Andrew Weichel

‘She could bring world peace’: Meet Mittens, the deaf cat spreading joy at Vancouver’s English Bay beach At the far end of Vancouver’s bustling English Bay beach, a steady stream of curious onlookers gravitates toward a large tree stump.

Not exaggerating when I say I have been trying to meet this local celebrity all summer.

Worth the effort for my EXCLUSIVE:

The untold story of Canada’s only province-wide police investigation into residential school abuses Final report of the B.C. RCMP Native Indian Residential School Task Force made public for 1st time through IJF database

30 years ago, BC Mounties launched an investigation into abuse at every residential school in the province. It was the first—and last—probe on this scale.

The task force's final report was buried in the RCMP archives, until it popped up in @theijf.org's databases.

theijf.org/residential-...

This is why standardized data gathering, curation, and reporting are critical to democracy. Otherwise self-interested government bureaucracies can do what self-interested government bureaucracies always do: game the numbers they report to make it look like the latest Five Year Plan is/is-not working

Another colleague, @kehyslop.bsky.social, is only now being allowed by VPD to go into their HQ to view training material for their SLO program. That was also an incredibly long battle.

One of my colleagues, @michellegamage.bsky.social, recently got an FOI back on police training for decriminalization policies over a year after the request and only after threatening to go to the OIPC.

‘Fear and anxiety’: What our police FOI requests uncovered about Vancouver’s stranger assaults scare Internal emails obtained through Freedom of Information requests shed light on the Vancouver Police Department's media strategy related to stranger assaults ahead of the city's 2022 election.

Three years and four FOIs later, here's everything we know about the stranger assault scare that gripped Vancouver in an election year – as the attacks were dramatically decreasing in frequency, unbeknownst to voters.

www.ctvnews.ca/vancouver/ar...