experience

as a brown gay man,

you know, in Toronto,

is that you seek out people

who are not going

to do you harm.

And they saw Bruce

as that safety person,

And I think Bruce himself

probably looked for people

who were vulnerable

in some way, shape or form.

You know,

he may have had questions

of what's your status in Canada

or does your family know

that you're gay?

Those kinds of questions

that happen online all the time.

Today, Mr. McArthur was

brought back before the courts.

Bruce McArthur is now charged

with and alleged

to have committed

eight murders.

How is it that these people

were able to be amongst us

in our lives, in these bars,

in these coffee shops,

friends of ours,

all this, and were able

to vanish without us,

you know,

really doing enough?

and, you know, some degree

you can never do enough.

But how is it that

they were able to go missing

and we were not able to keep up

that pressure long enough

to make sure something happened?

That is a self-reflection.

The other half of that has to be

how is it the institutions

that are supposed to protect us

failed so utterly

and completely?

If there had been a dedicated

missing persons unit,

it may have connected those two

missing persons cases in 2010.

"It is saddening

and unacceptable

that it took the disappearance

of Andrew Kinsman

to potentially link

the cases of the missing

South Asian

and Middle Eastern men.

We call on the Toronto police

and city of Toronto

to commit to

the following actions.

Given the circumstances,

we must seriously consider

whether the inadequacy

of the initial investigations

was because of racism

and/or homophobia.

The Toronto

Police Services Board

must commission an external

review by a third party.

The findings of

the external review

must be publicly released."

We put out that letter

in January 28th,

and from that we had meetings

with the Mayor,

and the Mayor

was on board.

And we engage them

in conversation.

I'm hoping that the Mayor

and the

and the Toronto Police Services

are open to that,

and --- and our indications

have been that they are,

and especially

if they've given us some voice

and they're hearing

what we're saying.

But the key really will be

going forward once we learn

what we did and figure out

what we didn't do,

what we could have done,

how we might have treated things

and people differently in order

to make sure

that it never happens again.

It's my honor and pleasure

to welcome forward

one of the stalwart advocates

who has been speaking out

about what's been happening

in our LGBTQ community

and the diversity

of our community.

Haran Vijayanathan

is also the grand marshal

for this year's Pride Parade.

So, Haran, come on up.

Some of us here knew the men

intimately and some of us know

the men through

the stories we hear

on the news and from others.

Some had identified

as openly as gay,

and some we did not know

their sexual orientation.

And we have to recognize

that there's a lot of refugees

in this country

and undocumented workers

who are fleeing persecution

for who they are,

who come to this city

and into this country together.

And we will get the system

to recognize the injustices

throughout this entire thing and

we will make that change happen.

Thank you again.

And even within

the LGBTQ community,

when those posters went up

and people

were talking about the men

that went missing,

they were basically

saying things like,

well, they might have

been deported

or they went, probably,

went back to their families

to live their lives

and stuff like that.

And so this is an opportunity,

again, unfortunately,

under these occasions

that we can actually challenge

homophobia within

our communities as well.

There are so many

layers or onion skins

that we have to peel back

of racism, homophobia.

And when I say racism,

I mean not just within society,

but also within

the LGBTQ communities, right?

Because that exists too,

and it's sometimes not given

the attention that it deserves.

You know, could this be

a situation where somebody

is actually targeting

or hunting gay men of color

because they're not fully out?

That's a reality

that gay asylum seekers

and LGBT people who are refugees

in places like Canada.

That's the reality

that they live.

And so that leads them

to a very precarious situation

where they become targets

or they could become targets

because of this

this identity situation.

I don't think people

have any idea

how the rest of the world,

not in all places,

but in many places,

still have laws

that are incredibly hostile

to LGBTQ people

and that they face

terrible consequences,

legal and social

and other consequences,

and that Canada,

for many of them

is a is a beacon of hope.

When I've heard about

Bruce McArthur case,

it was shocking,

but I have a different

perspective from the rest of,

you know,

Canadian LGBT community.

I left Iran in 2005 and I came

to Canada as a refugee in 2006.

So, you know, when we were

talking about vulnerable cases,

a lot of people

doesn't understand

or doesn't get how

or what which level

are we talking about.

It is about life and death.

Something that all

Middle Eastern LGBT share,

we share a lot of bad memories

of rape, assault,

and things became normal for us.

That it's not rape

for us anymore.

It's just rape.

It's not the rape.

Bruce McArthur story made me

think more about,

you know, what we can do

to help these LGBT refugees

because they're living

in the deep fear back,

you know, in their countries,

in the family,

and then they can escape their

country of origin to Turkey

as a bridge to come

to a safe country like Canada.

And I think it is

our responsibility

or my responsibility

to make them prepare about,

you know,

and make them ready

to start their new life

and a better life here.

Today, I'm going to meet

a lot of Iranian

and Afghan LGBT refugees,

and we cannot show their faces

because they have

an understandable fear

of being outed to their family.

A lot of them are not out

to their family.

That they were, you know,

they told their parents

that they are going

to go to school,

they're going to to get a visa.

Some of them, they don't even

know that they are in Turkey,

so they told their parents

that they are

in Germany or other countries.

And still, some of the former

refugees who came to Canada

are not out with their family

because they cannot tell them.

So, let's speak English.

How many days you will go

to Canada? In three days?

In three days, you know?

So your English is good,

so you told me that

you have a stressed

about your English.

Yeah. You know, because during

my living in Turkey,

I never, ever speak

English to anybody.

But for someone who believes

in Iran and in Turkey,

speaking English like you,

it's -- it's like

level four or five.

So it's great.

So, you're going to Canada

after how many days or month?

After four years

and one month.

Did you already come...?Yeah, yeah.

About the second minute.

Two million, 149,920 minutes

living in Turkey.

Yeah.

Four years

- is much shorter.

- Yeah.

I have lots of stories,

you know.

It's exactly like

when I come from,

came from

Iran to Turkey.

I have lots of stories

because I don't know

what's happening in the future.

You know, Arsham,

this is my diary book...

Scrap book....during my four years

living in Turkey.

Your bus ticket,

You have my picture as well.

"Life is full of moments.

Live every moment."

A lot of Canadians

or American thinks,

"Oh, they are in Turkey,

they're safe."

No.

But it's not safe.

- Yeah.

- And anything might happen

in Canada as well.

Have you heard about the gay

serial killers?

Yeah, in Canada,

- in Toronto?

- Yeah, in Toronto.

Sometimes people even, you know,

they can come to Canada

in order to have

a peaceful and perfect life.

Those guys who were killed

by that, you know, individual,

they didn't know

that they're coming to Canada

- and they are being killed.

- Yeah.

It's much better than Turkey.

It's much better than Iran.

Life has its own challenges,

but, you know,

you have an opportunity to --

to build your life.

For 30 years, I live in Iran,

and I have to every day,

I say, lie to everybody

from my parents,

my close friends, my colleagues,

every -- everyone, you know?

Do you have to lie

in order to survive?

Every -- every morning

you have to put up

a kind of mask

your -- your face.

Overstated.

Yeah, yeah.

But taking off the mask

is another challenge.

I know that it is scary.

Very, very difficult.

Last year, one of our refugees,

you know, came to Vancouver

after 13 months

of waiting time ingenuously.

And six months later, he jumped

from a bridge in Vancouver.

And I don't know why.

I often ask myself why.

Imagine that you have to live

in a country or in a city

that you don't know

the language, their culture

for 49 months.

It makes you insane.

It makes you psycho.

And I told you that when I'm

coming to Turkey, I can't sleep.

Because I don't want,

if something happens,

I don't want to blame myself

that if you didn't escape,

if you spent one hour

to talk to that person,

you can change their life.

After he committed suicide,

someone sent me a message

that where have you been

when he needed you?

Like, I was here when you.

Where were you?

I cannot take it, you know?

I cannot take care of everyone.

I need more people

to take care of them.

Bruce McArthur

currently stands charged

before the courts

for eight counts

of first-degree murder.

Remains of seven

of the eight victims

were previously located

at the rear of

53 Mallory Crescent behind me.

Yesterday, the Toronto

Police Service commenced

excavation of the ravine.

We are prioritizing areas

which give us the strongest

indications by canine units.

Yesterday afternoon,

human remains were located

at one of the first

digging sites.

These remains have been brought

to Ontario Forensic

Pathology Services

for further examination.

The excavation continues,

and we anticipate being here

for, well,

at least until next week.

Hi, you have reached

the office of the chief coroner

of the Toronto region.

We're sorry that we missed

your call.

Oh, hello.

This is Haran Vijayanathan,

the executive director

of the Alliance

for South Asian AIDS Prevention.

We had registered

the organization

to reclaim the remains

of the individuals

from the Bruce McArthur case.

For anyone who is not claimed,

we would certainly claim them.

But we also have...

My hope and the agency's hope

is that a systems change

comes out of this,

that we actually truly use this

as a -- as an example

of we are not immune

to all of the world's problems.

It can happen right here

in this country as well

and in this very city,

and systems need to change

to accommodate

and account for that

And how do we

hold people accountable,

how we all hold systems

accountable.

How you are, James?

- How's it going.

You're well?

What?

You're well?

Oh, yeah.

Well, well, you know,

for 72.

Just getting up

in the morning is good, right?

How's everything going

with that committee?

We wanted to make sure

that all

the missing persons

aspects get recognized.

Right. That's -- that's the

important thing of all this.

The key question

then is,

if you want to avoid Bruce,

why did they stop

the investigation in April of 14

and not do anything

until August?

That's -- and that's

- what we're getting at.

- That's important

We wanted to make sure

Houston was in there.

Yeah.

And...

I've been saying that

for about a year, you know>

And I should have been

saying it earlier.

This is an important event

that happens each year

in the life

of our wonderful city,

but this year it carries

a special poignancy

as we have all just stood here

together to acknowledge

and remember of the missing

and lost individuals

within the Church,

Wellesley community.

We have questions not only about

why these lives were lost,

but about the LGBTQ

community's relationship

of trust with

the city in general.

But we can bring about change.

In fact, people who came

before me and before us

that are here today

fought hard for that change.

And we and those of us here

today and others who can't be

will continue

to do that together.

I still believe

that our systems that govern

and protect us are still flawed,

and it takes a system change

for there ever to be justice.

This was very apparent

when the news of eight men

whose lives were taken by one of

our own right in our community.

The murdered men,

Skandaraj Navaratnam,

Abdulbasir Faizi,

Majeed Kayhan,

Soroush Mahmudi, Dean Lisowick,

Kirushna Kumar Kanagaratnam,

Selim Esen and Andrew Kinsman.

- I was really, really good.

- Thank you. Thank you so much.

I just want to congratulate you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I just want to say

thank you so much

for everything

that you've done with us,

supporting the mission persons unit.

I'm looking forward

to seeing you

at the head of the parade

on Sunday.

- Good luck on Sunday.

- Thank you so much.

We're going

to be behind you.

Oh, amazing. Good.

I went from a nobody

and nobody knew me

except for the people

that worked with me and --

and the community and my family,

and all of a sudden now,

I'm being recognized

all over the place

and being asked to speak

at different things

and going from, you know,

the back of the parade

in a corner somewhere

to watch the parade

to now leading the parade.

You never think a little boy,

a little brown boy from Winnipeg

would -- would do this,

and a brown gay boy

from Winnipeg would do this.

- Right here.

- Thank you so much for coming.

It's a little insane. We're

trying to set up our float.

As you can see,

it's not the greatest looking

thing in the world to be

at the front of the parade,

but it is what it is.

And going from the back

of the parade

in the corner somewhere,

to now at the front

of the parade, openly proud

and -- and having my mom

and my sister come along,

I think that's really --

really an achievement.

So, this is my mom, Raj,

and this is my youngest sister,

Shigani.

You know,

having both of them here,

they were my strongest supports

when I first came out.

And my sisters, I think,

already knew.

They were just waiting

for me to confirm.

I think my mom knew as well,

so when I came out,

I wrote the letters and stuff

and left it in the mailbox,

and -- and they've been

very supportive.

So it's really nice

to have them here

on my 40th year

of being in this world

and then being the grand marshal

of the parade

and then having my family

with me,

who are my greatest supports.

Our parents never talk

or anything like this about it,

and we don't go out --

we don't know anything.

It's -- and he put the letter

in the mailbox.

I don't know what this means.

What did the letter say?

That he's a gay.

I was shocked inside,

but I don't want

to say anything.

He's my only son.

That's all I thought.

I think if it happened

in Sri Lanka

or even with my dad around,

he probably would be dead.

Him?

Like, my dad would have

definitely

done something to him.

If not,

people would have --

I feel people would have found

a way to get at him

and get him, like, kill him,

because for some reason

they feel like it's --

it's a sin or it's wrong.

I'm not sure why.

- Happy Pride!

- Happy Pride!

This is our first

Pride together.

Alright.

This is our first

Pride together.

Okay, so there you go.

Okay.

Amazing.

Thank you, guys.

When I look back in January,

the intention

of the letter writing

was not for a spotlight

to be on me or the agency.

The intention was for me

to put to the board

to say that this agency

who serves South Asia

and Middle Eastern communities

to take a stance on this issue,

because if we don't do it,

no one will.

My name is Sam Masemi.

I'm a political refugee

from Iran.

We are here to support the LGBT

rights all over the world,

including Islamic countries.

It's not a matter

of attacking a religion.

It's a matter of radicalism

and how LGBT are treated

in Islamic countries,

and nobody in the liberal left

in the media

is talking about it,

and these are our friends.

These are our relatives that are

being killed and persecuted

in those countries,

and nobody --

if you talk about it here,

they say you're Islamophobic.

No, everybody in my family

is a Muslim.

I can't be Islamophobic,

but I know radicalism,

and nobody

is taking a stance

as if it's not

anybody's business.

Why?

How does that make you feel?

We're never, ever going to stop

people from doing things,

but what we can do

is put systems in place

and ensure that there's

a safe way for community

to access those things, right?

And people don't have

to wait eight years

to find their loved ones,

and we don't have to wait

for a particular person

in a particular community

to go missing for them

to be taken seriously.

I always said that,

you know, I was born in Iran.

I didn't have any choice,

and when I went to Canada,

it was my second birthday.

I was born again,

but I had rights.

I knew who I am.

I knew what I can do.

And indeed,

it is a second birthday.

Happy birthday,

and you're going to have

birthdays in the future as well.

And he said, I'm so happy

that Peyman is leaving,

and it's very tough that --

You know, I'm 35.

It's very -- I've been starting

from scratch many, many times.

I hope that I go somewhere

that I don't need to start

from scratch one more time.

And he said

that we all had family.

We didn't have choice

to choose our family members,

but he had the privilege to

choose the new family members.

For each of the people

that there are in this room,

some of the pieces

going to Canada.

And he hopes that one day

all these pieces joined together

and become one.

- How you doing?

- Hey, how are you?

- Good, how are you?

- How are you?

- Good.

- We finally get to meet

in person. Haran.

Haran.

Nice to meet you.

You, too.

Thank you again for connecting

us with the families.

- How's that working?

- It's actually working

really good.

I'm in touch

with a few of them...

Yeah.

...and the others

are kind of in,

so we'll keep trying

that until we get there.

Yeah. I had a good chance

this week

with one

of the family members.

It was very enlightening.

Good stuff.

As you know,

on January 18, 2018,

Bruce McArthur was arrested.

He has been charged with eight

counts of first-degree murder.

Although the examination

and identification

of remains continues,

we do not have any evidence

to suggest

that Mr. McArthur

is responsible

for anything more

than the eight murders

to which he currently

stands charged.

At this time,

we have no evidence to suggest

that there are

any further remains

to be located

at any further locations.

The review of

numerous cold cases

and outstanding missing

persons cases continues.

Mr. Hank, take care.

How do you feel about

today's announcement

that seems to be

kind of closing the circle?

It's a sad state of affairs.

However,

there's at least some closure,

and as we go in through the

whole review process and stuff,

I think more answers

will come out.

Why is it so important

for you to be here

and almost lend a voice

to the victims

who can no longer speak.

It's important for me to be here

because we were outspoken

right from the get go

in January,

and it's important for us to

follow through on that process

and be present and continue

so that it doesn't feel like

we started something

and we just dropped the ball.

We have to find ways

to make sure

that community members

and police

are always able

to communicate,

that there's open lines

of communication,

that there's mutual respect.

That's something

that always kind of comes out

in the aftermath

of a serial homicide case

that somewhere along the line,

the lines of communication

between a vulnerable community

and the police have maybe

not broken down totally,

but that there are ways

to improve

those lines of communication.

I had a deep sense

of sorrow for what these men

probably went through

in their final hours.

To me, it's just the most

disgusting manipulation

you could possibly imagine.

You know, like finding somebody

who's out-ish

and then exploiting that,

using the trust of a newcomer,

which is pure and genuine

in many cases.

They just have come here

hoping for a new life,

hoping for finally

to have a chance

to be gay without persecution.

You know, like we just

thought, that didn't happen here

because we were accepting.

And I guess, you know,

we obviously have learned

some lessons from all of this,

in terms of how

we deal with missing people,

and those lessons

are in the process

of being learned.

I think in a city

as dynamic as this,

in a city as diverse as this,

you can never stop and say,

you know, we've got this all

licked, it's all done.

We've read all of our own

press clippings,

and we've concluded this

is the greatest city

in the world in which to live.

It is the greatest city

in the world in which to live.

But if you stop and rest

on your laurels in that regard,

you were going to leave

outstanding issues

that do exist,

especially as it effects various

marginalized groups of people.

We all look for reasons

they might have disappeared,

vanished, because they all

vanished without a trace.

You know, they left their cats,

dogs, their car, their wives.

In some cases, they vanished

without a trace.

And yet the police and even

some of us in the gay community

who aren't marginalized,

particularly,

maybe they arrange

their own disappearance.

That was kind of

a rationalization for a while.

At the end of all of this,

I think the committee has had

and is having a reckoning

with itself, right?

You know, how was it that

these men were able to come here

and disappear

without us really noticing

or raising the alarm

or really freaking out,

for lack of a better word?

Because, you know, for all our

finger pointing at police,

both from the media perspective,

the community perspective,

you name it,

there has to be, you know,

some fingers pointing back,

right.

Because, you know,

we can say you didn't

put these pieces together,

you didn't connect the dots,

but at the same time,

we didn't follow up.

We didn't keep on

some of these cases.

It's not just a matter of us

sitting back and saying,

well, we hope the police

figure everything out.

You know, we recognize

that's not always possible,

and police aren't perfect.

Systems aren't imperfect.

Investigators aren't imperfect.

I think that's a disservice

to say here are the two things,

three things, four things.

It's a thousand things.

We never decided

to be who we are.

It's was -- it wasn't

a choice for us.

We didn't decide to be,

you know,

a member of the LGBT community.

This is who we are.

And right now we are here.

We didn't want to be here,

but this is the reality.

We had to leave our country.

We are here.

There's a lot of challenges,

and my expectation

is that people see us

and understand us

and give us a lot --

a little bit of an opportunity

and room to -- to be who we are.

We have to be optimistic.

There are a lot of times

that we were in motion,

you know,

about our sad part of our life,

but it doesn't mean

that I have to give up.

That when they come to Canada,

that hope doesn't break.

That, oh, if Canada

is like another Iran.

It doesn't matter that

you're being killed by broods

or being executed

by Iranian regime.

We need somewhere to go,

because, you know,

yes, we have a home

that our parents live.

But, you know, we need a place

to call it home

and they feel safe.