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PART I: PLEA - cold open

SOT reporters doing live hits

@5:47 he was charged with eight counts of first degree murder …

@3:48 hommes qui fréquentait le village gai de Toronto …

@5:29 that trial had been set for one year from now in January of 2020 …

GUILTY PLEA SCRUMS

00:00:29] Check one two one two three Check one two one two three … so we’re gettin’ it now?

There’s a horde of reporters and camera crews gathered outside a downtown Toronto courtroom.

Detective David Dickinson comes to the microphone.

… I just want to recap today by saying at approximately 10:00a.m. this morning Bruce MacArthur attended the superior court of justice here in Toronto at which time he pled guilty to eight counts of first degree murder.

That morning, in one of the biggest courtrooms in the city --

It is packed.

He looks paler, thinner, than the last time I saw him.

… that was for the murders of Skandaraj Navaratnum......Abdulbasir Faizi…...Majeed Kayhan......Soroush Mahmoudi Krishna Kanagaratnum…

McArthur replies, eight times in a row, in a low voice “guilty.”

[00:30:43] We unfortunately can never bring these men back but I'm hoping we can start bringing some closure to the families in the community.

Zoom18 JF: [00:04:42] He's pled to first degree so that means it was premeditated.

JL: [00:04:49] It was planned and deliberate I think was the language they used.

There were indiginities done to these men that I’m not going to describe. Had there been a trial, it would have released photographs that no one needs to see.

[00:05:57] he kept Selim Esem's notebook.

McArthur saved a story I had written, about how the disappearances of Andrew Kinsman and Selim Esen had revived fears of a serial killer.

Justin reading ZOOM 18 [00:06:02] The police located Mr. Kinsman's calendar which had an entry for Bruce on June 26 2017. So that was the day he was murdered.

Dickinson 20190208pressconference[00:20:21] A big piece of that evidence was a note left by Andrew Kinsmen himself you know, in hindsight, he left the name of his killer on his calendar //

So police got a list -- of all the people in the province who owned that model of van. 6000 owners in total. But only five were named Bruce.

(But) That wasn’t the only time McArthur had been questioned by police.

2016 victim :1;42 he goes get in the van get in the van. Lie down. He wanted to have sex right then and there.

Int #2 :03 so he says put your arm over your head. //

:28 and turns from a smile to a scowl. He had a scowl on his face. And a look of anger. And hatred. And with his full force of of his hand, he grabs my neck. And man that hurt.

He escaped the back of McArthur’s van. He called 911 and reported the assault.

McArthur raced to the police station as well. He told his version of what happened. That it was consensual.

McArthur was never charged, and he was let go.

And, that he’s being scapegoated by his own police service

But what’s clear is that Toronto Police interviewed Bruce McArthur TWICE before they arrested him for killing eight men.

For two days, friends and family of the victims have the chance to read statements to the court.

As do members of the community, who re-read them for us.

They are heartbreaking. Many people experience nightmares. PTSD. Depression.

1;28 There is a concept within the LGBTQ community called "chosen family."

3;33 The men who were killed were our brothers.

:30 My name is Reverend Deana Dudley, and I am the Assistant Pastor at the Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto

1:13 To people who were friends, co-workers and acquaintances of the victims, that grief is immediate and deeply painful.

GAB [00:00:05] Gab: My name is Gab Laurence and I'm the manager of community initiatives at St. Stephen's Community House.

GAB [00:09:15] Nothing can reconcile what happened. There is nothing more heinous than deliberately seeking out the most vulnerable of individuals.

3:45 Even with the Defendant in custody, it feels less safe. It feels less trustworthy. It feels less like home and family.

8:11 A few, who had close encounters with the Defendant, are virtually unable to leave their homes to this day because of their quite legitimate fears.

11:01 There will ALWAYS be the dreadful memories, the horrendous grief, the fears, the anger. But Toronto's LGBTQ community is also strong and resilient, and we too will survive, but have been changed forever.

GUILTY PLEA SCRUMS

[00:03:06] I've been in touch with most of the families especially the Sri Lankan Tamil and with Soroush's family as well as Selim Essen's family. [00:03:15][9.1]

He runs an HIV/AIDS service organization for South Asian and Middle Eastern men in Toronto. So when men from that community started disappearing he became deeply involved in their cause

When Skanda, and all (of) the men were found, Haran became a lifeline for many of their families.

[00:25:50] // What was really hard is explaining to the families why the police can't say certain things to them // because they don't know themselves. Right? It's like why, why did Bruce do what he did? You know were -- are they alive while all of this was happening to them?

[00:27:06] Haran: And I helped organize their funeral as well. And understanding some of the cultural and religious practices where we actually have to see the body of the individual and we have to perform rites of, around putting rice in their mouth and water and there's a whole prayer and Pooja that's done around this whole thing that they'll never ever get to do that ,

[00:27:46] Haran: And you know sometimes I wonder cause I can hear my mother asking this question. If she's wondering, did I do everything that I could do to ensure that he has a good afterlife.

Police presser

Saunders [00:10:53] I put specialized people when we started project Houston to look at, to work with the community to interview as many people as possible. This was not taken lightly

After McArthur’s conviction, Toronto police hold a press conference. There’s barely room to move, the media gallery is so full.

[00:38:46] This was not a case of the police didn't think anything was going on. We knew something stunk. There is no ifs ands or buts which is why we put millions of dollars into it. We knew something stunk and we did everything we could to find it and we just didn't.

I feel very strong about the hard work that was done by the Toronto Police Service Agency and all agencies that assisted us.

[00:09:09] // it was accurate and right when I said at this time there is no evidence to say that we had a serial killer.

SOT is it a matter that the evidence wasn’t there or did you not treat this cases as though thyey were suspicious, or what else needed to happen

Detective David Dickinson comes to the microphone. I ask him, what more did you need?

[00:15:43] Justin, the evidence was there on January 17th // 2018

13:56 and at any point when he was elevated to a person of interest to a suspect // the people and the resources changed to mitigate any risk to the public. And at the end of the day the people did what they had to do. On January 18th we arrested him.

Fearing that man’s life was in danger -- they made the decision to knock on McArthur’s door … and make the arrest.

In his sentencing, the judge made it clear: McArthur would have kept killing.

PART III: moving forward. Making sure it never happens again.

In light of the McArthur investigation, the city has created an independent review of how the police handle missing persons cases, especially cases involving queer and racialized people. Haran is part of that.

The review is headed up by a former judge. She will look at whether systemic bias tainted the investigation.

[00:38:28] Haran: When you look at the individuals that went missing and the communities that they belong to you know some of them were precariously housed. Some of them didn't have status. You know all of them were poor or working poor

41 45 I think this review and our intention of working with the system is to create change so that it doesn't happen again. We can't lose more people like this especially in vulnerable communities.

One thing that has hit home for me, working on this story, is how vulnerability can shift with time.

Many of McArthur’s victims were queer men of colour, refugees and immigrants.

[00:46:46] We don't recognize that racialized people still experience racism within the queer community or the LGBT community. Trans folks you know don't have the same amount of rights and securities as everyone else in the community

Canada has not published statistics on hate crimes targeting trans people. Until 2017, the federal government did not even officially recognize gender identity and gender expression as protected classes.

But that review is largely limited to Toronto Police.

A full-blown public inquiry.

SOT Mansbridge

In 2010, the government of British Columbia ordered a public inquiry into the investigation of his murders.

Many of his victims were Indigenous and many engaged in sex work.

SOT systemic bias by police

That inquiry led to sweeping recommendations on how police should deal with marginalized communities and how they should handle missing persons cases.

And make information about missing people available online.

Toronto Police ignored many of them. It wouldn’t be until after the arrest of McArthur, more than five years after the Pickton report came out, that Toronto Police finally started a dedicated missing persons team.

[01:14:44] We want to we want to look at all the missing persons investigations and make sure that they're all getting their due attention make sure they're being they're being worked on on a regular basis.

It's frustrating to watch tragedies repeat themselves. The failures in the McArthur investigation were some of the same failures identified in the Pickton investigation.

Over the course of reporting this story, I came across another example. One that looks so similar. One where police acknowledged their mistakes.

02:06:2019_Michael Hendricks.wav

[00:06:05] Oh well I wasn't a gay activist. And then along came HIV infection and we started dying off here in Montreal.

MOVED UP [00:12:39]// we had all these people dying. Over the period of 4 years, we had 17 murders. And the resolution rate was about 59%.

MOVED UP [00:33:12] the reason that we got such such support in our own community was not out of sympathy really for the murderers. I always thought it was because of everything else the cops were doing while they were neglecting the murders. They were busy raiding both lesbian and gay bars.

MOVED UP What we found most common was the murder itself. There was this phenomenon. Every single time we found that that was overkilling of the cadavers. [00:23:07][41.5]

[00:35:24] we had the coffins already because we used them in our parades all the time. // and we would deposit the coffin at the police station or whatever and then come pick it up later. [00:35:37][12.6]

[00:13:18] journalists were folding up their cameras leaving and somebody popped the question. Well if Mr Leclaire if they refuse to have public hearings what are you going to do.

All the judges all the senior officials who who are standing by and ignoring their plight

all the homosexuals in government.

[00:13:54] The government announced that they would never speak to us again two days later they called me and said Would you be interested in meeting with the Human Rights Commission. [00:14:03][8.6]

[00:19:40]three weeks after the hearings we got a call from the cops and they said would you come down there's been a gay murder come down to the murder said the homicide squad and we want to talk to you. [00:19:54][14.6]

[00:19:55] And they presented us immediately with the photos of the in crime scene photos and they start asking questions What's that mean. What's that. What is this here. What you read in this picture

Michael says that, overall, they were implemented.

[00:26:13] one thing that puzzled us the most. Why did they start in 1989 and why did they stop in 1993. I mean the volume went way down after we started investigating. We chose to think that it was our intervention that stopped it. We we had notified the world that you can't murder gay people and get away with what used to be able to. I'm not so sure that's a reason. What. What could the other reason be. I don't know. I thought about it for 20 some years and it never. Twenty five years. I've never been able to figure it out. There have been very few murders since then. In Montreal.

Back in Toronto, it’s been a year since Stacy Gallant and the Toronto police cold case team have reopened cases going back to the 1970s

They’ve been at it for a year

Gallant says they have even resolved one of the 23 cases.

Dennis Joseph Colby was an openly gay former school board trustee who was beaten to death in his own home.

[00:22:32] the DNA then came back to identifying the person that we believed as responsible for the murder of Mr. Colby

Police aren’t releasing the man’s name … because he’s dead.

33 33 We actually engaged // specialists to look at all these cases also doing the analysis on McArthur's and trying to see if there was any // correlation between the old cases and what we know about MacArthur today. and there's been no there's been nothing jumping out from that perspective either.

[00:27:32] I can say there's at least eight other cases he's been significantly ruled out.

Gallant won’t say if one of those persons of interest is Fast Eddy.

I tell him that Fast Eddy was also murdered.

So if Fast Eddy did kill Sandy Leblanc, even if they don’t have his DNA on file, there’s still a chance they could put it together.

And what about the murders of Hal Walkey? Brian Latocki? Duncan Robinson?

1 39 15 We still haven't got to the point where we have all the evidence back in terms of forensics if any exist or not so we don't know that yet. There may be some that ultimately remain potentially related because we have no way to say either way that they're not.

Until police get firm answers as to what happened to these men, families will be left wondering.

[00:13:46] Rev. Jeff: We hope that you again find the comfort you seek and recognize that there is no right or wrong way to grieve but that if you find your emotions being stirred up tonight this is again to be a safe place to shed our tears. Because eight men have died.

[00:13:57] Senseless violence has been perpetrated on us and on them. People we know and care about are gone. And our safety too has been shattered. Violence has been perpetrated in our world and micro aggressions happen even in our diverse city of Toronto everyday and nothing we do can change the past. And so we mourn.

There’s Police Chief Saunders, inspector Idsinga, Detective Dickinson.

And a host of others from the community.

Rev. Jeff: [01:09:55] Before the serial killer was discovered in our midst. People of racialized LGBTQ communities in our city of Toronto had been saying for a long time there was something up many of us weren't sure until the true horrors of this tragedy were uncovered. I am deeply deeply thankful for the hard work of the Alliance for South Asian AIDS Prevention. For Haran Vigayanathan who is the executive director.

[01:13:07] Haran: I look at Skandaraj. I hear his story. I saw myself. Especially when I first moved here and knew no one else but my friends and had little to no connection to community organizations.

[01:13:33] Haran: I'm sure I would be found pretty quickly. (pauses for tears) If I didn't have those connections. If I went missing. Would my friends filing a complaint to the police be heard as they too are people of color or have little social status. Would my mother filing a complaint be heard because her English is poor. would they assume it was an honor killing or I was sent back because I was a refugee or been deported.

1 18 35 The ill treatment of sex workers. Those struggling with addictions. The homeless. Refugees. Newcomers. Racialized folks. The working poor -- has devastating impacts on all of us. We will never get these men back. But I hope that all of the families and friends can take some comfort in knowing that their loved ones have initiated change to better this city province and this country (clapping)

[00:26:45] Sanskrit chant from Raj: ~~ play some sanskrit ~~

39:54 In the rising of the Sun and its Going down. We remember them. In the blowing of the wind and in the chill of winter we remember that in the opening of the buds and in the rebirth of Spring we remember them in the blueness of the sky and in the warmth of summer we remember them in the rustling of leaves and in the beauty of Autumn we remember them …

46:36 And our hearts may be broken but we as individuals and a community. We are not broken. Hear me people: we are not broken . We are afflicted in every way but not crushed perplexed but not driven to despair persecuted but not forsaken struck down but not destroyed.

This ordeal has gone on for eight impossibly long years.

As long as the murders of Sandy LeBlanc, Duncan Robinson, Brian Latocki, Hal Walkley — all the men whose cold cases sit in a box in Toronto Police headquarters — go unsolved there, this isn't over.

So, if not a conclusion, it is at least an end of a long, sad chapter.

The final speaker is Reverend Jeff Rock. He became the senior pastor here after Brent Hawkes retired.

I'm thankful for Andrew kinsman. He's a community activist who works to fight homelessness and HIV AIDS. He's a gentle soul and he volunteers with the PWA Foundation. He has a cat whom he loves and has missed by many in Toronto's LGBTQ two plus community

I'm thankful for Krishna Kumar Kangana Ratnam who came to Canada as an asylum seeker with hundreds of other Tamils from Sri Lanka on a cargo ship that took three months to travel from Thailand to British Columbia. His refugee claim was denied and his family thought he is in hiding.

I'm thankful for Soroush Mahmudi. He likes camping and playing pool. For him life in Canada wasn't easy but he did his best.

It is no secret that there is evil and darkness and shadows in our world.

(rustling of people getting up)

[01:31:15] Friends as you go forth from the place go knowing that love is better than anger.

And we will remember those we have lost. We will heal this hurt. Together we will end misogyny (gets angry …) and racism and homophobia and transphobia and biphobia and serophobia and violence in our community and our world and we will do it together. Amen. (congregation responds: AMEN)

~~ let music play under credits ~~

The Village is written and produced by me, Justin Ling, Jennifer Fowler and Erin Byrnes.

Evan Aagaard (eh-GUARD) is our Video Producer.

Special thanks to Chris Oke, Mieke Anderson, Fabiola Carletti, Eunice Kim, to Kate ZEE-man and the researchers at the CBC Reference Library, to David McDougall for production work, and to the Globe & Mail and Tu Thanh Ha for their work and support on the story.

Tanya (tawn-yuh) Springer is the senior producer of CBC Podcasts and our executive producer is Arif (AH-rif) Noorani.

And learn about a unique project that's getting justice for victims of violence in the LGBTQ communities

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TRANSCRIPT: UNCOVER: THE VILLAGE - BONUS EP

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