From heaven to hell: 18 die as drugs war rages on streets of Vancouver

[bousch]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo...r-1663008.html

is it really getting that bad up north? i would like some in put from our frost bitten Canadian brothers and sisters up north

[Solwyn]

It has been nasty in certain cities in Canada for a long time, but this is making the news because it is Vancouver. People get murdered regularly in Winnipeg because of drugs, prostitution, and organized crime. Edmonton has the charming nickname "Stabminton". Vancouver has been thought of for a long time as a great place to live, and BC in general has this image of Zen-like tranquility associated with it, outside of the province. It is marketed to the rest of Canada as THE place to be. Sooooo......when it turns out that it's just as crappy and rotten as where "the rest of Canada" is living, people are understandably shocked, but Vancouver has been going downhill quickly for a while now.

It'll probably become more noticeable with the recession. Perhaps Vancouver will be the Murder Capital Of Canada and it won't be us (Winnipeg) taking the blue ribbon again. After all, we shouldn't be hogging it from all the other cities.

[Jamt]

Is the Hells Angels a part of this? Or is it like in Scandinavia were the media like the word HA connected to ewerything?

[Solwyn]

I don't actually follow it enough to know for certain but it wouldn't surprise me if they had their fingers in it somewhere. However, this is Vancouver we're talking about so more than likely it is the Asian Triads who figure most prominently. Yaaay for globalism

[Mikey]

The Canadian gov some years ago gave citizenship to almost anyone who was willing to invest half a million dollars in Canada, huge numbers of chinese gangsters and rapacious "entrepeneurs" from Hong Kong took them up on it. Vancouver was the Canadian city of choice for them, no reason to go inland, and now they are paying the price...

[Solwyn]

The Canadian gov some years ago gave citizenship to almost anyone who was willing to invest half a million dollars in Canada, huge numbers of chinese gangsters and rapacious "entrepeneurs" from Hong Kong took them up on it. Vancouver was the Canadian city of choice for them, no reason to go inland, and now they are paying the price...

I know!!! I remember the stink it caused in the late 80s when I was in high school in Victoria. Whole condo complexes and apt buildings were snapped up by Chinese before the plans could be revealed or sold publicly. When it was announced that Hong Kong would become part of China again, they came over in droves. I haven't been to BC since 1989 and I am told by those who are now in the exodus out of Vancouver that I wouldn't recognize it anyway.....