Village of the Missing (2019) Movie Script
1
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?
Dubro: Because they were
Middle Eastern or South Asian,
we kind of said, hmm,
maybe they had their own
reasons for disappearing.
Houston: Are they linked?
Is there something more to this?
Why are these brown men
going missing?
I often ask myself why.
Ling: 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.
Woman: 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.
Man: 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.
Vella: 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.
Woman: 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.
Houston: 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.
Ling:
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.
Houston: 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.
Saunders:
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.
Woman:
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.
Richmond: 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.
Fraser:
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.
Idsinga:
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.
Idsinga: 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.
[Indistinct conversations]
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.
Mohamed: 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.
Ling:
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.
[Keyboard clacking]
Vijayanathan: "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.
Man: 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.
[Applause]
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.
Mohamed: 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.
Tory: 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.
[Man chanting in native
language]
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.
[Conversing in native language]
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.
[Laughs]
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.
[Chuckles]
Four years
- is much shorter.
- Yeah.
[Both laugh]
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.
Idsinga: 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.
[ Phone ringing]
Woman: Hi, you have reached
the office of the chief coroner
of the Toronto region.
We're sorry that we missed
your call.
[ Beep]
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.
[Indistinct conversations]
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.
Vijayanathan: 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.
[Thunder rumbles]
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.
[Laughs]
Man: 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!
[Laughs]
This is our first
Pride together.
Alright.
This is our first
Pride together.
Okay, so there you go.
Okay.
Amazing.
Thank you, guys.
[Indistinct]
Vijayanathan:
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 LGBrights 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.
[Indistinct conversations]
[Cheers and applause]
Man: Why?
How does that make you feel?
[Cheers and applause]
Vijayanathan:
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.
Parsi: 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.
[Speaking native language]
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.
[Speaking native language]
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
[clears throat] 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.
Woman: 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.
Houston: 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.
Tory: 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.
Dubro: 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.
Parsi: 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.
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?
Dubro: Because they were
Middle Eastern or South Asian,
we kind of said, hmm,
maybe they had their own
reasons for disappearing.
Houston: Are they linked?
Is there something more to this?
Why are these brown men
going missing?
I often ask myself why.
Ling: 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.
Woman: 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.
Man: 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.
Vella: 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.
Woman: 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.
Houston: 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.
Ling:
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.
Houston: 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.
Saunders:
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.
Woman:
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.
Richmond: 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.
Fraser:
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.
Idsinga:
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.
Idsinga: 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.
[Indistinct conversations]
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.
Mohamed: 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.
Ling:
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.
[Keyboard clacking]
Vijayanathan: "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.
Man: 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.
[Applause]
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.
Mohamed: 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.
Tory: 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.
[Man chanting in native
language]
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.
[Conversing in native language]
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.
[Laughs]
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.
[Chuckles]
Four years
- is much shorter.
- Yeah.
[Both laugh]
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.
Idsinga: 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.
[ Phone ringing]
Woman: Hi, you have reached
the office of the chief coroner
of the Toronto region.
We're sorry that we missed
your call.
[ Beep]
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.
[Indistinct conversations]
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.
Vijayanathan: 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.
[Thunder rumbles]
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.
[Laughs]
Man: 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!
[Laughs]
This is our first
Pride together.
Alright.
This is our first
Pride together.
Okay, so there you go.
Okay.
Amazing.
Thank you, guys.
[Indistinct]
Vijayanathan:
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 LGBrights 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.
[Indistinct conversations]
[Cheers and applause]
Man: Why?
How does that make you feel?
[Cheers and applause]
Vijayanathan:
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.
Parsi: 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.
[Speaking native language]
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.
[Speaking native language]
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
[clears throat] 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.
Woman: 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.
Houston: 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.
Tory: 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.
Dubro: 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.
Parsi: 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.